Indian smartphone maker Micromax has pulled a rabbit out of the hat. At Rs.4,999, the Canvas Spark is the most affordable phone in India running on Android 5.0 and gives tough competition to rivals—the Lenovo A6000 Plus (Rs.7,499) and Motorola Moto E 4G (Rs.7,999). Here is what the phone has to offer:
Android 5.0 with Material Design
Micromax has wrapped the operating system (OS) in a very minimal custom interface, and is largely relying on Android’s Material Design interface. But there are some changes—the navigation keys are not integrated into the on-screen interface; instead, they are touch-sensitive keys under the screen. The other change is that the background of the app drawer is semi-transparent; it’s plain white in Android otherwise.
Build and design: a touch of class
The back cover is made of plastic but it feels durable, courtesy the cool-looking grey velvet fabric-like finish which also feels reassuring to hold. The silver metal frame around the phone gives it a premium look. This, we feel, is the best-built phone.
The Canvas Spark is 8.5mm thick and weighs 134g. It is slimmer and lighter than the Moto E, which is 12.4mm thick and weighs 145g.
Performance and specifications: falling behind the pack
The Canvas Spark has dual micro SIM slots (3G+2G). But with the competition offering 4G on at least one, if not both, SIMs, it falls short.
In terms of performance, the MediaTek MT6582 quad-core 1.3 GHz processor paired with 1 GB RAM is just about enough for basic use, but will feel underpowered for gaming and multitasking. Buy this only if you need to run a very limited number of apps simultaneously.
The phone has 8 GB built-in storage, and a microSD slot that can take up to 32 GB memory cards. This should be good enough for basic tasks like Web browsing and Instant Messaging.
The Canvas Spark packs in a modest 2,000 mAh battery, which is not removable. The battery life lasts just about a day, provided you charge it fully before leaving for work in the morning.
Display: a smooth canvas
The Canvas Spark’s 4.7-inch screen tries to do a fine balancing act between staying compact enough for easy use, and offering a screen size that is comfortable for reading and viewing videos. The text is crisp and easy to read; the good viewing angles help. The brightness levels, however, are not high enough to compensate for the reflective nature of the screen, and that can be a problem if you are using the phone outdoors.
Camera: steady hand needed
The 8-megapixel camera’s picture quality is equal to that of the Moto E and colour reproduction is accurate. But it doesn’t match the Lenovo A6000 Plus’ clarity and Xiaomi Redmi 2’s rich colours. It is best for casual photography and works best in good light conditions.
