Aircel has partnered with Micromax to launch Canvas Beat, a new music smartphone. It went on sale recently as Canvas Beat A114R and packs a 5-inch (960 x 540 pixels) IPS display, powered by 1.2 GHz quad-core Broadcom BCM23550 processor with Vidcore IV GPU and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). It has a 8-megapixel auto focus rear camera with LED Flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with dual SIM support, similar to other Canvas smartphones.
Following the Canvas Unite and the Canvas Engage, Micromax have announced another budget quad-core device for the Indian market in the Micromax Canvas Fire A104. The device succeeds the very recently launched Micromax Canvas Fire A093.
Priced 6,999 INR, the smartphone is among the many that aim to take down the Motorola Moto E. It comes with a 4.5-inch FWVGA screen along with a quad-core CPU, which along with Android KitKat and 1GB RAM make for the phone’s USP. With most Indian makers having a device in this range, it would be interesting to see how well the Canvas Fire A104 fares. Continue reading “Micromax Canvas Fire A104 with Android 4.4 launched for Rs. 6999”
Micromax has partnered with Vodafone India to launch Canvas Knight with 2GB of free data for customers not active on a data pack. The pack would be activated in 48 hours on first Vodafone SIM inserted in the Canvas Knight before October 31, 2014. This offer would be extended to a wider portfolio of Micromax devices soon, says the company. Micromax started selling Canvas Knight A350 with Android 4.4 (KitKat) since last month. It is not clear when current Canvas Knight users would get the Kitkat update. Continue reading “Micromax teams up with Vodafone to offer 2GB of free data with Canvas Knight”
With MediaTek churning out chipsets night and day, costs of octa-core and hexa-core SoCs have plummeted through the past few months. Only yesterday did we see the launch of the ultra-affordable Wickedleak Wammy Neo Youth that packs an octa-core chipset with an MRP of under 10k INR, to which Micromax’s reply is the Canvas HD A190.
Continue reading “Hexa-core Micromax Canvas HD A190 goes on sale in India for Rs.13500”
Micromax is all set to launch the Canvas Fire A093 in its new Canvas Fire series. Manish Khatri from Mahesh Telecom reports that the phone would be priced at Rs. 6,299. It would come with a 4-inch WVGA screen. Even though the retailer doesn’t reveal any other details about the smartphone, Russian website hi-tech.mail.ru reveals that the smartphones would come with dual front-facing speakers. Continue reading “Micromax Canvas Fire A093 with 4-inch display, dual front speakers reportedly launching for Rs. 6299”
Micromax launched the Canvas Turbo Mini A200 with quad-core MediaTek MT6582 processor earlier this year, now the press image of the Micromax A190 has been leaked by @MMXNewscaster along with the specifications. The smartphone is expected to be powered by a 1.5 GHz hexa-core MediaTek MT6591 processor. Karbonn was the first company to launch its Titanium Hexa with this processor and the Xolo Play 6X-1000 that was unveiled last week is also powered by the same MT6591 processor.
Continue reading “Micromax A190 with 5-inch HD display, Hexa Core processor press image leaks out”
Micromax Bolt A069, the company’s latest smartphone in the Bolt series running Android 4.4 (KitKat) is now available on eBay.in. It has a 5-inch FWVGA screen and is powered by a 1.3GHz dual-core MediaTek MT6572 processor. It has a 5-megapixel fixed focus rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Continue reading “Micromax Bolt A069 with 5-inch display, Android 4.4 now available online for Rs. 5301”
Motorola Moto E, Micromax Unite 2, Xolo Q600s and Lava Iris X1 are part of the affordable value for money series of smartphones under the Rs.8,000 price tag and today, we put all of them against each other to help you make a better choice when you are about to purchase a budget smartphone. In this small comparison, we consider the display, performance, the camera, gaming and battery life of the smartphones to help you get a better perspective about these smartphones.
All these smartphones have dual-SIM capability and come with Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box.
