Micromax A116 Canvas HD: Rush Hour

The Micromax A116 HD

Micromax a new dawn for Indian Smartphones, has now rolled out its Canvas HD A116 Smartphone. This the phone came after the Canvas 2 and the company was sure about its success before its launch, hence it proved right as it launch within hours it gone out of stock. Seeing this rate success I also got attached to this Smartphone. So, let’s talk about the Smartphone in-depth, I will cover every stuff related to Canvas HD starting from Key features of A116 Canvas HD to UI.

Key Features

• The Canvas HD also has an improved front camera
• Enhanced speaker has been placed than that was in A110.
• MediaTek’s MT6589 1.2 GHz quad core processor for smooth multi-tasking.
• An HD IPS screen with a HD resolution of 1280×720 and a color depth of 16.7 million.

Operating System- Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean

The Canvas HD comes with the latest Android Operating system-Android Jelly Bean v4.1.2.Very few current-generation low-cost Android phones come pre-loaded with Android Jelly Bean; this is a further improvement over the Canvas 2 which comes pre-loaded with ICS.

Design and Build

Compared to the A110, I am happy to report the A116 scores much higher in the build quality department. The front looks similar, but the rear cover now has a glossy finish with a fine sprinkle of pixie dust. This gives it a nice shine and also manages to conceal quite a bit of fingerprints. The entire handset bears a striking resemblance to the HTC One X, so it scores high on aesthetics as well. The battery cover is easy to remove thanks to the soft plastic. Inside, we have two GSM SIM slots with the microSD card slot in between. None of these are hot-swappable and you’ll need to remove the battery to insert the cards.

The power and volume rocker buttons assume their usual place on either side of the handset and are easy to reach. The headphone jack and microUSB port are placed on the top. The Canvas HD is slightly narrower than the A110 thanks to the smaller bezel around the screen; it is lighter as well at 157 g. The handset is quite comfortable even if you don’t have large hands and fits snugly in your pocket. You’ll want to be careful where you place your phone, though, as the protruding camera lens could get scratched easily. Overall, I really like what Micromax has achieved here; it is definitely a step above the previous offering.

UI(User Interface):

IPS(In-Plane Switching) panel makes a return in the Canvas HD, but instead of a lowly WVGA resolution, the A116 boasts of an impressive HD (1280 x 720) resolution, which makes all the difference in the world. Text is sharper, images are more vivid and crisp and the UI simply looks better. The panel itself has good viewing angles along with good colours. However, I noticed that the videos didn’t have the same level of vividness as photos. All my test videos and the ones I shot had weak black levels and the contrast was quite low, so it appears as if there’s a white haze throughout. I only faced this during video playback and through any video player. The A116 features a lightly-modified Jelly Bean 4.1.2. You get notification toggles and extra settings in the menu to configure the two SIM cards.

The User Interface is sleek

Hardware:

The Canvas HD is powered by the MediaTek MT6589 quad-core SoC. This is made up of four ARM Cortex-A7 CPUs running at 1.2GHz and a PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU. The SoC is fabricated using the 28nm process, so it should sip power rather than gulp it down. The chipset also houses the baseband radios, so there’s no need for a second chip. 

MediaTek chipset

This budget oriented SoC packs in quite a punch as well. In benchmarks, the Canvas HD is right on the heels of the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S III. I got an impressive 13043 points in AnTuTu and 4004 points in Quadrant, which is pretty good. All this power, along with a whole 1GB of RAM, translates well into real world performance. The UI is incredibly smooth with the occasional lag creeping in. Apps open and close quickly and games like Temple Run 2 and Angry Birds Space run smoothly. Even while running these heavy tasks, the phone gets warm at the most.

