Tokopedia: the founding story of Indonesia’s new ecommerce giant (#StartupAsia preview)

William Tanuwijaya, CEO of Tokopedia.

If you’re plying your trade in the tech startup industry in Indonesia, you’ll be pretty optimistic nowadays. The country has just been rocked with news of two venture giants coughing up US$100 million in fresh cash for Tokopedia, the leading online marketplace site. That is arguably the biggest publicized funding amount for a Southeast Asian startup.

Softbank and Sequoia Capital are the two big names that believe not only on Tokopedia but also in the Indonesian market. These two investor firms seem to know what they’re doing, as both of them have had great successes in the industry, backing the likes of Alibaba, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn.

Whenever Softbank and Sequoia make big moves, the world notices. As a result, many more investors and global companies might pay more attention to the Indonesian startup market. And this in turn gives greater scope for local startups to showcase their products to the world. More entrepreneurs in Indonesia now dare to dream big.

See: How Indonesia’s Tokopedia can become the next Alibaba

The man in the spotlight is Tokopedia’s co-founder and CEO William Tanuwijaya. Unlike some of his tech peers, Tanuwijaya did not go to an Ivy League school, nor does he have a wealthy family that helped kickstart his startup empire. Although Tanuwijaya had the dream to built Tokopedia back in 2007, he had to wait a couple of years until he could gather the capital to do so. He also needed to provide for his family, so risking it all on a business that needs so much cash didn’t make sense.

At the time the marketplace was founded, there were no incubators or a support network for Indonesian startups, and so Tanuwijaya made his fundraising pitches to numerous traditional companies that did not fully understand about the internet business. Even worse, there were no success stories in the local internet industry, which made it tough for any tech entrepreneur to break out.

And when Tanuwijaya finally managed to raise the funds he needed to launch the business with his partner Leontinus Alpha Edison, they still had to overcome many obstacles – and also tough competition with serious backers like Telkom-eBay’s Plasa.com, Rakuten, and Naspers’ Multiply. And still Tokopedia persevered while two of the aforementioned competitors weren’t looking too healthy.

How does a local boy achieve all that? What hell did he go through to get to where he is today?

Tanuwijaya is one of our esteemed speakers at Startup Asia Jakarta 2014. He will be sharing his story of how he started Tokopedia and steered through the hurdles and challenges of the past five years. Of course, we will also touch on questions about how all that money will be used and what he feels about the opportunities that still lie untouched in Indonesia.

This is definitely one of those key events you won’t want to miss if you’re looking to get a deeper understanding of the Indonesian market. Join us at Startup Asia Jakarta on November 26 and 27. You can use ILOVE15 for a 15 percent discount when registering. The code is valid until October 31 (that’s today!), so sign up now.

Tokopedia: the founding story of Indonesia’s new ecommerce giant (#StartupAsia preview)

This Harvard graduate’s startup is making a difference in Philippine health care

One word best describes the pharmaceutical industry in the Philippines: fragmented. On one end of the spectrum are a handful of big pharmacy chains that dominate the market revenue-wise, and on the other are hundreds of mom-and-pop shops spread in rural areas.

For drug companies, this has been problematic. Many mom-and-pop or independent shops keep track of inventory the old-fashioned way – by hand. They don’t have a system to monitor which products are actually being sold, to whom, and at what volume. Thus, drug companies have no clear picture of the market to base critical business decisions on.

For consumers, it’s a different problem. Medicine prices are high and growing at a faster rate relative to incomes. The gap is undeniable.

Consumed by this dilemma, 28-year-old Farouk Meralli – who had built a career working for multinational pharmaceutical companies – thought of a way to help both the pharmaceuticals and patients. “I wanted to do something good for the world and good for business. I asked myself, ‘what can I do to marry the two?’”

That’s how he got the idea for his company mClinica.

The way it works

mClinica uses mobile technology to connect drug companies, their distributors, pharmacies, and patients. It currently has 1,400 independent pharmacies with access to over 20 million customers on its platform.

It works this way: patients who visit any one of the pharmacies on the platform can get discounts for medicines by simply providing their mobile phone numbers. Pharmacies must then send the transaction details to the platform to get reimbursed by the drug companies. The pharmacies also enroll the patients into a program that helps them better understand their health conditions and reminds them to refill when they’re running low on supply.