Display
The specification of the displays is as follows –
Motorola Moto E – 4.3inch qHD (540×960 pixels) display 256ppi
Micromax Unite 2 – 4.7inch WVGA (480×800 pixels) display 199ppi
Lava Iris X1 – 4.5inch FWVGA (480×854 pixels) display 218ppi
Xolo Q600s – 4.5inch qHD (540×960 pixels) display 245ppi
Moto E is the sharpest display in terms of pixel density, but it is also the smallest and is the only in the lot to have on-screen buttons. So it has a comparatively very small display. Unite 2 has the biggest display amongst the lot, but also has the least dense display with just a WVGA display and a pixel density less than 200ppi. Lava Iris X1 has a reasonable 218ppi 4.5inch display while the Xolo Q600s has the second sharpest display.
In terms of brightness, the Xolo Q600s is the brightest with the Unite 2 coming in second, followed by Iris X1 and Moto E is the least bright. Xolo Q600s emerges as the strongest in terms of viewing angles with the Unite 2 again coming in second. The Moto E ’s display does better in terms of viewing angles than the one on the Lava Iris X1. Color accuracy is maintained well in the Xolo Q600s and to some extent in the Unite 2. The displays of Moto E and Iris X1 appear relatively cooler than usual.
Overall, in terms of display quality, the Xolo Q600s is the clear winner and Unite 2 comes in next. The displays of Moto E and Iris X1 come in next. If you are a fan of bigger displays, then you would be picking the X1 over Moto E as Moto E’s screen estate is shrunk down by on screen buttons.
Performance
In terms of general performance, the Snapdragon powered Moto E is better than the other three. The Unite 2 comes in next thanks to its quad-core MediaTek chip and the Broadcom quad-core chip powered X1 and Q600s take the last place. Both these phones are laggy and that shows in their general user interface. Opening the apps is much quicker on Moto E and Unite 2, while the Broadcom powered X1 and Q600s severely fall behind in this aspect. Web browsing on Chrome is pretty much the same on all these phones with pinch to zoom taking a few seconds to load and that is expected in a budget offering.
Camera
Coming to the camera, here is a quick look at the specifications of the various camera units.
Moto E – 5MP fixed focus – NO LED Flash – No front camera – 854x480pixels video
Unite 2 – 5MP Auto focus – LED Flash – 2MP front camera – 720p video
Q600s – 5MP Auto focus – LED Flash – VGA front camera – 720p video
Iris X1 – 8MP Auto focus – LED Flash – 2MP front camera – 1080p video
In terms of quality, the 8MP Iris X1 does very well while the Unite 2 and Q600s come in next with good details and colors. The fixed focus 5MP unit on Moto E is probably the worst performer in this range and if camera on a phone is very important to you, then you should reconsider Moto E. You can check out the samples of the four phones right below.
Motorola Moto E
Micromax Unite 2
Xolo Q600s
Lava Iris X1
Gaming
Among the four phones, Moto E takes the crown mainly because of its Adreno GPU while the others are stuck with VideoCore GPU or Mali GPU which aren’t quite capable. Most of the games we tried included – Subway Surfer, Riptide GP2, Temple Run 2, Dead Trigger 2 and Shadow gun. Moto E was able to run the casual games well, but just started lagging on the big ones like Shadow gun. The next best is the Unite 2 and that is because of the Mali400 GPU. The VideoCore GPU powered Iris X1 and Q600s performed less than the Moto E and Unite 2. Both these phones could run the game, but that isn’t their strongest suit.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHYnTjNOvAQ
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQju_ToG9lw
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cweKJuuFH-Q
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmNw9CwhzkM
Battery Life
Moto E is the winner here again. Moto E has striped down specifications of the Moto G, but Motorola have kept almost all of its battery juice intact. Moto G had a great battery life and the Moto E does even better. The other phones aren’t that good when compared to the Moto E, but all the three will last at least one day of normal usage. Moto E will definitely last a day and half of normal usage.
