REVIEW SMARTPHONE SMARTPHONE Price: `6,499 MICROMAX CANvas A1 Price: `6,990 The enticing smartphone, though bundled with mediocre hardware, offers spectacular performance and promises latest updates INTEX AQUA Star — Ashok Pandey Intex Aqua Star is a well designed 5 inch smartphone in sub 8K category he enticing Micromax A1 Android One smartphone is bundled with — Rohit Arora mediocre hardware and runs over Android KitKat 4.4, yet promises qua Star is another budget offering form Intex which comes to offer better performance and latest updates. With its unique T with Android 4.4.2 Kitkat. The phone looks exactly like Aqua design elements like a large metal plate around the camera, the chunky Style which we reviewed last month; however it is just bigger phone boasts 4.5-inch display with 854X480p resolution, which is not A in size. The sleek iPhone 4 kind of look with metal finish edges gives impressive, though offers decent viewing angles and bright colors. The it a premium look. The back panel has a shiny dotted texture which 2 MP front camera can be used for selfie and video chats while the is made up of very light weight plastic that makes the phone quite rear 5 MP autofocus camera with a LED flash produces decent quality slippery. But overall the phone looks good. images in daylight, not so impressive, but one of the finest at this price The 5” IPS LCD screen is bright, offers a good touch response point. Shockingly, you can’t save images without adding a memory stick, particularly during typing, but has a poor resolution of 480x854p though about 2.27 GB space is available out of 4 GB internal storage. that accounts a low 196ppi. The reflective angles are also not good Canvas A1 comes with stock android KitKat 4.4 that comes with a and display is not clearly visible in direct sunlight. The phone runs on voice command option. You can access apps, set alarms, and search Android 4.4.2 and is pretty much stock android. Intex is shipping its over the internet using the voice command. Google has promised up- smartphones with an ecosystem of Intex apps - Intex Zone, Intex Games dates for next two years, which means that update to Android L will also Club and applications such as Zapak, Xender- a transmission app for be available later this year. The budget smartphone is equipped with media files, Saavn, Quickoffice, Flipkart, Newshunt, etc. quad-core MediaTek MT 6582 chipset, 1GB RAM and microSD slot with The 8MP rear shooter takes average shots in proper light but delivers up to 32 GB support. The impressive performer never lagged during our noisy and poor quality pictures in low test, even while playing heavy games light. The front camera is sluggish and and using several apps simultaneous- KEY SPECS: clearly fails to impress. KEY SPECS: ly. It houses a 1700 mAh battery that 5-inch FWVGA (480x854 pixels) IPS Fuelled by a 1.3 GHz quad-core 4.5-inch, IPS LCD display with 480 can last for 8-9 hours on a full charge display, Android 4.4.2, 1GB RAM, 1.3 GHz x 854 pixels, 1.3 GHz Quad-core, quad-core MediaTek MT6582M CPU, 8MP MediaTek MT6582M CPU, the phone and during the battery test, it lasted for Auto Focus rear and 2MP front camera, 1 GB RAM, Android 4.4.4 KitKat, performs well in basic operations. accelerometer & proximity sensors, about 4 hours and 55 minutes while 8GB inbuilt memory and expandable up-to 32 GB, 2000 mAh battery Loading and switiching of applica- 4 GB internal, microSD up to 32 GB, playing video on full brightness and 5 MP autofocus rear camera with LED PROS: tions is hassle free and the 1 GB sound over the Wi-Fi. In our bench- flash, 2 MP front camera Phone looks good, support of 21 Indian RAM delivers average performance in mark tests, it performed quite good languages is a good addition, PROS: touch responsive 5” screen offers good multitasking. Smooth performer, comfortable in and scored 18708 on Antutu, 3726 on typing experience Intex has designed a hands, battery backup Quadrant, 1720 on Vellamo HTML5 Bottom line: CONS: budget Android phone, particularly for CONS: and 2869 on 3Dmark Ice Storm. Poor reflective angles of the screen, Screen, camera the Indian consumers who need large Bottom line: Moto E and Xiaomi slippery design screen, good looks, multitasking and WRITE TO: Redmi 1S have better screens than WRITE TO: Micromax Informatics Ltd Intex Aqua native language support. The phone is M: 0124-4811000 Canvas A1, yet this one has better Phone: +91 11 41610224 a good package under 7000. E: [email protected] software with a modest hardware. Email: [email protected] PricE PERFormancE FEaturES OVEraLL PricE PERFormancE FEaturES OVEraLL 66 PCQUEST NOVEMBER 2014 pcquest.com twitter.com/pcquest facebook.com/pcquest linkd.in/pcquest [email protected].