Micromax has been on a roll over the last few months, launching some good-looking phones. The company’s latest offering, the Canvas Xpress 2, priced at Rs.5,999, lives up to the expectations and has interesting features such as HD display and a heavy-duty camera.
Classy looks
Even though it has a plastic body, the phone feels solid and is well-built. The soft matte finish and metal frame combine to make it a good-looking phone. It has a fairly compact design, and is not very heavy, tipping the scales at just 138g. We consider this a job well done, because it is easier to hold than the Motorola Moto E and is less prone to slipping from the hand than the Xiaomi Redmi 2..jpg "The soft matte finish on the back panel feels comfortable and keeps the phone smudge-free, while the metal frame boosts its good looks and solidity.")
Steady performance
The Canvas Xpress 2 is powered by a MediaTek MT6592 octa-core processor, with 1 GB RAM. It handles everyday apps and tasks such as social networking, Web browsing and YouTube videos quite well. It is able to handle some games too without showing much sluggishness or lag. However, it begins to slow down the moment you open more than five apps and leave them open. This phone is meant strictly for basic use.
Old but smooth OS
Micromax’s recent launches have been based on the latest version of the Android Lollipop operating system (OS). And it is a bit perplexing that the company has switched back to Android KitKat 4.4 with this phone. There are little tweaks to the default interface, mostly to highlight some new Micromax features such as Quick Look. Similar to HTC’s BlinkFeed, Quick Look pulls feeds from social networking and news sites on to a separate home screen. Another notable difference is in the background in the app drawer, which is transparent instead of the default opaque. It is also less stressful on the CPU, like the Moto E, which uses the same interface but runs the latest Android.
The phone comes with a 2,500 mAh battery that easily provides a day’s backup if you use it as a primary phone.
Sharp canvas
Most phones in this range have screen resolution ranging from 800x480 to 960x540 pixels. A few phones with 1,280x720-pixel display include the Redmi 2 and Coolpad Dazen 1. The Xpress 2 is the latest addition to the list. It comes with a 5-inch HD screen, which looks sharp and holds well in bright light. The text looks pretty impressive, as do the videos and games. It is also resistant to smudges, courtesy the oleophobic coating which is used in the Moto E as well.
Good daylight camera
The phone comes with a high-quality 13-megapixel camera. The picture quality is sharp, the colours look accurate and rich, and the detail it can pull out is impressive, especially when you use it on a bright sunny day. It is fast but takes time to get the focus right, and one has to tap on the subject multiple times. Low-light picture quality is better than in the Moto E and Redmi 2, but it’s still average. The results from the front camera are a bit shoddy; it is good only for individual selfies.
Verdict
The Canvas Xpress 2 offers many good features. A superior camera and sharp display give it an edge over the Moto E 3G (Rs.5,999), and the design and steady performance are better than the Redmi 2 (also Rs.5,999). The old Android is a bit of a letdown, though.