In the Philippines, where the poor have limited access to health care and often must choose food over medicine, the discounts are a big help. The discounts also act as incentive for them to adhere to their doctors’ prescriptions.

The rest of the supply chain benefits too. The platform allows drug companies to devise programs to improve patients’ health while boosting their sales – to levels high enough to offset the discounts. It gives them access to market insights that have never been available before, and that they can access real time.

For their part, independent pharmacies, which tend to have lower margins than chain pharmacies, are able to widen their consumer base. Meralli says they’re working to include chain pharmacies in their network as well. After all, their goal is to reach as many patients as possible.

The man behind it

Meralli’s heart has always been in healthcare. He took up biomedical sciences at McGill in Montreal, Canada, and then went to Harvard to get a masters in health policy.

After graduating from Harvard, he worked for pharmaceutical heavyweights Roche, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer.

Throughout his career, he says he noticed the same problems. “In emerging markets, these pharmaceutical companies didn’t have access to the same kind of data that they did in mature markets like the US, Western Europe, and Canada where pharmacies are very consolidated and data is easy to access. From a societal perspective, in many of these markets, the price of medicine is incredibly high and health literacy is a challenge.”

Meralli says a technology like that of mClinica is the most economically viable and sustainable way to solve the problem because it has massive impact.

All he had back then, however, was an idea. He had no entrepreneurial background and no funding. “When I started this, I literally had 13 slides, there was no technology, no team – just me and the slides.”

So he went and pitched his idea to the head for emerging markets of Merck, one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies. By sheer luck and a lot of perseverance, Merck agreed to a pilot, Meralli recalls.

They introduced the business in the Philippines and India first. It got good traction in the Philippines, but they felt India was more of a long-term play.

They decided to focus all their resources on the Philippines, put together a research and development team and grew from there.

“It was very fortunate but also a bit scary because you’re betting on an idea, on yourself, taking a complete gamble. That’s what startups are.”

He says it helped that he was totally okay with moving to an entirely new country. “I kind of, from a very young age, traveled all around the world. I’ve been very fortunate to have traveled to over 80 countries which gave me great cultural perspective.”

Meralli says it was difficult setting up in the Philippines though. “The process was not exactly straightforward. In the US, if you start a company – set it up, open a bank account, get the licenses and permits – you do it in about two to three days. Here, it took two and a half months to get the full thing done.”

Nevertheless, the Philippines presented them with a lot of opportunity. Given that the market is fragmented, the business was immediately commercially viable.

It was also attractive in terms of cost. “If I were to hire a developer in Silicon Valley, I’d be spending about US$14,000 a month. Here, it’s just US$700 to US$800. In terms of skills, there’s no difference. They’re both exceptionally good,” he explains.

From L to R: Koichi Saito, Director, IMJ Investment Partners; Farouk Meralli, CEO & Founder, mClinica; Dave McClure, Founding Partner, 500 Startups; and Minette Navarrete, President, Kickstart Ventures. Behind them are (L-R) Christian Besler, Vice-President, Kickstart; Kaspar Zhou, Principal, 500 Startups; and Khailee Ng, Managing Partner, 500 Startups.

Regional expansion

While the Philippine pharmaceutical market is fragmented in nature, this characteristic is not really unique, according to Meralli. Other emerging markets are the same – some are even worse. These are the markets they intend to enter next.

To jumpstart its regional expansion, mClinica recently moved its headquarters from the Philippines to Singapore and raised an undisclosed amount from 500 Startups, IMJ Investment Partners of Japan, and Kickstart Ventures of the Philippines. It will use the fresh funds to make forays into Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

In terms of innovations, the company has several in the pipeline. “The smartphone app is one. We’re releasing that very soon.”

Meralli says mClinica doesn’t have all the answers regional pharmaceutical markets are looking for. It just hopes to make a difference – one store and one patient at a time.

See: 10 new Philippine startups to watch out for

This Harvard graduate’s startup is making a difference in Philippine health care

Dave McClure: hard to see why investors are not more bullish on India, there will be a feeding frenzy in 5 years

Skyrocketing smartphone usage, a rapidly spreading internet, a burgeoning middle class, and massive online distribution platforms – “It’s really obvious from the demographics,” says Dave McClure, founder of 500 Startups, “that there’s going to be a feeding frenzy in India.” He was referring to how entrepreneurs and investors will be falling over each other in this largely uncharted market within five years, by which time a lot of the friction from logistics, payments, and infrastructure would have got sorted out.

