Micromax Canvas 2 Review

Micromax Canvas 2, new launch from Micromax is rocking in the market. The phone was launched on last Thursday on February 14. The company says that on the first day itself 9,000 models were sold. The feature that attracts people to this phone is its low cost and great features. We can call this phone as a phablet due to its 5inch screen. Let’s take a look at its specifications.

Hardware

The phone is similar to Samsung Galaxy S III and note II in front view. The only
difference is the absence of physical home button. The chrome speaker grill, front camera and sensors are positioned on the top. Micromax branding is not there in front. Three capacitive touch buttons are on the front-bottom of the phone. The Micro-USB port and the 3.5mm audio ports are placed on the top of the phone. In the back there is Micromax branding, camera and a speaker.

The device is powered by 1GHz dual-core processor with 512MB RAM, and has a 4GB internal storage that can be expanded to 32GB using microSD card. The phone supports dual SIM but you want to take out the battery to replace both SIM’s.

Display

The phone comes with a 5inch 262k color capacitive touch screen with an IPS panel that has a resolution of 480x854 pixels. The graphics of the phone doest seems much sharper but the viewing angles looks good.

Camera

The 8-megapixel autofocus shoots good images in daylight. Pictures taken in low-light conditions without using LED flash seem a bit grainy. The dual-led flash works well in indoors and low-light conditions. Videos capturing through back camera is average.

There o.3 megapixel front camera takes average picture and can be used for video conferencing.

OS

The phone runs with Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich version. Micromax has included some elements of the user interface, such as the app icons and the notification tray. It includes shortcut to settings such as Wi-Fi, Brightness, Rotation, Bluetooth, GPS, Data and profiles, this can be edited and can be filled with app shortcuts.

Micromax has also added its own apps and content store like Wi-Fi, Brightness, Rotation, Bluetooth, GPS, Data and profiles.

The handset also offers FM radio. The phone has three capacitive buttons – a menu key, Home button and a Back key. The phone offers an above average experience in game play and other graphical uses. There is a doubt between the users that the phone would get updated to Jelly Bean, which offers a smoother user experience compared to ICS.

Performance

The phone is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor that is a MediaTek chip, and has 512MB of RAM on board. Multitask is comfortable in the phone. One of the main problems of phone is that it will not support 1020p HD video clips, and 720p clips. The phone comes with the native Android browser and renders all webpages well. The phone doesn't come with Adobe Flash. The speaker on the phone delivers good quality sound but volume levels are low. Also, since the speaker is located at the back, the volume levels further decrease when the phone lies on its back. The phone surprisingly doesn't include an ambient light-sensor, so there's no setting for automatic brightness, and the user would need to manually set brightness levels for the screen.

Verdict

The Micromax A110- Canvas 2 is a decent upgrade to the A100. A 5-inch screen phone at a price point of Rs 9,990 is a great offer. If the Micromax could have offered a better screen, and shipped this phone with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean it can make a huge change in market. Micromax has already announced the successor to the Canvas 2, the A116 or Canvas HD, which is expected to be available in February.