As expectations are high for the launch of 5G smartphones and data network in Nigeria and many other countries, there is a growing concern that smartphones and the existing 4G LTE are under-utilised.
Also there are issues that smartphones and broadband have yet to reach significant part of the population amidst growing concern that there is influx of cancerous phones into the country.
The Chief Technology Officer of Partner Mobile, Olusola Akintola at the unveiling of Partner Mobile’s Evolution 1 (EV1) into the Nigerian market, urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and others to do more in the area of monitoring the phones that come into the country.
He added that a lot of devices that come into the country are harmful to health because of the radiation they emit.
He stated further that a lot of the devices that are shipped to densely populated markets of Lagos and Kano are hardly seen anywhere, adding that the radiation from some of these mobile phones are cancerous making them harmful to the human body system.
However, NCC latest data recently approved 1,492 mobile phones for use in the country. These devices are of different brands and models and have been tested to have met the industry regulator’s Standards Type Approval required for them to be approved for Nigeria.
The new EV1 smartphone from the stable of Partner Mobile is one of the quality phones that have met industry standards and it is pushing for smartphone penetration across urban and rural areas with its affordable pricing.
Similarly, its partnership with ntel availing Nigerians 4G Long Term Evolution (4G LTE) is another strive to achieving Broadband penetration which is also in line with NCC’s plan to grow the country’s broadband penetration to 70 per cent by 2021.
Interesting to note, the number of smartphone users in Nigeria is forecast to grow to more than 140 million by 2025. Currently, estimates from different sources put the number of smartphone users in Nigeria at roughly 25 and 40 million, Statista, an insight and research platform, reports on its website.
The Evolution
The new Partner Mobile’s Evolution 1 (EV1) smartphone was unveiled at a media launch in Lagos recently. The new device is compatible with 4G LTE network, and was designed to run on ntel’s 4G LTE network and other telecoms network that are 4G LTE compliant. Also, ntel will be offering end users 4.5 gig data upon purchase of the EV1 in its stores.
Speaking at the launch of the new smartphone, Olusola said he is confident that the new smartphone will delight smartphone users, considering its stylish design, Al Triple camera, quality and pricing.
He added that the device runs on Android 9 pie operating system and comes with face and fingerprint sensors, water resistant features, ground-breaking innovations in display, camera and performance.
“Among other wonderful features, the phone comes with a triple camera and a flash form a square design, the overall appearance exhibits wonderful relationship between geometry and aesthetics incisively and vividly — from the proportion of segmentation, geometric curves and other aspects. It shows the geometric aesthetics. The whole architecture is romantic, classy and absolutely fashionable.”
Furthermore, he stated that the “5MP front camera, the background blur effect will no longer make you afraid of all kinds of scene-stealing. With beauty algorithms supports, specific to beautify details of face, skin, eyes, to diminishes appearance of blemishes.”
In the same vein, Ifeoluwa Molokwu, Chief Operation Officer, Partner Mobile said “The launch of EV1 into the market signifies our unrelenting efforts to introduce to the market value-for-money products in order to satisfy our customers. EV1 is a reliable phone that will surely satisfy the customers who have been looking for a phone that will suit all purposes.”
She added that the new smartphone is distinctively manufactured to meet today’s smartphone market and at an affordable price, so consumers can do more of what they love with smartphone.
Correspondingly, in furtherance of its commitment to making quality smartphones and boosting smartphone penetration in the country, it also unveiled its partnership with ntel, Nigeria telecommunication provider, on providing data bundle of more than four Gigabytes for free to buyers of the smartphone.
The ntel Partnership
Commenting on the partnership with Partner Mobile, the MD/CEO of ntel, Babatunde Omotoba said that ntel has been working assiduously with Partner Mobile for sometimes to introduce a budget- friendly smartphone targeted at the consumer market.
He explained, “Following months of compatibility tests, we are delighted to announce that the ntel network is now compatible with the EV1 smartphone. This means that anyone who owns this smartphone can now call and browse at a superfast speed, in fact, that is the fastest speed you will see in the Nigerian market.
“Our network supports crystal clear high definition voice calling as well as has LTE advanced features which combine to enable downlink speed of up to 150megabits per second on our network.
“To demonstrate our commitment to this partnership in driving internet penetration in the country which is in line with the National Broadband Plan, ntel will be offering end users 4.5 gig data upon purchase of the EV1 in our stores.”
He added that the collaboration with Partner Mobile signals a new dawn in the evolution of Nigerian 4G LTE segment which has been impacted by concern that most people don’t have phones that can work on 4G LTE. “But now we have EV1 which everyone can afford and be on the 4G LTE,” he concluded.
Interestingly, the UHD mode of EV1 combines 4 pictures into a single photo, allowing users to create a whole new high-quality photo, which will reach up to 52MP super pixel effect, brings an impressive experience that lets users keep clarity of their memories.
Also, the AI portrait recognition is applied to both front and rear cameras, it automatically recognizes faces and jumps to portrait mode, blur the background naturally. Another feature is when the owner light up the screen, Face ID will unlock the phone instantly. EV1 also supports fingerprint unlock on the back when Face ID is inconvenience for the owner.
The smart antenna tuning of EV1 integrated tunable capacitors offer excellent RF performance, low power consumption and high linearity required in adaptive RF tuning applications, almost insensitive.
The phones are available in retail outlets across the country and leading mobile phone stores.
Future Plans
Ifeoluwa explained that the company has remained innovative since it commenced operation and won’t rest on its oars. She added that it will constantly search to bring innovative, ground-breaking technology to market and ensure excellent customer care is actualised.
“You all know that since Partner Mobile came into this market, we have successfully introduced PS1, PS2, PS 3 and PS Power among other features phones into the market and the launch of EV1 today is to consolidate on the innovative ingenuity of the brand following the success of our other phones.
“It will be recalled that we released three android phones when we entered the market and quickly followed them up with a straight forward feature phone. The PF1 proved so popular that three months later, we released similar models of increasing specifications: the PF2, PF3, PF4 and a heavy duty PF-P1 with the capability of a power bank,” she said.
On the expansion plans, Ifeoluwa stated, “We are committed to constantly innovate and evaluate to bring to our teeming Nigerian customers only the best mobile devices at affordable prices. This is why we will be launching new mobile phones into the market every other quarter.
“As we continue to grow our brand, Partner Mobile, to be established throughout the African continent and equally trading in continents including Middle East, Europe and the United States of America, we will take our customers and you, our media partners on the journey.”