“We (the VCs) are just not ready for it,” he says on the sidelines of Nasscom’s Product Conclave in Bangalore. “Valley VCs are too focused on the US. Most people there think going international is a waste of time.”

There are exceptions like Tiger Global, DST, Rocket Internet, Sequoia, and now SoftBank, who are betting big on emerging markets like India. And 500 Startups itself, which is an early stage investor, is rapidly expanding its India portfolio. It has made 25 investments in India in the past couple of years. But the number of investors is still too small for a market of such potential, according to McClure.

One reason for investor caution is the low level of mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity out of India compared to thriving ecosystems like Silicon Valley or even Israel. But McClure still thinks there’s irrational bearishness, given the huge opportunities online businesses have for making money in India.

McClure explains to Tech in Asia:

I understand the dynamics around not having clear paths to exits. There are not as many of those in India. But I think if you are investing in revenue-oriented businesses, you can mitigate some of that. It is not the case that all ecommerce businesses are operating in negative margins. That is just not true. It is certainly not the case that all startup businesses are unprofitable. Even if you limited yourself to the startup businesses that have positive unit economics and significant growth, you will still have a ridiculous number of opportunities. So it is hard for me to analyze why people are not more bullish here.

“A lot fucking harder five years ago”

The San Francisco Bay Area venture capitalist feels it’s much harder for an entrepreneur to make it in America today than in India. “The US market is so much more saturated, there is so much more competition. On a relative basis, an entrepreneur in India has much less competition and a much larger market.”

But what about the friction points you find only in India? Such as the stipulated two-stage authentication process for credit card payments that Uber has yet to find a way around – the Reserve Bank of India has just given Uber another month’s grace period to sort this out. But McClure quickly puts such problems into perspective:

Yeah, there is corruption, challenges in payments, challenges in everything else. So what? You think it was harder or easier ten years ago? It was a a lot fucking harder. So relatively the change that has happened in the last five years is absolutely phenomenal.

See: Seeking funding? Here are 10 venture capital firms in India you should meet

“I know there’s a big dip coming in China”

McClure thinks that it is China where a big bubble is building up. “There is far too much capital going around in China, particularly since Alibaba had this huge IPO. It is the late nineties in China, people are just throwing ridiculous amounts of money at Chinese companies.

So, does he think there’s a dip coming there? “Yes. [Laughs] I don’t think, I know there is a big dip coming in that market. The behavior in that market is completely unsustainable.”

The contrast with India couldn’t be greater. Even the active Indian and international VCs are too risk-averse in this market, according to McClure: “Most VCs are undersizing their portfolios by a factor of 10.”

McClure’s investment thesis is to spread the money out widely, especially in the early stages. He thinks VCs delude themselves with their crystal-gazing ability to spot winners early – after all, they’re proven wrong nine times out of ten, because only five to 10 percent of VC-backed startups become big winners. India would be better served by lots of micro VCs making small bets, given the large number of startups sprouting up.

McClure has a formula for how Nasscom, India’s software industry body, can reach its goal of 10,000 startups in its program of that name. His idea is that 500 VCs each invest US$500,000 per startup into 20 startups a year, which makes US$5 billion in 10,000 startups. The figures may be daunting, but the idea is simple enough. Spread the investment around, then weed out the losers and follow up strongly with the ones gaining traction with their businesses.

Of the 25 investments in India that 500 Startups has made in the past couple of years, McClure thinks at least five of them are doing really well, and another five to ten have a reasonable shot. But the caution in the local market has forced him to change tack.

“I know there are companies in our portfolio which we think are doing well, but they are not having deals thrown at them. We have had to shift strategy a little bit to focus more on Indian entrepreneurs doing global businesses, and not on domestic market businesses. Because for the global businesses we can bring them to the US and they get funded OK. If they are limited to the domestic market in India, then they are subjected to the sentiment of the local market, which in the last year or two has been very bearish, though I think the sentiment is beginning to change now.”