Conclusion
As you can see from the comparison above, no phone is perfect and at this price range, almost all of them are far from perfect. But the choice of the perfect phone for you rests with you. If you want an excellent display, but can do with average performance, then you can get the Xolo Q600s. If the phone needs to be fast, compact and have a long battery life, then the Motorola Moto E should be your choice. If you are a fan of big displays, the Micromax Unite 2 should be the one for you. If you want a premium looking device at a bargain price, then the Lava Iris X1 should be your choice with its iPhone like looks. All the phones have their pros and cons and we try to summarize it below.
Motorola Moto E
Pros
Cons
Micromax Unite 2
Pros
Cons
Xolo Q600s
Pros
Cons
Lava Iris X1
Pros
Cons
Micromax Canvas Gold A300 went on sale online last week priced at Rs. 23999. Now the smartphone is available on Flipkart for Rs. 20,999 for the Gold variant. The White with Gold variant comes at a slightly higher price tag. The Canvas Gold has a 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display, powered by a 2 GHz octa-core processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It features a 16-megapixel auto focus rear camera with Sony sensor, LED Flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Continue reading “Micromax Canvas Gold A300 price drops to Rs. 20999”
Micromax Canvas Duet II (EG111) went on sale earlier this year, now the Micromax Canvas Duet AE90 is available from eBay.in. It has a 4.5-inch qHD display, powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It has a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Continue reading “Micromax Canvas Duet AE90 with 4.5-inch qHD display, Dual SIM (GSM + CDMA) available online for Rs. 9299”
Micromax Unite A092 that surfaced on the official website last week is now available from online retailer Flipkart. It has a 4-inch WVGA screen, powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 (MSM8212) processor and runs on Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean). It has a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Continue reading “Micromax Unite A092 with quad-core processor, Android 4.3 now available for Rs. 6499”
After several leaks and rumors, the Micromax Canvas Gold A300 is now available from online retailer Infibeam. It has a 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display, powered by a 2 GHz octa-core processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It features a 16-megapixel auto focus rear camera with LED Flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Continue reading “Micromax Canvas Gold A300 with 5.5-inch 1080p display, Android 4.4 now available for Rs. 23999”
Micromax has introduced two Windows Phone 8.1 OS devices, Canvas Win W121 and Canvas Win W092. Among the two, Win W121 is more attractive. It is slimmer and has a leather-like finished back.
Continue reading “Micromax Canvas Win W121 Hands On and Photo Gallery”
Micromax has entered into the Windows Phone market with Canvas Win W092 and Canvas Win W121 in the Canvas Win series. The company partnered with Microsoft earlier this year to launch Windows Phone 8.1 smartphones. These are powered by quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processors and run on Windows Phone 8.1. The Canvas Win W092, an affordable Windows Phone handset has a 4-inch WVGA IPS screen, a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The Canvas Win W121 has a 5-inch HD display, a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has leather finish back panel. Continue reading “Micromax Canvas Win W092 and Canvas Win W121 with Windows Phone 8.1 launched for Rs. 6500 and Rs. 9500”
Micromax just sent over an invite signalling the launch of its upcoming Windows Phone handset. The phone will be a part of the Canvas range of products as expected. The event invitation also indicates that the phone will be based on a Qualcomm chipset. If rumors are to be believed, two handsets will be launched at the event slated for 16th June.
The devices are expected to straddle the lower to mid range spectrum. Over at BUILD, Microsoft unveiled an updated edition of Windows Phone that was further tuned for lower cost handsets despite adding much needed features. Additionally, the company has removed the licensing fee for Windows Phone handsets making it a viable alternative for local cost smartphone manufacturers.The two handsets are expected to be priced at between Rs. 6,000 – 7,000 for the lower end model and Rs. 10,000 – 11,000 for the mid range phone. Continue reading “Micromax teases upcoming Windows Phone handset, set to launch on 16th June”
