The Sparkle V isn’t much of a looker, blending into the sea of uninspiring, bland, cheap Android phones. It’s not a big surprise that design was low on the list of priorities, but the likes of Microsoft and Sony have shown you can make an attractive cheap phone.
From the front, there’s a familiar black bezel, which is thicker above and below the phone’s screen. Around the back is a dark blue, matte plastic back plate, which can be a little slippery to the touch and is a magnet for greasy fingerprints. You can also grab the Sparkle V in red and white, but we can’t imagine that does much to improve the overall look.
The back plate is removable, clipping away from the bottom of the handset to reveal the removable battery, microSD card slot and dual-SIM options. The latter is something we’ve seen pop up in phones like the Moto G 2, giving users the option to switch between SIM cards from different regions to take advantage cheaper tariffs. This should make it useful for regular travellers who don’t want to get stung by big roaming charges