See: This entrepreneur ditched Japan’s stodgy salaryman culture for India’s wild west – and he’s never going back

Dave McClure: hard to see why investors are not more bullish on India, there will be a feeding frenzy in 5 years

It’s an OLX with a heart: this startup helps you give away your once-loved goodies to charities

There’s some seriously big money being thrown at online marketplaces where people can sell second-hand items, and the battle is particularly fierce in India between sites like OLX and Quikr. But how about kind souls that would like to give away their pre-loved belongings to people who are less fortunate? For that, there’s Another Brick In The Road.

The civic-minded site finds someone who needs the stuff that you’re clearing out, like kids’ toys, blankets, schoolbags, and functioning gadgets you no longer need, such as radios. Another Brick In The Road connects with the local charities that are its partners to take the second-hand goodies off your hands and distribute them where they’re needed.

Another Brick In The Road is now seeking to raise US$7,250 in a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. It has already secured US$1,410 with 44 days still left. The campaign “aims to raise enough to cover operating costs for the first couple of years,” explains Luanne Misquitta, the not-for-profit startup’s founder.

At present, this is limited to Mumbai, where the team is based, but Misquitta wants to expand it in due course across India and then into other countries.

“It was inspired by the need to find places to give my own stuff away,” explains Misquitta to Tech in Asia. “It turned out to be an incredibly tedious process to first find organizations that need what I had. Needs are unlisted, and organizations most in need have no web presence or even enough staff to answer phone calls and provide relevant information. It turned out that most people have exactly the same problem, and that is how Another Brick In The Road was born.”

She goes on to explain how it operates:

The concept relies on the goodwill of the community – we’re in touch with many people who volunteer at social organizations and they love the concept because they think that our service will help them reach more people. Now we’re able to tell them that there are 10 people in your area with stuff waiting to be given away, and that’s a good enough reason for them to organize a collection drive on a Sunday and go pick up the stuff.

The team is now approaching more orphanages and children’s homes in Mumbai to get them on board.

The brick metaphor in the site’s name is an apt one in terms of how everyone can contribute to building something for the greater good. It’s all the more timely as Apple CEO Tim Cook used the same allusion in his essay yesterday in which he discussed his sexuality for the first time in the context of helping “someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is.” Cook ended the article by saying, “I’m doing my part, however small, to help others. We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick.”

As useful and noble as this Indian service is, it still faces the same initial issue that any startup has – how to get people to notice it. “We’re engaging via social media, approaching radio stations and newspapers, and we’ll be advertising once the service goes live,” says Misquitta.

Another Brick In The Road has options ranging from US$5 to US$500 on its crowdfunding page.

See: How 500 Startups-backed SocialCops helps the little guys with big data

It’s an OLX with a heart: this startup helps you give away your once-loved goodies to charities

Official game for Disney’s Big Hero 6 is another match-3 puzzle RPG

Did you know Gumi Asia is responsible for the development of the official game for Big Hero 6? The upcoming movie by Disney is centred around the adventures of Hiro and his bot, Baymax, and the match-three puzzle RPG – which comes out on Monday – will expand on that, allowing players to explore and save the streets of San Fransokyo together with the rest of the show’s cast.

As with most puzzle RPGs, you’ll be able to collect bots and evolve them, as well as team up with friends to play. Big Hero 6: Bot Fight will be available for iOS, Android, and Windows 8 phones in North and South America.

Asia will presumably receive the app soon after, as the movie hits cinemas on November 7 in the US but on November 13 in Singapore (where Gumi Asia is based), and later in other Asian countries. Interestingly enough, the Philippines gets Big Hero 6 in theatres a full day before the US, on November 6.

See: Disney Magical World review: I don’t need to go to Disneyland any more

Given how expansive the Big Hero 6 universe could be, it’s disappointing to see the puzzle genre, done a la Bejeweled. Disney and Gumi Asia could definitely have gone for something more exciting, like Gree’s Batman & The Flash: Hero Run, or even Real Steel: World Robot Boxing.

To Gumi’s credit, Big Hero 6: Bot Fight does look really good, and I’m sure fans of the show – and of Disney in general – are just itching to get the game on their smartphones. Check out the trailer of the game from TouchGameplay below. You can also watch the game’s trailer on the Big Hero 6 Facebook page.

