On May 26, Bkav (Bach Khoa Antivirus), one the oldest and most famous Vietnamese technology companies has launched Bkav Bphone, the very first smartphone made in Vietnam. In terms of tech, Bkav develops and produces products with main interests in security software. This time, they tried a new area of business: smartphone. Bkav’s new flagship smartphone is called Bphone and it has been gaining much attention from the very first start. Bkav Bphone launch event attracted nearly two thousand people attending locally and a lot of others following on the internet. Let’s take a look at Bkav Bphone specs.
Bkav Bphone Specs:
According to Mr. Nguyen Tu Quang, Bkav’s outspoken founder, the handset is made from 800 different parts, provided by 82 suppliers in the world with Bkav’s own design, which has been patented since 2011. In terms of specs, Bkav Bphone – a 7.5mm thick device with a Sharp 5.0-inch Full HD display features Corning Gorilla Glass and dressed in a full aluminum cover.
In addition, it is equipped with 3GB RAM LPDDR3 and powered by Qualcomm CPU Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.5GHz. At this point, Mr. Thieu Phuong Nam, CEO of Qualcomm Indochina, said that Bkav is the first Southeast Asia’s firm to directly contract with Qualcomm. That means Bkav is able to get the latest Qualcomm CPU as well as use all of Qualcomm patents in their phones.
The other specs include a 3,000mAh battery accompanied by Quick Charge 2.0. Bkav Bphone cameras pack a 5MP front shooter and a 13MP f/2.2 rear camera that is covered with sapphire glasses. This cam is also one of Bphone’s key selling points. There are most modern techs supporting them such as Fast Tracking Auto Focus (used for Samsung Galaxy S6 to help capture fast-moving objects) and UbiFocus (allowing users to choose their focus after having already taken picture). Moreover, Bphone snapper can also take slowmotion video with 120 frames/s. As for operating system, Bkav uses their own one called BOS based on Android Lollipop for the Bphone.
Another outstanding feature about Bphone is that there is a built-in Bkav, the company’s flagship antivirus software, to make this device become “the safest of its kind on earth”, according to the CEO.
Bkav Bphone Price in Philippines
There are 3 main versions of Bphone with different amount of internal storage.
Bphone Black, 16GB – 9,990,000VND (~PHP 20,400)
Bphone Black/White/Champagne 64GB – 12,960,000VND (~PHP 26,472)
Bphone Gold plated 24K, 128GB – 20,190,000VND (~PHP 41,246)
Note that all Bphone prices are exclusive of taxes and will not be on sale via retail chains but online via a Vietnamese website from June 2, 2015. Anyhow, no words are made for an official international release from Bkav, yet it is said that they are planning to bring this phone to the world. Perhaps a few months later, we can see Bkav Bphone Philippines version on the market.
In conclusion, we can see that Bkav Vietnam is a bit too ambitious about their first flagship Bphone. Basically, it boasts a 5” FHD screen with a slim body, Snapdragon 801 chipset, 3,000mAh battery and a remarkable back camera. Will this Bphone be able to create a hit in smartphone industry? What do you think about the price? Is it worth the specs or a bit too much?