“A stylish local phone that comes with free high-end accessories, with beautifully crafted body in striking rose gold exterior that’s nearly similar to a Samsung Galaxy S6 or even an iPhone”
By Gugu Lourie
The Ghost – a mid-tier local smartphone – may as well be the next big thing for Mzansi and consumers in the rest of Africa.
It offers users an opportunity to ditch their 2G feature phones and migrate into the world of smart devices.
While ultra-high-end smartphones are out of reach for millions of African consumers, the Ghost is affordable.
It is exclusively available on contract through mobile phone operator Cell C’s retail outlets and call centres – which may somewhat be a disadvantage for the local manufacturer AG Mobile.
That said AG Mobile has produced a handset that could inspire users to upgrade to high-quality smartphones.
AG Mobile’s new handset, The Ghost, looks good and fashionable.
It has 720×1280 pixels enabling it to that deliver fantastic images that compare favourably to its rivals in the same mid-tier smartphone range.
The screen makes browsing the web and connecting to social media a real pleasure.
A high-end sedan of smartphones
The Ghost is like driving a new luxury vehicle with unlimited horsepower. It is elegant in its design and look.
It is packaged in a chic box with free value-added accessories to die for valued at R1500. They include protective cover, free in-ear earphones, a car charger and 7500mAh power bank.
During my test run, the power bank – which is a great value to have as a smartphone user – lasted for four days.
The power bank was also able to power my friends’ phones while working with them at Grand Central restaurant in Melrose Arch.
The cables for the charger, earphones, car charger are modern and durable.
You can place your hands on The Ghost simply by getting a contract at Cell C.
A hero deal will cost you only about R389/month on an Epic 200 with a buyout option. There is also the cheaper Epic 150 at R349/month. The deals come with a lifetime warranty, 24-hour swop-out, replacement of two cracked screens and the free accessories.
My opinion is that The Ghost is a lovely smartphone that can easily be mistaken for a Samsung Galaxy S6 or even an iPhone.
It also houses a 5.5 HD Gorilla Glass touchscreen and a beautifully crafted body.
For example, you can double-tap the news section of Techfinancials.co.za in the browser to zoom articles to fit the width of the screen. You can also double-tap to zoom on maps and in other apps.
All in all The Ghost is a very good smartphone.
Affordable way to upgrade to a high-end smartphone
The Ghost’s 5.5 inch screen has impressive image qualities.
It is also very light at 175g in weight.
Furthermore, The Ghost comes with numerous apps, which you don’t have to download, such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp (you pay for this app in most high-end smartphones), Instagram, WeChat, Backup and Restore.
It also comes with Google Mobile services and apps such as Chrome, Drive, Google, Google+, Gmail, Google Settings, YouTube, Hangouts, Maps, Movie Studio, Play Store, Play Newsstand and Voice Search.
The 1.3GHz processor enables The Ghost to download apps at a high speed. I downloaded a Sidekick app in seconds.
The Ghost comes with a 16GB internal memory, but if you need more you can expand it to up to 128GB through a memory slot card. It has a dual 2G/3G sim card slot, which could come in handy for customers migrating from 2G feature phones.
The Ghost is not only an affordable smartphone – it’s a local branded phone not coming from China, Korea or the US.
I have been using The Ghost for the past two weeks. So far I am impressed. It hasn’t malfunctioned even though I have been continuously testing all its functions. I tried adding four emails – it did no freeze – instead it kept on going.
I am now a self confessed fan of this locally made phone.
The battery life was decent until I started streaming videos on Vimeo and YouTube.
With a 2700mAh Li-ion battery, The Ghost was marginally smaller than the HTC One smartphone battery, but its power bank came in handy.
What was more surprising for me was the fact that the phone charged quickly and was soon ready to be used.
Incidentally, I mistakenly dropped The Ghost on the ground but the protective cover shielded the smartphone from any damage.
Final Verdict
If you focus on the flamboyant packaging of the device, great accessories such as power bank, modern charging cables, The Ghost ‘is not bringing back the dead to harass us’, but it is here to show us what genuine quality at an affordable price really looks like.
Finally, it’s an easy to use phone with a stylish design packed with plenty features.
Let The Ghost rise from the ashes.
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