I would never have imagined myself to own a Micromax phone (and that I would come back and post a review on MS!). Micromax brand image has improved over the years for sure. So, instead of a blunt NO to the so-called-cheap phones, I decided to give it a try.
And how it fares? It certainly is not a kick-ass phone, but if you had got another phone there are great chances you would envy this one or feel missed out (mostly for value-for-money). In detail below
Build
There is no “wow” factor on the build on this Samsung look-alike. I have a black version, with flip cover installed. The 5” phone with rounded corners and branding at the back is common these days. Just the back cover feels little cheap; but the advantage is that the matte rubberish finish doesn’t attract fingerprint
Why you would want to buy this phone?
Even the higher priced Samsung galaxy grand does not have a HD IPS display. That is for sure the best feature of this phone. It is comfortable on the eyes from side angles, which can help your friends/kids/wife to peep into your phone comfortably when watching those LOL videos!
The quad core processor with 1GB ram is the next feature that is too good for the price (under 13K). There are times when some widgets blink, but I haven’t noticed anything you can call a lag in the phone on heavy processing. Micromax runs pretty much stock android and has rolled out 4.2 upgrade (2nd phone in India after Galaxy S4; that is fast!).
This has improved the battery life tremendously and of course a better Andriod version is good to have. I charge this one upto 60% and forget for the day. In fact on full charge and after many hours of wifi/music/clicks with flash/long hours on flipboard/some YouTube videos and all those background and foreground processing (read: fidgeting) the battery lasts a day and a half.
There are few who crib about poor quality photos. To me 8MP rear with flash & 2.1MP front is sufficient enough for those click and share to social networks that are often viewed on small screens
What will make you think?
No SNS integration, no ‘smart’ features like that of Samsung & no DLNA or NFC. On the accessibility front, the lack of a dedicated key in a big phone with flipcover is a handicap – I invariably need both my hands available to use the phone; picking calls, for instance.
The Auto-brightness is the other annoyance. It keeps flickering rather than smoothly transitioning into higher or lower brightness levels. Poor external speaker, low internal memory (2GB only, but expandable using SD card), slow GPS locks, often slow reacting proximity sensors are other unpolished features. If you are a very advanced user you will have to miss out on few stuff you are used to.
In short …
Micromax has missed a few tricks that would have m
ade this an excellent phone. It is now a good phone purely on a gorgeous large display and sheer performance of its quad core processor. What Micromax has done very well is to keep the price very affordable. If you can get rid of your brand mongering, Micromax will be right up on the list of choices when you are looking for your next phone
(On the hindsight, the Xolos and the Spices and the Aquas could be good too! Who knows!)
Note: review also posted on envyram.wordpress.com my personal blog.