Official game for Disney’s Big Hero 6 is another match-3 puzzle RPG

It happens every year when Halloween is upon us. Horror fiends can walk the streets with the rest of us, and no one is the wiser. For those that are in the mood for a downright terrifying experience, or just want a fair bit of festive fright, video games have you as well-covered as any medium. Moreover, Asia provides a near-endless source of terrifying examples. While indie game development is scary business in its own right, several developers have managed noteworthy games, often inspired by Asian traditions and settings.

We have compiled a short list of available or upcoming games from several Asian countries that should keep even the most insatiable thirst for blood in check.The list represents a variety of platforms from browser to Linux, and only includes one entry from any given country, however unfair that may be to locales with multiple worthy entrants (sorry, Japan). Wherever they may be from in Asia, we would love to hear about any games we may have overlooked.

In no particular order:

Indonesia: DreadOut

In film, the horror genre in Indonesian has been thriving for at least a decade. This year saw the first attempt at translating this success from the big screen to the monitor with the 3D indie horror title DreadOut by Digital Happiness. Released for PC, Mac, and Linux, the game is billed as a “third person supernatural horror game.” You play as a high school student named Linda, who finds herself in an abandoned town in Indonesia with all sorts of supernatural creepiness afoot. Of course she does.

An ambitious project, DreadOut is intended to be multi-part franchise. The first act has already been released for all three desktop platforms. We reviewed it at Games in Asia earlier this year, and haven’t slept as well since.

Speaking with Digital Happiness, we were told that the game’s second act will hopefully be available as free DLC as early as year’s end.

You can get DreadOut on Steam.

Thailand: The House

While Thailand has contributed its fair share of horror movies, it offers surprisingly few scary games, at least not in English. There is, however, the browser-based point and click The House. The game and its sequel The House 2 are both available to play for free. It’ll take a few moments to realize what’s going, but I suggest you keep clicking. The games seem straight out of American Horror Story. The odd localization error exists on the game’s minimal text, but that only adds to the eerie atmosphere of the flash title.

One of the objects you stumble across in The House

Try it here.

Singapore: Lurking

By design, this product of the Digipen Institute of Technology is not as graphic as most games intended to scare. The game mostly takes place in darkness, relying on sound to reveal the very minimalist representation of the environment. Of course, making noise also reveals you to the monsters lurking about, and the game uses your microphone to alert in-game baddies to your presence. Lurking was featured as part of the student showcase at Independent Games Festival at GDC China 2014.

The game is available for Windows and Mac, and offers Oculus Rift support. See it here

Philippines: Nightfall

There’s not much floating around about this one, but we should have an idea of what the game is soon enough. Teased by Zeenoh Games as a “Filipino horror game,” the developer is waiting until this year’s eSports and Gaming Summit (ESGS) in the Philippines to let people try out the alpha. If you’re around the Mall of Asia on the weekend of November 15-16 and haven’t had your fill of horror, you’re in luck.

Korea: White Day: A Labyrinth Named School

The fact that this game is old abandonware only updated by fan-made patches might just add to its creepiness. When Korean developer Sonnori closed down in 2004, White Day had already been out a few years in Korea, but hopes of an official localized version were dashed. The game is technically not “indie,” but Unnamed Studio, who continues to service the game, is definitely not signed by any publisher. The game is also thought to be part of the inspiration for the Western indie title Amnesia: The Dark Descent. White Day can still be played, but you’ll need a PC and be willing to jump through a few hoops.

With a Korean school and the East Asian holiday White Day as the backdrop, the game starts with the premise of a boy giving chocolate to a girl he likes (in Korea, and elsewhere, girls customarily give chocolate on February 14, boys reciprocate with gifts on March 14th). As the title suggests, something’s definitely up with the school in the game, and it eventually descends into a labyrinthian nightmare.

White Day still via its ModDB page

If you aren’t frightened by the idea of “manually” installing this one, or put off by the mixed holiday business, it’s definitely an interesting horror title. With the tradition of Black Day now a thing in Korea, we can only wait for a horror title dedicated to noodle-eating singles to be made.

Cambodia: Haunted Hut

Not the kind of image you’d expect at the beginning of a match three game, but Cambodia-based Osja Studio felt compelled to put that on their game’s launch screen. It’s probably for the best, as I don’t recommend letting anyone who is too young or has a heart condition relax with this one. The game is available on Google Play. There game doesn’t add much in terms of gameplay, but the Cambodian studio did opt for an interesting way to add an element of fright.

