The gadget in my pocket is bigger
than yours!
When Dell launched the Streak, it was a
great product but launched way ahead of its time and wasn’t well accepted in
the market. Fast-forward to 2011 and Samsung took a bold step and launched the
Samsung Galaxy Note. It was quite a good product with great power under the
hood, a skin that complemented the Android OS and a stylus that could be used
for a whole lot more than just navigating.
Given the popularity of the Note, every
manufacturer wanted a taste of the phablet pie. So what is a phablet? Well, it
is technically the sweet spot between a really large phone (larger than
4.5-inches) and a small sized tablet (around 7-inches).
We got around 13 phablets this month,
ranging from under $15,000 all the way up to the Samsung Galaxy Note II, which
is the most expensive at $56398.5.
Most of the products are homogenous, which
is to say that 9 out of 10 of their features are the same. But some of them do
bring some interesting distinctions to the crowd.
Phones under $15,000
This price bracket can be considered as
testing waters for those that want to know what it feels like to own a
tablet/smartphone hybrid. These devices have a 5-inch display but the
resolution, at 480x800, isn’t the best. Surprisingly, the processors of the
phones are 1 GHz dual-core except the Zync Cloud Z5 that has a single core
processor. All these devices compromise on the RAM, which is 512 MB making
heavy-duty multi-tasking a bit of a problem. All of them run on Android 4.0
ICS. They have a standard set of specifications such as a front and rear-facing
camera, access to the Play store for apps and expandable memory.
The
Zync Cloud Z5
Build and usability
The Magicon Mnote has a design that is very
reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy SIII, from the one physical and two capacitive
buttons to the rear panel and the placement of the camera. You wouldn’t
recognize that this is a budget phone if you saw it from a distance. On its
right, it has the power button and the left has the volume rocker, which are
really slim and may be inconvenient to use without looking at them. The phone
even comes with a Samsung Galaxy Note style flap cover. The device feels heavy
but is comfortable for use with one hand.
The Zync Cloud Z5 has a design that is very
reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy Note. From the glossy front to the textured
back, from a distance it’s easy to mistake this device as the first generation
Note. Just like the Note, it is very comfortable for single as well as two-hand
use. It has the power switch on the left and the volume rocker on the right.
These buttons have a slight bulge to them, which makes it easy to identify
without looking.
The Micromax Canvas 2 A110 has a Samsung
Galaxy Nexus style curved design and it has mimicked this design element quite
well. We wish it had copied the slimness of Nexus device too, but the A110
isn’t thicker than its peers. It’s surprisingly a lot more comfortable to hold
than the other devices in this category. The textured back adds to the grip and
the bulgy volume rocker and power button are way more conveniently placed that
the Cloud Z5. At the bottom of the display are the three capacitive navigation
buttons. The device isn’t the lightest in its class, but it is easy to use with
single as well as both hands. It has the best design in this segment though.
The Intex Aqua 5 on the other hand looks like a brick and a bigger version of
the Intex Aqua 4. The display has a square design to it rather than the
rectangular look we are familiar with. This isn’t a bad thing for regular use
but makes typing in the landscape mode a bit uncomfortable. It is the lightest
phone in its category on paper but in usage it feels heavier. Where other
phones have only three buttons below the display – back, home and menu, the
Intex Aqua 5 adds the long lost search button, which we have missed on devices.
In its overall design however, it is the least comfortable phablet to use.
The
Intex AQUA
Features and Performance
So the budget phablets have done quite a good
job at mimicking the looks of some premium devices. But do they perform as
well?
The Magicon Mnote has a stock Android
experience and that is a very good thing. On paper, its raw hardware
performance is the best in its category but not by much. It’s slightly faster
than the competition and a user will not be able to tell the difference in the
real world. It also boasts of dual-SIM capabilities just like the rest of the
devices in this category. It has an 8 MP rear camera. All the games and apps we
threw at the device ran quite well, but the 512 MB RAM fell a bit short while
multi-tasking. It doesn’t come with any premium-preloaded apps or cloud storage
support. The video playback on the device wasn’t the best. The only format it
recognized was AVI and the video played back at a slow frame rate. The audio
too wasn’t the best.
The Zync Cloud Z5 however did a better job
with the AVI files, but refused to play any other formats. The audio while
watching videos wasn’t loud from the speakers nor was it the best with music,
but it was quite loud when we played games or ran some apps. It’s a dual-SIM
phone as well. We had a better experience of browsing the web on the Zync. The
resolution of the display may be low, but its large display made it easy for us
to read text. Being the cheapest phone in its bracket, it really does a good
job with the overall performance. The display how-ever is cumbersome to use
under direct sunlight.
The Micromax Canvas 2 A110 is a really good
performer. If you have used a Funbook tablet, or any other Micromax Android
smartphone, you will feel right at home with the UI. Android is skinned but not
to an extent that we dislike. You are greeted with very gaudy wallpaper and
very childish icons when you power up the device but that can change with any
Android theme available on the Play store. One feature that distinguishes the
A110 from the rest is that apart from the Play store it also gives you access a
lot of local content such as Bollywood news, cricket, news, astrology,
devotional content and more via the M!Zone and M!Store. It also comes preloaded
with the M!Buddy chat app. It has an IPS LCD panel, which adds to the viewing
angles and a pleasant smartphone experience. The Intex Aqua 5 too comes with
stock Android. Its biggest drawback is that it has a 5 MP rear camera where the
rest of its peers have an 8 MP camera. Interestingly, the Aqua 5 comes with an
app called the Intex Zone that let’s you record calls as well as track your
phone. It also links to certain useful Intex Mobile websites. Its extra
features aren’t as extensive as the one available on the Micromax A110. Other
preloaded apps include Flipkart, NQ Mobile security and IRCTC. Overall, it’s
quite homogenous to its peers but doesn’t have any features that make it stand
out.
The
Micromax Canvas 2 A110 is a really good performer.
Verdict
The Micromax Canvas 2 A110was awarded the
Best Buy. Not only is it a good-looking phone but it is a great performer as
well. It has power under the hood to run apps, a good display and a very
comfortable user experience. The UI may be a bit cartoonish for some but that
can be rectified. It also offers quite a bit of local content. Despite being
big, the device is quite comfortable when held up against ones ear for making
calls.
