New Delhi: Micromax is one company that has dramatically altered the budget phone market in India and its new range of phones are on the threshold of ushering in a new wave of change. Priced attractively at Rs 9,990, Micromax last week introduced a 5-inch smartphone - Canvas A100 - that opens up a new battleground - low-cost Android phablets.
The phone, which comes in black colour, has a 5-inch big glass screen on the front and a removable plastic back cover that has rubbery feel, which makes the back cover scratch-proof. However, the giant screen is not scratch-resistant, which means that you will have to get it screen-guarded as soon you buy the phone.
One good thing about the Micromax Canvas A100 is that the design doesn't give it a budget feel. Its all-black look has a certain elegance about it.
The phone is comfortable to hold and does not weigh much. If you compare the weight of this phone with other large-screened smartphones like Samsung Galaxy Note, Samsung Galaxy S III and Motorola Razr, you may find it a little heavier. But on its own, it wouldn’t feel like a rock in your pocket. The front is text-free and the Micromax logo is on the back cover.
The 5-inch display has a resolution of 480x854 pixels. The phone produces good colours and offers decent viewing angles. Reading e-books, surfing the Internet and watching movies on this jumbo screen was a pleasurable experience. The touch-experience may not be at par with the best I’ve experienced, but it is also not a compromise. Even playing games was good fun.
The Micromax A100 has a 5 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, which captures quality snaps in both bright-light and low-light conditions. Also, the phone shoots decent videos. The camera offers a number of features including exposure value, scene modes and flash modes, to customise images. The phone also has a 0.3 megapixel front camera.
The phone runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. It is powered by a 1GHz processor and has 512 MB RAM. It allowed me to swimmingly perform four functions at a time, but the multitasking experience may get cramped if you try to get the phone to do more stuff.
The phone comes with 4GB internal memory, out of which the user accessible is 2.73GB. Its memory can be expanded up to 32GB using a microSD card.
The phone has a good battery life. Engineered with a 2000mAh battery, the phone takes around 3.5 hours to get fully charged. And once fully charged, it can easily last for a day even after putting it to a little more than normal use.
A full charge gave me 24 hours worth of juice, in which I watched a 1.5-hour movie, listened to music for around 1.5 hours, browsed the Internet, received and made calls, and downloaded a few apps from the Play Store.
The phone also comes packed with good speakers, which produce fairly good sound.
Verdict
Currently, this is the only phone in this category. Though the Samsung Galaxy Note also has a 5.3-inch screen, but it is an altogether different price bracket. Spice had also announced the launch of its 5-inch Spice Stellar Horizon smartphone, but the phone is yet to hit stores. Loaded with rich features the Micromax A100 make it to our recommendations list. It's pricing has also earned it some bonus points.
Pros
+ Sophisticated design
+ Quality camera
+ Jumbo display
+ Cost-effective
Cons
- Scratch-prone screen
Rating: 4/5
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