SKK V2 hands-on, first impressions

Announced several months back, the SKK  V2 is obviously positioned to folks who aspire for the very popular LG G2 but could not afford the steep price. SKK came out with almost exact copy of the G2 running Android 4.4 Kitkat and offering it a much lower price of Php4,999.

The SKK V2 has a 5-inch display size that’s right in the middle of the G2 (5.2″) and the G2 Mini (4.7″) with an uncanny similarities, right down to the Rear Key.

Even the build quality, design and polish of the SKK V2 are almost indistinguisable from the G2 series. Aside from the huge SKK logo at the back, anyone who is not very familiar with the G2 would definitely mistake it for the original one.

The V2 has a removable back cover showing the battery and two SIM card trays the first SIM tray also doubles as a microSD card slot). Even the back cover has that distinct pattern with glossy finish that’s also similar to the G2.

Of course, once you boot up the handset, you will be greeted with the SSK logo and its custom UI that’s actually simple and clean. The 5-inch IPS display is a dead giveaway since the resolution is so low (only 540×960 pixels) you will definitely notice some grainy image and pixelation.

The UI is nothing fancy but fairly decent its almost as if they left Android’s vanilla UI and just replaced the icon-set with something slightly different.

Despite the relatively meager specs, the device feels snappy and responsive. However, once you fire up a number of apps and services, you’ll surely notice the handset experiencing the heavy load.

We ran our usual set of benchmarks and got these scores.

Antutu Benchmark: 19,683
Quadrant Standard: 8,346
Nenamark 2: 54.5fps

The results are not impressive by any means yet decent enough to show a little bit of power. We reckon at this level, users will not have any problems loading the usual social networking apps (Twitter, FB, Chrome) and games.

With a price tag of just Php4,999, the SKK V2 certainly competes with the likes of Cherry Mobile’s entry-level handsets. And since that price segment is very competitive, SKK is banking on the idea that instead of releasing an un-inspiring design they’d rather imitate a popular one where people can easily relate to.

We admit, the V2 certainly looks nice owing its design inspiration from the G2. Whether this strategy by SKK will attract enough attention to the budget-conscious market remains to be seen.

SKK V2 specs:
5.0-inch IPS LCD @ 540×960 pixels
Mediatek MT6582 1.3GHz quad-core processor
Mali-400 MP GPU
1GB RAM
8GB internal storage
Dual SIM, 3G
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 3.0
8MP rear camera, LED flash
5MP front-facing camera
GPS with aGPS
FM Radio tuner
Li-Ion 2,500 mAh
Android 4.4.2 Kitkat

The SKK V2 has been around for several months in SKK stores and kiosks with a suggested retail price of Php4,999.

Updated: Starting February 13, SKK Mobile will be selling the SKK V2 for just Php3,999.