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Ding Ding Mobile SK3 Pro Review, A Feature Packed Phone On A Budget!

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Ding Ding Mobile is one of the latest international smartphone brands that hits the Philippine stores. It originated in Malaysia that aims to provide their customers with feature packed and durable smartphones that doesn't break the bank. They introduced here in the Philippine market 4 devices already, the almost indestructible Iron 1, the phone with selfie flash SK1, smallest 5 inch phone SK3 and the flagship SK3 Pro.
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
Ding Ding SK3 Pro review

I got a unit of the SK3 Pro here with me for review and let's take a look at the specs first before we proceed.

Ding Ding Mobile SK3 Pro Specs

Display: 5.5 Inch HD IPS 1280 x 720 resolution at 267 ppi
CPU:  1.3 GHz MT6582 quad core processor
GPU: Mali 400
RAM: 2 GB
ROM: 16 GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 64 GB
Back Camera:  13 MP Sony Sensor
Selfie Camera: 5 MP Sony Sensor
Battery: 3000 mAh
OS: Android 4.4 Kitkat
Connectivity: WiFi,  3G, HSPA+, Bluetooth, Dual SIM, Dual Standby, Micro USB 2.0, USB OTG
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, proximity, heart, air call, pedometer, quick gesture entry, IR sensor
Others: Power button and volume rocker at the back, Colors: Black, white, gold
Dimensions: 146.5 x 74.9 x 10 mm
Price: 6,499 Pesos

Unboxing / Accessories

DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
You get two boxes, one for the accessories and one for the phone package

The packaging of the SK3 comes in a simple, clean and impressive looking box. It makes you feel that you'll be opening a premium device that only cost 6,490 Pesos. It comes in two boxes, the main pack and the accessory pack that made me excited to check it out immediately. Upon opening it, you'll get the Ding Ding Mobile SK3 Pro itself, micro USB cable, wall charger adapter, smart cover case, regular jelly case earphones and paper docs.
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
The generous package of the SK3 Pro

This is one of the rare smartphone makers that has a jam-packed accessory package at a very low price. I can't help but laud the effort made by the Ding Ding Mobile people here.

Build Quality / Design

DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
At the back showing the camera, speaker, flash, power button, volume rocker and heart rate sensor

There's no question that the SK3 Pro's design and build is inspired by LG, particularly the famous LG G3. Some may like it and some may not. Personally, I'm one of those who like it even if it's a clear copy. Why? I like the design perspective of the G3. From the form factor, the sexy curved back, the slim bezels, the nice screen size and the back buttons.
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
The 3.5 mm jack, mic and micro USB port below
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
On top you see the earspeaker and microphone

Ergonomically, the design and buttons of the SK3 Pro was able to hit most of the right buttons, it was well placed and phone fits just right in my hand to perform even with using just one hand. Size-wise, the SK3 Pro is small for a 5.5 Inch device that actually looks stylish and more premium than its competitors.
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
Slimness of the phone

The thickness of this phone measures at 10 mm to be exact that might make you think that it will look thick in person. Fortunately in reality, the curved back design made it look like you're holding an 8 mm thin phone or even thinner. When it comes to the build quality and durability feel, the SK3 Pro is one of the better built smartphone for the price.

Display Quality

DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
Screen quality of the SK3 Pro

One of the things worth boasting with the SK3 Pro is the display, while it's not as good a syou get an HD IPS 5.5 inch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 720 at 267 ppi. While some of you might think that the 267 ppi might not be enough, Ding Ding mobile was able to optimize the screen well to make it look great in our eyes. The colors and details were warm and sharp looking, it has very nice viewing angles due to that IPS tech used and it has that slimmer than most bezels that made the display look even better.

Audio

DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
Speakers of the phone visible below

The speaker of this phone was able to produce tunes with loud rich audio. It was better than most budget phone's I've tried and I like how well it was able to produce decent tunes. The loudness was good enough to fill a small room with music and make sure that you won't miss a call.

The audio out thru headphones or earphones is on the average side as it used to produce a quite balanced and clear sound signature ala SKK Lynx with a little more brightness. Volume wise, it was able to drive my Havi B3 Pro I on 70% volume which is not bad compared to the Honor 6 Plus which took me 80% to get satisfying loudness. That makes the audio out of the SK3 Pro great enough for most unless you're an audio purist that always craves for more.