The Benchmark Standard

Camera Quality:

The 8MP shooter seems to have been lifted from the A110, albeit with a slightly different interface. There’s the usual selection of exposure, colour effect, scene modes and white balance. For stills, the camera is also capable of burst mode, up to 99 shots. Unlike the One X, holding down the shutter button doesn’t kick-start burst mode immediately. There’s a little lag and that’s mainly due to the focus speed being a little slow. Even for macro shots, the camera takes more than a couple of seconds to focus before it’s ready to capture. The image quality is pretty good for indoor and outdoor shots. The sensor is able to pick up decent amount of detail and accurate colours. Once you zoom in to 100 percent, the details get a bit hazy, but that’s to be expected from a camera at this price point.

Battery Life

The A116 is supported by a 2000mAh battery, it is the ideal phone for the young generation who is always on the lookout for better, faster and savvier smart phones with the 1GB RAM it gives you wide support of Apps and HD Games. MediaTek’s processor and the 1GB RAM give you multitasking over 30 Apps at a time including some of the HD Games.The Battery Backup is good enough that it carries a 6-7 Hours Talk time Backup, which is the key features for such huge phone with such huge display and performance.

Bottom Line

The Micromax A116 Canvas HD is available for a bargain price of Rs.13, 990(INR), which easily makes it the most powerful smartphone under Rs.15, 000(INR) right now. The best part is the powerful specifications on paper actually translate well into real world performance, which makes this very usable as a primary phone. The Canvas HD is lighter and slimmer than the A110 has a much better screen, comes with Jelly Bean, packs in a powerful SoC, 1080p video recording and playback and a surprisingly decent battery life. This makes it a steal at this price point, so no wonder it’s sold out everywhere. While I highly recommend the Canvas HD if you can find it. For now, the Micromax A116 Canvas HD is the handset to beat in the mid-range price bracket.

Rating: 3.5/5

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The Apple iPhone 5: Laws Of Attraction

It is the Smartphone. Apple spent plenty of time and money acquiring the name, and for good reason. It’s the most well-known and, often, the most desired phone. There’s a reason it’s the “iPhone 5 review”, not “Apple iPhone 5 review”. When people who aren't up to date on mobile technologies ask, I almost always suggest purchasing the iPhone. And in its sixth iteration, the iPhone 5 remains the smartphone of choice.

It’s no longer the best smartphone in the world, but not getting one would be a big mistake. Because even though the hardware is extremely competitive with today’s top Android phones, the entire package makes this the best phone you can buy.

Specifications

Key Features: 

4in, 640 x 1136 pixel screen; New A6 processor; 8MP camera with 1080p video and panorama mode; New iOS6 Maps app.

Operating System- iOS 6 (6.0.2 update launched)

The iPhone 5 comes with iOS 6 as standard. But, at this point it’s difficult to see where the unique differences are between it running on an iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 viz. Flyover, turn-by-turn navigation, Passbook, Photo Stream sharing, FaceTime over cellular, VIP Mailboxes, Facebook integration, Do Not Disturb, improved Siri, pre-determined text replies to phone calls, the list goes on. Conceivably, this could deter iPhone 4S owners from upgrading, though if app developers take advantage of the upgraded processor and screen and launch more iPhone 5-specific content, their arms could be twisted. Not that the pre-sales figures suggest Apple has much to worry about...

iPhone 5: Maps

The biggest drawback I found is the new Maps app. Apple has replaced Google Maps with a new maps app of its own. This app has one huge advantage over the iPhone version of Google Maps — it now offers free, voice-prompted, turn-by-turn navigation. Google had made this available on its Android phones, but not the iPhone. Apple’s navigation worked very well, with clear directions displayed as large green highway signs.

But the app is in other ways a step backward from the familiar Google app. For instance, while Apple’s maps feature a 3-D “Flyover” view of some central cities, they lack Google’s very useful ground-level photographic street views. And they also lack public-transit routing. Apple will instead link you to third-party transit apps. Also, while I found Apple’s maps accurate, they tend to default to a more zoomed-in view than Google’s, making them look emptier until you zoom out.