Japan: Mad Father

The work of a Japanese developer who goes by the name of Sen, Mad Father is a free title for PC, though you can play it on Mac and Linux with a little work. Developed in WOLF RPG Editor, the game is reminiscent, visually, of titles like To the Moon. The story follows a German girl named Aya, whose father, as the title suggests, is up to something. The game ticks off several boxes: horror, mystery, narrative, and certainly female protagonist. It received some notoriety when YouTuber PewDiePie featured it last year.

Image via Mad Father’s Wikia

The game provides a nice departure from the typical survival horror coming out of Japan. Though, there should be a fair number of AAA survival horror games out by this time next year.

Malaysia: Tell No One

This game created quite a stir when Malaysian developer Spacepup Entertainment first released the demo. This PC game promised inspiration from a number of Southeast Asian horror tropes. Anecdotally, I’ve seen Malaysians take their scary stories quite seriously. Some of the themes, including the notorious orang minyak, are actually reported from time to time.

We’ll have to wait a little longer before we get to play more than a demo of this game, as Spacepup Entertainment has spent most of 2014 working on other projects. Reaching out to the studio, we were told it expects development to be back on track with Tell No One by the end of the year.

If you haven’t got your costume sorted, it’s never too late to turn out the lights, put your headphones on, and cozy up with some horror.

8 indie horror games from around Asia to help you spend Halloween alone and afraid

Inspired by Xiaomi, the budget Himax Polymer is ready to shake up the market (REVIEW)

Indonesia is a huge market for smartphones. According to the latest data from Gfk, the sales volume for smartphones in Indonesia during the first quarter of this year grew by 68 percent, the most among all Southeast Asian countries. Not only that, the archipelago itself accounts for two-fifths of the region’s smartphone sales.

Knowing this, it’s not difficult to see why a number of phone brands are keen to pursue Indonesian consumers, with Samsung, Lenovo, and Oppo all marketing aggressively in the country. China’s Xiaomi has also entered the nation selling its Redmi 1S to reach out to new Indonesian smartphone users who are starting to ditch their feature phones (and BlackBerrys).

A new Indonesian brand also wants a slice of the action. It’s called Himax. It’s trying to emulate Xiaomi by running limited online flash sales and making nicer than usual gadgets at affordable prices.

In this review we’ll take a look at one of the most popular Android-powered Himax phones on sale in Indonesia: the Himax Polymer. It’s probably the closest rival to Xiaomi’s Redmi Note, touting a big screen, octa-core processor, and a budget price tag.

The Himax Polymer comes with a 5-inch 1280x720p HD IPS display. It is equipped with dual-SIM support, a 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek processor, 2GB RAM, MALI-450MP4 GPU, and a 2,500mAh battery. It boasts a 13MP back camera and 5MP front camera. The Polymer comes in at a modest IDR 2 million (US$165).

Hardware

If you have to sacrifice anything to make a smartphone affordable, it’s the hardware. The good news is, although the Himax Polymer is made almost entirely of plastic, its snap-on back cover feels metallic to the touch and allows for a removable battery. The rear camera has a metallic square bezel which gives the phone a more premium look and feel.

The Polymer is not the slimmest phone at 9.3mm thick and 151 grams in weight, but it feels quite nice when gripped in your hand. Unfortunately, I think the plastic cover on my phone doesn’t fit perfectly. Pressing against the left side of the phone causes the sound of rubbing plastic.

The phone comes with three Android soft buttons – the home button on the center, the back button on the right, and menu button on the left. Personally, I prefer the “task switcher” button as the third button found in stock Android phones like the Moto G and Nexus 6, which allows you to toggle and switch between apps. I rarely use the current menu button, and I need to hold the home button for a couple of beats to switch between apps.

Although not the best, the Polymer is quite a powerful phone when it comes to playing games. I tried playing Spider-Man Unlimited and Asphalt 8: Airborne to test out the phone’s power and they played well, but not perfectly. During the early runs on Spider-Man Unlimited, the game was smooth, but as you pick up your speed and encounter more blasts, the experience gets choppy. Playing Asphalt 8: Airborne on the Xiaomi Mi3, which has a more powerful GPU and a better brand processor, feels smoother. However, I’d still like to give props to Polymer because the phone still works better for gaming compared to the more expensive LG Nexus 4 (launched in late 2012) that I mainly use.