The surprise here was the microphone quality thru the smartphone! It was very clear and can record sound a lot better than most. I would put it one the same quality of the Lumia 730 which I really like and should do very well in recording budegt student grade short films and 

Battery

DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
The battery usage on my normal day (It was charged for like 2 minutes while I'm transferring photos from phone to PC)

Rated at 3,000 mAh, the SK3 Pro is one of the phones with the largest battery capacity for the budget aside from the Alcatel Flash Plus. The usage of an older CPU and a not so high resolution screen made it even more power efficient as it lasted me more than 18 hours on my normal usage and a little bit more than 6 hours on heavy usage (wifi, 3g, bluetooth, gps and max brightness on). The charging time was on the average side as it usually takes me at least 2 hours before fully charging it.

Camera

DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
The nice Sony sensor at the back of the phone

The SK3 Pro's back camera is equipped with a 13 MP unknown model of Sony sensor, what interesting with it is it was able to take photos with decent details and accuracy at a very fast shooting mode. It was like you press the camera shutter and instantly the shot was taken. The focus is also quite fast and the camera software is equipped with a lot of feature like face beauty, panorama, color effects, hdr, grids and smile. Going to the selfie camera, it's packed by a 5 MP camera with f/1.8 aperture that enables it to take nice photos in the dark as it can let more light in.

Sample shots and videos

DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
Looks very detailed and natural looking with great indoor lighting
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
This shot was very nice without the HDR on
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
HDR mode caused some over exposure in very bright lighting condition
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
Shot in a better light where-in it's more suitable to use the HDR mode
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
The camera is decent even at night
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
The flash has a nice tone and strength to make things shine in the dark
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
Selfie shot in mall lighting, grains are visible to the naken eye when you look closely
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
Selfie in a very dark street, it was still able to capture my face

Kindly checkout the audio clarity in this video, can still hear the wang wang even from afar

Performance

DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
The UI of the SK3 Pro

The usage of 2 GB RAM on the SK3 Pro was the main reason why normal usage performance was smooth. The experience was almost lag free when using social media, the camera and browsing the internet. It was also able to run some heavy games like the Dead Trigger 2 and Real Boxing quite smoothly, but not as smooth compared to those with higher GPU and more powerful CPU. If you're the type of person who doesn't play too much games the overall performance of the SK3 Pro should be on the satisfactory level. I also like the way Ding Ding Mobile reduced the number of bloatwares that we often see in a heavy modded ROM. The storage eats up just a little more than 1 GB of the internal storage.
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
The phone controls and guest mode

What I love with the general usage of this phone is the plethora of gestures and features. It has a full blown double tap to wake feature ala LG and ASUS where-in you can double tap to lock even if you're in the desktop of your screen, has an air browse function, air call, smart screen, palm motion, screen cast and quick gestures entry. It also has a guest mode for security purposes. Maybe my only complain in its software is it takes a little more time to get used to it and the non usage of an Android 5.1 Lollipop. Let's just hope that Ding Ding Mobile will roll out an update.
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
The pedometer and heart rate sensor

Whether you say that the addition of a pedometer and heart rate sensor is useless or not. I'm sure that once you have it, you'll like it. I was like a kid when I found out that those sensors actually work. Especially with the pedometer where-in I'll just place my finger at the sensor part on the back of the phone and it tracks my heart beat. The I also find the pedometer quite interesting too as it can track how many steps I took and measure the calories I burned. Those features is great for everyone as it can help you somehow to be healthy. Health is wealth people. :)

Benchmarks

DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
Antutu score and multi touch test
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
Quadrant and Geekbench results
DING DING MOBILE SK3 PRO REVIEW, A FEATURE PACKED PHONE ON A BUDGET!
GPU Bench score

Pro's - Ample 2 GB of RAM, slim screen bezels, nice design and functions, feature packed, quick shutter speed 
Con's - Use of older gen processor and gpu, I'm expecting more from the front camera

Verdict

The SK3 Pro is an attractive smartphone that packs a lot of use features and gestures. It's well designed and feels like a premium product at a low price point. I also liked that Ding Ding Mobile was able to execute my favorite double tap to wake function correctly and the very clear microphone for audio recordings. While the gamers might be disappointed with the use of an older processor and gpu, the 2 GB of RAM makes this a great everyday casual productivity phone.

It may be released a bit late for the Philippine market that will make some of you think that it's a little bit priced high for the specs, but when you look at the overall functions and totality of the product from the design, build and features, it's still a competitively priced product.

GIZ Rating: 4 / 5 Stars
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