Compare screen shots of Google’s maps app and Apple’s own maps app.

iPhone 5 White House map (Apple Maps)

iPhone 4S White House map (Google Maps)

                                  

                         

 

iPhone 5 storage

Decided to get a brand new iPhone 5 but not sure which storage capacity to get? 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB all have their pros and cons, so it's important to weigh all the options carefully and get the very best price/performance ratio for you.

The current US prices for iPhone 5, with full carrier subsidies are:

·         16GB: $199 or $12.44 a GB

·         32GB: $299 or $9.34 a GB

·         64GB: $399 or $6.23 a GB

Bigger Screen

On increasing the iPhone’s screen size, Apple took a different approach than competitors. It kept the same side-to-side width, yet added height to grow the screen from its previous 3.5-inch size. For those who prefer the gargantuan screens on some other phones, like the 4.8-inch display on Samsung’s Galaxy S III, the iPhone 5’s screen likely won’t suffice. These competing big screens are typically both taller and wider.

However, I found the new iPhone screen much easier to hold and manipulate than its larger rivals and preferred it. In my view, Apple’s approach makes the phone far more comfortable to use, especially one-handed. It’s easier to carry in a pocket or purse and more natural-looking when held up to your face for a call.And the moment you turn it on, you notice that the new, larger, screen can display more content—six rows of icons instead of five and more contacts, emails and calendar entries without scrolling.

Despite the larger size, Apple managed to retain the same number of pixels per inch on the iPhone 5 as on earlier models, so the new model keeps the “Retina display” effect, which allows for sharp details. The screen continues to look great.There’s a temporary downside: Many apps will fail to fill the whole of the larger screen until they are revised. But they still work as intended.

Hardware

While aesthetic and physical changes are blatant, the most significant upgrade to the iPhone 5 is internal. The new A6 processor is much faster than the iPhone 4S before it, a 1.3GHz dual-core chip with twice the speed. It even provides better overall performance — between everyday use and graphic-heavy apps — than the iPad 3, largely considered one of the most powerful tablets on the market. It accomplishes this thanks to an all-new architecture designed by Apple based on the ARM Cortex A9, but different enough to increase performance beyond similar chips.

In effect, the iPhone 5 is as good for gaming and twice as fast as the iPad 3, and far more power efficient to boot. As you’ll read below, the performance boost with the A6 processor is so critical that it is the best reason for iPhone owners to upgrade to the iPhone 5. It’s the fastest smartphone in the world. The improved processor, doubled RAM (1GB), and more efficient software make this significant improvement. It’s remarkable.

The iPhone 5 is one of the most impressive pieces of hardware ever built. It looks great, feels excellent, and is blazingly fast. There are some problems, such as easy aesthetic damage and that the taller screen is more difficult to use one-handed, but by and large the iPhone 5 is one of the best built smartphones you can buy today.

Camera Quality

The iPhone has always had excellent camera quality and the same holds true with the iPhone 5. It still shoots 8MP stills like on the iPhone 4S, though quality has improved, albeit slightly. Photos are sharper, and pixel for pixel pictures come out clearer and they are more pleasant to look at. Colors are more accurate, and even HDR photography has improved.

However, the improvements seem almost comparable to the already excellent iPhone 4S camera. Photos are indeed clearer, sharper, and provide better color, but the level of growth has stagnated compared to previous iPhone models. That’s not to say it isn’t a good camera, quite the opposite. I believe that Apple may have run into a technological barrier with the camera sensor, but there is no evidence to support that theory.

Some users — not all — have found purple flaring when shooting bright light sources due to the sapphire crystal glass cover. I haven’t experienced it, nor have I seen it in person with any iPhone 5′s other people own, but many have complained about the issue. Apple has not claimed that it is a problem and offers no fix for it.

Benchmarks & Performance

The iPhone 5 broke every benchmark record against both competing smartphones and tablets. If that’s not impressive enough, it did so at some pretty spectacular margins. That’s why, as mentioned above, the latest A6 processor is the best reason to buy the iPhone 5 over the 4S. Take a look at the benchmarks below.