On the upside, the Polymer does come with an FM radio tuner built-in. This is a common feature in Indonesian phones but it’s more rare in international phones like the Nexus 4. For those who like the radio, though, being able to listen to it without using any data is a nice perk.

Screen and sound

The Polymer has a 5-inch screen that’s 720p HD, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2. The display is easily viewable even under sunlight. You can see HD movies and most games without any issues.

The phone’s speakers are located at the bottom of its back cover. Although it’s normal to have speakers on the back of the phone, it doesn’t work well for the Polymer because its design doesn’t support the sound flowing through the back when the phone is lying flat on a table. When the phone is face up on a flat surface, the speakers don’t sound loud enough because the speakers are covered. After using it for a few weeks, I missed a few phone calls because I couldn’t hear the ringtone, even when I set it to maximum volume.

But when you hold the phone in your hand so that the speakers aren’t covered, the Polymer has the opposite problem. I found it to be too loud, even at the lowest volume setting, and preferred to mute the sound instead when playing games in a quiet environment.

If the speakers are exposed, the maximum volume is loud enough for you to hear music from the other room. And even at maximum volume, the sound is still clear without any significant background noise to disturb the experience. The phone also ships with a free earpiece that, even though it doesn’t look too exciting, generates good sound.

Software

Polymer comes with the standard Kit Kat Android 4.4.2 operating system. After using it for three weeks, the phone still feels fast and fluid thanks to its octa-core processor and solid GPU – so long as you avoid intense games.

Polymer’s Android skin is essentially the stock Android skin. Other than the pre-installed apps, the company hasn’t changed anything significant. It has extra toggles on the top bar, an audio enhancement feature, and some extra camera modes. But still, there’s not much difference to the stock Android OS found in other devices.

While it may not be a unique feature, I liked the notification bar’s data connection toggle. It allows you to turn your data connection on and off quickly. The Polymer also has a useful interface that collates all the app permissions and lets you allow or disallow specific functions on any app. It’s good for those who appreciate security and privacy; for example, you can easily block only the Facebook app from knowing your location.

You can uninstall nearly all of the pre-installed bloatware apps like Kaskus, Poker Texas Boyaa, and Baidu Browser. The only app you can’t uninstall is the Himax app, which is basically a Himax store. However, this app is buggy and you can’t browse or do much inside. Better to ignore it completely.

One thing that could ruin an otherwise perfect experience on the Polymer’s OS side is the lockscreen’s inconsistent sensitivity. I found I often needed to swipe harder than should be necessary to unlock the phone. Other times, I couldn’t swipe down the top notification bar from the lockscreen.

See: 15 new Asian smartphone makers hoping to crush Samsung and Apple

Camera

This camera is another plus point for the Himax Polymer. With its 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera, you can shoot some beautiful outdoor pictures. I can’t say the same for indoor pictures, though. You can see some sample shots below:

The Polymer’s camera app offers numerous photo modes in addition to standard shooting, including:

• Live Photo – for making videos with a special effect that resemble a photo being (see the sample below)


• Motion Track – an animated GIF tracking the movement of an object


• Multi Angle View – a mode that allows you to take pictures of an object, as its name suggests, from many angles


• You can also set the camera to automatically snap a photo when it detects the subject making the ‘V’ sign!

Bugs and service centers

I found two problems on my Himax Polymer: the FM tuner and wifi connection. The FM tuner’s volume jumps up and down while listening to the radio. The wifi connection issue occurred more recently. Although the phone is connected to wifi, the internet keeps disconnecting after a period of time. I need to repeatedly turn the wifi receiver off and on to get the internet connection back on.

I haven’t gone to the service center in Jakarta yet, but a customer service representative told me I can get the phone fixed on the same day, depending on the severity of the problem. Himax only has one main service center in Jakarta to fix hardware problems, so people who live outside the city need to drop their phones off at a certain shop, from which the phone will get shipped to Jakarta for repair. This entire process could take up to a full month.

Annoyingly, the webpage listing all the service centers is broken. The site’s live chat feature isn’t working either. So if you do have a problem, you need to phone the call center to find out where you can drop off your phone for repair.

Performance and battery life

I regularly connect the phone to wifi all day long, and use it indoors for chatting and casual gaming. For me, the 2500mAh battery was powerful enough to last over a day. I wasn’t worried about constantly needing to charge the phone to full for a day of use, which was nice.

