Micromax Canvas 4 A210 Review

PRICE 19,500
GC Rating:7.5
Micromax has had its fair share of limelightin theentry-level smartphonesegment for quitesome time, until XOLO came along and shook things up. Tired of playing theold cat and mouse game, Micromax has finally decidedto look beyond thesub-Rs 15,000 bubbleand attempt a mid-range droid which means competing with thebig boys like Samsung, HTC, etc. We had our doubts if Micromax could affordto have a phone priced at Rs 20,000 (or above) after havingdeveloped a reputation for low-cost smartphones. The Canvas 4 A210 is theirfirst gamble at a mid-range smartphone, which at first glance appears to be an amalgamation of a bunch of popular phones (Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5). Let’s see if this mash up pays off in theend.
Design and Build
The Canvas 4 lookssuspiciously similar to theSamsung Galaxy S4 and that’s no coincidence. Even the two capacitive buttons on either end are identicalto Samsung’s. Unlike the S4 however, theA210 feelsa lot sturdier and is easily thebest-built (and looking) Micromax to date. The 5-inch IPS panel is protected by Gorilla Glass, which is a step up and on thetop, we have thefront-facing 5MP camera and proximity and ambient light sensor. The first highlight you’ll notice is the anodised aluminium chassis that lendsthe phone a sturdy feel. The aluminium side has a chamfered edge much like theiPhone 5 and helpsboost theradio signal. The battery is covered by a simple, removable plastic cover. Underneathlie thetwo SIM slots and the microSD card slots (not hot-swappable). Last, but not the least, we have a 13MP camera sensor courtesy Sony and a single LED flash.
Buttons and ports are similar to most smartphones these days. We have a power/sleep button, volume rocker, microUSB portand a 3.5mm headphonejack. The buttons are also milledout of thesame anodised aluminium so thefinishand tactile feel is superb. Overall, the fit and finishof the Canvas 4 is unlike any other Micromax we’ve seen so far and there’s a good reason forthis. You see, theA210 is a slightlytweaked variant of the Blu LifeOne, a popular phone announced this March inthe US. Micromax has tweaked theoriginal designa little but internally, it’s essentially thesame phone. Re-branding a popularhandset is a smart move by Micromax as it will always have a better development community behindit. Remember how popularthe ZTE Blade was? It came to Indiabranded as the Dell XCD35 which became quite populardespite being terrible inevery way.
Features
The Canvas 4 is powered by MediaTek’s tried and tested MTK6589 SoC. This is thestandard variant that’s clocked at 1.2GHz. Coupled with 1GB of RAM, you’re in fora very smoothAndroid (4.2.1) experience. The interface is incredibly snappy and HD IPS display reproduces very rich and vibrant colours. There is a slight bluishtinge which is more apparent at lower brightness levels. We didn’t face much of an issue out doors as well but then again, we have been subjected to some pretty gloomy weather here so we can’t say forsure. The UI is not skinned inthe typical Micromax fashionand this is first visible with theabsence of toggle switches inthe notificationbar.
The A210 features some new gestures that make useof thefront camera and theproximity sensor. ‘Smart Gesture’ can be enabled inthe settings menu offeringyou gestures like-flip thephone to silence or activate loudspeaker, answer thephone automatically whenplaced near the ear or even diala number by simply choosinga contact and holdingthe phone to your ear. These are very similar to gestures we’ve seen in Samsung handsets since the Galaxy S3. Also available are a bunch of M! appsbundled along. The M! Live App lets you buy games via SMS, M! Zone and M! Unlock. The latter (which is now available for free on the Play Store) letsyou blow on your screento unlock it. It’s quitegimmicky at best but it’s still something uniqueto Micromax.
Media
The music player is an overhauled stock Jelly Bean player with a fancy new skin. You can sort your music via Albums,Artists, etc. and there’s even an optionfor Micromax’s OnlineMusic store. The ‘Now Playing’ screen is nicely designed with thealbum art taking up thefull screenand controls in theforeground. We miss thelock screenwidget though and apart from thestandard visualiser and EQ presets, there’s nothingreally special here. Audio quality is good via theloudspeaker but the sound gets muffled when placed on a desk. It’s not very loud either so you may miss alerts in a noisy environment.
The Canvas 4 also debuts a very Samsung-esque video player. The oversized controls are easy to useand you can lock thecontrols, preview other videos while watching one, adjust the aspectratio, take a screenshot or simply move ahead one frame at a time. The two new features are ‘Look Away’ and the pop-out videoplayer. The former is similar to Samsung’s Smart Pause and works well too, provided thelightingconditions are ideal. The pop-out videoplayer works in a similar fashionas Samsung’s implementation. We easily managed to play a 1080p video while chatting on Whatsapp in thebackground without any discernable lag. The default video player managed to read most video formats with ease from MOV to MKV. FM radio is also present.
There’s 16GB of internal memory out of which 10GB is available for user data and roughly 2.4GB is available for apps. The good thing is you can move bigger appslike games to theinternal storage if you need to.
Connectivity
The A210 is a quad-band GSM handsetwith single-band 3G. It also supports two full-sized SIMs just like any other Micromax phone. Other connectivityoptions include Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and forthe first time, USB 3.0. Features missing from theCanvas 4 includeGLONASS and NFC. Web browsing works well with thestock browser which also features the pop-up functionlike the videoplayer. Productivity appslike M! Security, which features a virus scanner, anti-theft feature and lets you back up your contacts, are bundled along as well.
Camera
The Micromax Canvas 4 uses a Sony developed 13MP sensor and a fixed-focus 5MP front camera. Photos look good on the phone’s displayfor bothindoor and outdoor shots but whenyou view them on thePC, there’s a lot of colournoise throughout the entire picture and it just gets worse in low light. Even with theflash, objects are illuminated well within a distance of two feet but there’s an abnormal amount of noise visible on dark colours. The other issue was that it takes too long to focus. Even after tapping on an area, theframe finder just sits there and does nothing. After a full second, thecamera tries to focus and finally after about two or three seconds turns green and you’re good to go. This issue is not restricted to low-light or HDR photos but even standard shots under brightsunlight. There are theusual scene modes, panorama, 360 panorama, smileshutter and beauty shot. The front facing camera offers good clarity even though it’s just fixed-focus.
The main camera also records Full HD videos, which are average at best. The framerate is pretty stable but we have the same colournoise issue creeping in videotoo. The camera problem isn’t Micromax’s fault entirely as it seems to be an issue with the sensor as we faced a very similar problem on the Xperia Z and ZL. The only differenceis that Sony’s post processing algorithmswere a lot betterat removing most of thecolour noisein the photos.
Battery life
The 2000mAh battery is certainly not breaking any recordsbut does what you’d expect – provides a full day’s worth of usage on 3G. In our battery tests,the Canvas 4 sailed through our 8-hour loop test with 22 per cent battery to spare.
Verdict and Price in India
The Canvas 4 A210 is priced right alongside theSamsung Galaxy Grand and the Panasonic P51 at roughly Rs 19,500. Amongst the three, we’d recommend the Panasonic P51 for its much lighter and slimmer chassis, betterbattery and camera performance. The Canvas 4 would make a very good buy if priced under Rs 15,000 but nothingmore. We like the A210 for its rugged build, good screen,generous onboard storage and theoverall snappy performance. However, if Micromax really wanted to make an impact in this pricerange, they could have easilyfitted a Full HD displayand a larger battery as it’s quiteheavy as is. Also, simply slappingon a 13MP sensor does not guarantee good picture quality. For these reasonsalone, we would pick the P51 over the Canvas 4 at this price.