 In Browsermark (please note that this is based on Browsermark 1.0, which as of    this writing is no longer available; we’ll begin including Browsermark 2.0 numbers  in the near future), the iPhone 5 kills. It nearly topples 200,000 points, and is 40,000 points better than the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700T; a 10″ tablet that we wrote is the best Android tablet on the market. This sort of web-browsing performance is unprecedented. It’s easy to tell the difference Safari.

Again, the iPhone 5 dominates with the fastest performance we’ve seen to date. The iPhone 5 completes the Sunspider Javascript test in under a minute, and is the first device I've tested that can muster that sort of speed.

When it comes to graphics performance, the iPhone 5 does an exceptional job. Android devices like the LG Optimus G are catching up to the iPhone 5 already, but by and large the iPhone 5 is the dominant smartphone when it comes to performance. However, considering the growth of Android hardware, I expect the iPhone to be overtaken in graphical performance sometime in 2013, perhaps by summer, if not early spring. We’re still testing competing devices, but for the moment the iPhone 5 is the best smartphone for gaming performance and web browsing. The 4th generation iPad is slightly faster, but it does utilize more GPU cores. No phone or tablet, with the exception of the iPad 4, is faster than the iPhone 5.

Battery

I’m equally impressed by the battery life and disappointed that Apple hasn’t increased the capacity of the iPhone’s battery. The measly 1432mAh capacity battery, compared to the 2000+ mAh batteries of competitors, has excellent battery life but it doesn’t improve significantly over the iPhone 4S. Using multiple apps simultaneously, especially GPS-based apps, will drain the battery within a few short hours. Battery life drops 10% every 15-20 minutes (depending on your data connection) when using Apple Maps for navigation, streaming music, and having push email enabled. Competing Android devices today will drop 10% every 20-30 minutes, even with larger displays.

The battery is practically identical to the iPhone 4S’s 1423mAh capacity battery, which considering the size increase of the iPhone 5 is unexpected. However, the iPhone 5 is extremely efficiency on LTE, Wi-Fi, during calls, and during general use. It is often on-par with competing Android devices under regular use, though it cannot last as long on standby than competing Android models. When straining the iPhone 5, it will also buckle much faster than most Android phones because of the lower-capacity battery.

The iPhone 5 does last a full day, but strenuous apps like the GPS will drain the battery too quickly. Even the Reminders app, which Apple boasted could remind users of something when they reached a destination, will leave the iPhone powerless after just a few hours. As more apps and inherent phone functions require more battery power, the iPhone 5 has a smarter, more efficient battery better, but not a better one.

The bottom line

The iPhone 5 may not be the work of art that the iPhone 4/4S was, but it is certainly one of the best smartphones in existence. The iPhone 5 is a diagonal step forward, improving the overall quality of the phone but not at the same pace as the competition. While Apple has consistently remained ahead, this year was the first time we saw a smartphone better than the iPhone 4S, and in terms of hardware and design the iPhone 5 isn’t necessarily the best smartphone in the world.

But if there’s anything that the iPhone is known for, it’s as a multi-function device, a jack-of-all-trades smartphone that does everything users need and more. Competitors like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Motorola Droid Razr HD Maxx offer similar designs — the former as a combination tablet-smartphone, the latter as a long-lasting phone for 2-3 days of use — the iPhone 5 is nearly perfect for multimedia. The new widescreen display and excellent screen are great for watching movies. The thin and light frames, as well as the vastly improved processor are excellent for playing games. And when it comes to apps, there is no competition to the iPhone.

The iPhone 5 does leave a lot to be desired, and in many ways does not improve much over last year’s iPhone 4S. Yet the iPhone 5 is brutishly powerful and still very refined. It’s far more elegant than the massive, overly-masculine Android smartphone that come out with kevlar and are bigger and always brick-shaped. Even with its flaws the iPhone 5 is the most desirable smartphone in the world, one I can’t recommend enough. It’s a great device. You won’t be disappointed.

