Comio S1 Review


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Back in August, China-based Topwise Communication made its entry into the Indian market with the launch of Comio S1 and a couple of mobiles. The Comio S1 comes in Royal Black and Sunrise Gold colors and is priced at Rs. 8,999. Placed perfectly amid other mid-range smartphones, does it pass with flying colors? Let’s check it out.

Box contents

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  • Comio S1 mobile
  • Wall charger (5V-1A)
  • Earphone
  • MicroUSB cable
  • SIM ejector
  • User manual and warranty information
  • Clear Protective case

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Comio S1 specifications

  • 5.2-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD display
  • 1.25GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6737 64-bit processor with Mali-T720 GPU
  • 2GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD
  • Android 7.0 (Nougat)
  • 13MP rear camera with LED Flash
  • 8MP front-facing camera
  • Dual SIM
  • Fingerprint sensor
  • 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS
  • 2700mAh battery

Display, design, and hardware

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The Comio S1 sports a 5.2-inch HD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The display is bright, vibrant and the color reproduction is good to an extent. At some parts, it looks faded as well. The viewing angles are good and the sunlight legibility is below average and reflective.

The Comio S1 comes in a unibody design and there is nothing to go awe about it. In fact, we have seen lots of mobile phones in this design previously. Talking about the placement, this smartphone has an 8MP front-facing camera, earpiece and a bunch of sensors above the display. Below, we have a home button that also acts as a fingerprint scanner as well. Having said, that company have opted for on-screen navigation instead of capacitive buttons on either side of the home button.

Moving right, we have a volume rocker, power button and onto the left, we have a hybrid SIM slot. The bottom of the device is busy with a speaker grille, Micro USB port, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

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Turning back, we have a 13MP rear camera along with LED flash. The button on the sides are also made of metal and the feedback response is good and smooth.

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It has a hybrid SIM slot that accepts two nano SIMs or a nano SIM and a microSD.

Performance

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The Comio S1 is powered by MediaTek MT6735 processor clocked at 1.25GHz under the hood. During our day-to-day usage, we experienced a lot of lags and hangs when tried to multi-task between light apps. Having said that, this smartphone is clearly not made for heavy usage purposes. The loudspeaker quality is average as well. Check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.

Comio S1 AnTuTu 6

Comio S1 Geekbench 3 Single-Core

Comio S1 Geekbench 3 Multi-Core

Comio S1 3D Mark Ice Storm Unlimited

Software

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The Comio S1 is shipped with Android 7.0 Nougat with Comio UI v2.0 on top. It comes with pre-installed with native apps and usual Google utility apps as well. From the lock screen, you can access the camera app and nothing else.

It also has a Miravision technology that enhances the picture quality. In this case, you can go to the picture mode to change display effects — Standard, Vivid and User mode. When you select the User mode, you can manually tune in the display settings including contrast, saturation, Picture brightness, sharpness, color temperature, dynamic contrast and much more.

It also has a 360 Clone app that helps in transferring contents including contacts, text messages, call records, WiFi passwords, phone ringtone, photos, music and much more from your old phone to new phone. You also get a 360 Security app pre-installed in your device that helps you to boost the memory, clean junk and protects your device from any malware detection.

Moreover, you also get a ‘Freezer’ app pre-installed, where you can disable/stop the app from running in the background, consuming RAM and battery. You also get an Anti-theft app that helps you to get back the phone when you lose it or being stolen. Just like dual space app, it also has Avatar master app, where you can clone apps as well. Apart from that, you also get UC browser, Xender apps too.

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Out of 2GB RAM, the user gets around 1GB when default apps are running in the background and out of 32GB, the user gets around 25GB free. Moreover, you can also expand the storage option up to 128GB through MicroSD card slot.

Camera

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The Comio S1 comes with a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and an 8MP front-facing camera as well. The camera app lags too much when it comes to taking Bokeh effect or HDR in that case. Photos under perfect daylight condition are good, but when zoomed, the details are lost. When it comes to low-light, the picture is bad with the huge amount of grains on it. However, the flash at low light compliments the subject without overpowering it. Have a look at the below samples that have been shot on Comio S1 in different lighting conditions:

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HDR OFF
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HDR ON

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Comio-S1-Flash-Off

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Selfie Bokeh
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Selfie
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Beauty mode

Fingerprint, Connectivity

The Comio S1 has a fingerprint scanner embedded into the home button on the front. You can add up to 5 different fingerprints on the device. It is quick to unlock the phone when the finger is placed on the home button.

The Comio S1 supports connectivity options including 4G VoLTE for Reliance Jio, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS. It also comes with a native dialer with an option to message and hide the dialer on the same page. You also get a dedicated music player and FM radio as well. The call quality is good on both earpiece and loudspeaker as well.

Battery

The Comio S1 is powered by a 2700mAh battery under the hood, which is just average. It lacks quick charging technology as well. With casual or light usage, the battery can take you through a day, but if you are a heavy user, you need to have a power bank with you.

Conclusion

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Overall, the Comio S1 is another mediocre smartphone that places itself among the sea of other mid-range smartphones. The Comio S1 with boring design, middle-of-the-road performance, and the slow-moving camera is worth skipping. At this price tag — Rs. 8,999, you can opt for Xiaomi Redmi 4, Moto E4 and several other phones in the range.