Even when using the 3G connection, the phone could still last all day. But if you intensively use it for chatting and gaming, the battery will die in less than six hours.

According to the AnTuTu Benchmark, the Himax Polymer surprisingly surpasses the Redmi Note in terms of performance.

Alternatives

In the same budget price range, the Polymer’s competitors include the Evercoss Elevate Y2, Mito Fantasy U A60, and Xiaomi Redmi Note. Against all those rivals, Polymer can still stand tall. Here’s a chart:

	Himax Polymer	Xiaomi Redmi Note (2013)	Evercoss A80A Elevate Y2	Mito Fantasy U A60
Screen size	5 inch	5.5 inch	5 inch	5 inch
Screen resolution	1280 x 720	1280 x 720	1280 x 720	1280 x 720
Rear camera	13MP	13MP	13MP	13MP
Front camera	5MP	5MP	5MP	5MP
Processor	1.7GHz MediaTek MT6592 (octa-core)	1.7GHz MediaTek MT6592 (octa-core)	1.7GHz MediaTek MT6592 (octa-core)	1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 (quad-core)
RAM	2GB	2GB	1GB	1GB
GPU	Mali-450	Mali-450	Mali-400	Adreno 305
Battery	2500mAh	3100mAh	2000mAh	2000mAh
Android version	Android 4.4	Android 4.2	Android 4.2	Android 4.4
Price in Indonesia	IDR 2,000,000	IDR 2,250,000 (unofficial)	IDR 2,300,000	IDR 1,600,000

Polymer’s closest competition is the 5.5-inch Redmi Note, which hasn’t yet launched in Indonesia. An unofficial seller on Tokopedia sells the Redmi Note at IDR 2,250,000 (US$186), but it’ll likely be cheaper once Xiaomi starts official sales of it in Indonesia.

Looking purely at the specs, gadget lovers might be divided on whether they should buy the homegrown phone over the Chinese brand. As the AnTuTu Benchmark suggests, the Polymer may have better performance, but the Redmi Note has a larger screen and bigger battery capacity.

Emulating Xiaomi?

There are three ways in which we think Xiaomi has inspired Himax’s marketing strategy. First, just like Xiaomi, Himax sells its phone in batches online. Users need to sign up and grab limited “H-codes,” which are required if you want to buy a Himax phone online. It’s like a reservation system. These codes often run out in a matter of hours. Himax dished out 10,000 H-Codes for the Polymer in 3 hours and 10 minutes. A representative claims that eventually all the H-Codes were used up to buy 10,000 Polymer phones in the course of three days.

Secondly, Himax’s phone boxes look just like Xiaomi’s (pictured below). The third way is the funniest one: if you go to Xiaomi.co.id, you’ll be redirected to Himax.co.id instead. Not subtle.

Conclusion

Himax has been a breath of fresh air amongst the fierce local smartphone competition in Indonesia. The company brings in high-powered phones and sells them at very competitive prices. Just as Xiaomi disrupted the status quo in China, Himax is doing the same in its native Indonesia. Specification-wise, it stands taller than other local products. And when it comes to battling against the more seasoned Xiaomi, Himax isn’t doing all that badly.

Thankfully, Himax is not following bad old habits seen by many local manufacturers. If you uninstall all the Polymer’s bloatware apps, the Polymer has even fewer stock apps than the native Android OS found on Nexus devices.

But one huge issue that Himax needs to address is its service centers – well, its single, solitary hardware service center. As I found in this test, there are some customers who will need repairs, and the repair process isn’t convenient unless you happen to live near the Jakarta service center.

Still, the Polymer is excellent value. As long as everything functions properly, you’ll happily use it all day long. Arguably, it is one of the best bang-for-your-buck devices available under US$200.

Pros & cons

Polymer pros

• Nice back cover with metallic feel


• Interesting extra features in the camera


• Price to performance ratio is very good


• Pre-installed apps can be uninstalled

Polymer cons

• Back speakers sound very weak when the phone is lying flat


• Lack of service centers and customer support


• Some bugs impact overall experience

See: Xiaomi Mi4 is a bombshell in the $300 smartphone war – REVIEW

Inspired by Xiaomi, the budget Himax Polymer is ready to shake up the market (REVIEW)