Rating: 4/5

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The Samsung Galaxy Grand: A Grand Review

The Samsung Galaxy Grand is an attempt by Samsung to woo those who can't afford a top end device.

The Samsung Galaxy Grand

The Galaxy Grand costs Rs 21,500, which is almost twice as expensive as its low-cost rivals, 

The Galaxy Grand was announced just after the announcement of the Micromax A116HD, and these two phones come within the same price range.

Specifications

Key Features:

The Galaxy Grand is supported by the state of the heart hardware with several other premium interactive features like pop-up play,direct call,smart alter,multi-app window(as that in Samsung Galaxy Note-II).

Operating System – Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean

The Galaxy Grand comes with the latest Android Operating system-Android Jelly Bean v4.1.2.Very few current-generation low-cost Android phablets come preloaded with Android Jelly Bean; most of them come with Android ICS—however, you get the OS in the stock form. 

Cellular network – Dual SIM GSM and 3G 

The Galaxy Grand is the first "phablet" from a tier 1 brand to offer dual-SIM capability in the sub-Rs 21,500(INR) price band. Quad-band 2G is supported by both the SIM card slots, whereas 3G connectivity is supported only in the SIM1 slot.

Display – 5-inch WVGA

An HD display would have made the Galaxy Grand a killer deal, but unfortunately, it sports a 5-inch WVGA display that has a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. On the other hand, you have the Micromax Canvas HD with a 720p IPS LCD. The pixel density of Galaxy Grand’s display is 187 ppi as against 294 ppi in the Canvas HD—that’s a difference of a good 107 ppi or 57 percent in density! That doesn’t mean it’s bad; there’s ample real estate for viewing web pages and documents comfortably and videos are enjoyable on the large 5-inch display. Lastly, the display is fairly good on personal experience.

Quite slim at 9.6mm

Hardware and Software

It’s powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. According to one source who captured a glimpse of the Galaxy Grand at the Broadcom booth at the CES 2013, it’s quite evident that it’s powered by the Broadcom BCM28155 SoC. It comprises a pair of ARM Cortex-A9 cores and Broadcom’s own VideoCore-IV graphics engine for 2D and 3D acceleration.

Camera – 8MP with LED flash

The 8MP primary camera featured in the Galaxy Grand has the same resolution as the one featured in Note II. There’s LED flash and digital image stabilisation to help you take clear shots in low light. Videos can be recorded at 1080p at 30fps. The Canvas HD too features an 8MP camera with LED flash. Also, the secondary front camera in the Galaxy Grand is a 2MP one as against the VGA camera in the Canvas HD. The Galaxy Grand beats Micromax Canvas HD in terms of camera quality.

Storage – 8GB with the option to expand by up to 64GB

Here, Galaxy Grand has an upper hand over Micromax Canvas HD. Firstly, Galaxy Grand packs 8GB of built-in storage, which is twice as much as in Canvas HD. And secondly, in contrast to microSD expansion of up to 32GB in Canvas HD, Galaxy Grand can take up to a 64GB microSD card. 

Battery – Li-ion 2100mAh

Both, the Galaxy Grand and Canvas HD feature a hefty 2100 Li-ion mAh battery to provide decent amount of talk time in addition to fuelling other tasks such as media playback, web browsing, gaming and so on.But on the other hand the Galaxy Grand sustains its battery life much longer on single charge as compared to the Micromax Canvas A110.

The bottom line

Off late, we’ve seen many low-cost Android phablets (such as Micromax Canvas 2 and Lava Iris 501) featuring a dual-core processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB of internal storage and at least a 5 megapixel camera—you can buy one for around Rs 11,000. Cough up another few thousand rupees and you can buy a more feature rich device like the Canvas HD. However, if you’re reluctant to consider a lower-tier brand and don’t want to look beyond top-tier brands, the Galaxy Grand is for you with Android Jelly-Bean Operating system pre-installed. The specifications look good, and the price point is sweet!

Rating:3.5/5

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