[moulnisky]

Micromax canvas 4 (A210) Finally unveiled!



What the press says :

Micromax Canvas 4 became the Indian iPhone when the company launched teaser videos and strategic leaks surrounding the device. While many had pegged Micromax Canvas 4 as the Indian competitor to Samsung Galaxy S4, the phone falls far short of being an actual competitor. While Micromax has definitely lifted some of the features directly off the Galaxy S4, there’s a serious short-fall to make it an actual competitor.

Like speculated, the phone comes with 5-inch HD IPS display with a pixel resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. While the screen resolution is pretty good and we have nothing to complain about there. The touch-screen functions even through gloves, which suggests Micromax has not skimped on quality. However, the one thing that truly disappointed us was the Android version. Instead of shipping the phone with the latest Android Jelly Bean, Micromax Canvas 4 comes with the slightly outdated Jelly Bean ver. 4.2.1.

Under the hood is a quad-core processor. High hopes were pinned on an octa-core processor. There were even some convoluted reasoning stated online as to why Micromax Canvas 4 will come with an octa-core processor (one being the teaser video showed 8 images of the phone before revealing the actual design!). However, the phone finally debuted with a quad-core processor. While the screen did have something to hold up to Samsung Galaxy S4, the processor doesn’t even come close to Samsung’s fastest octa-core dragon. Micromax Canvas 4 debuts with a 1.2 GHz quad-core Mediatek processor.

The phone comes with 16 GB internal memory. There are no variants and 16 GB is all you get. However, the phone does support further expansion using MicroSD card slot. The RAM again disappoints as it is 1 GB instead of 2 GB, which is the standard with most flagships today.

The only redeeming feature of the phone is the camera. Micromax Canvas 4 comes with a 13 MP camera as advertised. However, it is not just the megapixels. Just like Samsung Galaxy S4, Micromax has tried and experimented with camera features and software. The camera supports vertical Panorama along with anti-shake and multiple face-detection. The camera also comes with burst mode capable of taking upto 99 pictures in less than 15 seconds! The camera comes with five element lens. Micromax has ramped up the front camera too as the video-calling and selfie-cam comes with a 5 MP camera. The camera definitely takes the cake in Canvas 4.

The phone is a dual-SIM phone and also comes with a flip-cover a la Samsung. The design is a shift from the traditional design as the phone comes with a aluminium bar design with a plastic back. There’s nothing great about the design though. On the connectivity front, Micromax Canvas 4 comes with the regular options like WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth. The phone comes with a 2000 mAh battery and weighs 145 grams.

In terms of software, the phone has heavily borrowed from not just Samsung but even other handset makers. The phone blatantly copies and flaunts features. However, one feature is unique and we credit Micromax completely for the Kiss to Unlock feature. Nope, there’s no need to double-check if you read right. You can actually unlock your Micromax Canvas 4 by ****-kissing at it. Looks like the guys in the development team were dreaming while designing this feature! Not so fond of kissing your phone in public? You can give it a simple shake too! While we are sure Micromax was only trying to be innovative here, the features are plain ridiculous!

Apart from the ****-kiss feature, Micromax Canvas 4 also comes with flip to mute feature which is an HTC favourite. You can just flip the phone to silence a call or while a call is on, flipping the phone activates the loud-speaker. Hello HTC, are you listening to this?


Another “borrowed” feature is from Samsung Galaxy S4. The phone does not come with the smart scroll but does support the stay to pause. Just looking away from the screen pauses the video. The eye-tracking feature also works when you need to restart the video.

There’s another feature that lets users pin a video they are watching to the home-page. The pinned video can then be used to play multiple videos at the same time. The feature allows for effective multi-tasking. The feature is not unlike Samsung’s Popup Play although there are certain differences.

Speaking at the launch of the phone, Rahul Sharma, co-founder, Micromax said, "With the launch of Canvas 4, we are yet again raising the bar for affordable innovation. Canvas 4 combines great functionality and style, complemented by an entire eco-system of applications that directly address the needs of our evolving consumers."

Micromax Canvas 4 might be a strong device but at Rs17,999 we think Micromax could have provided better hardware features instead of glossing over the phone with air-kisses. However, Micromax is gaining huge popularity in India and if pre-booking figures are anything to go by at 11,500 bookings in week one, people prefer air-****ing kisses unlocking phones to a now “over-priced” Samusng Galaxy S4 anyday!

Source : Indiatimes

Micromax A210 Canvas 4 key features and specifications

• Dual SIM with Dual Standby.
• 1.2GHz MT6589 quad core with PowerVR SGX 544 MP.
• 5 inch IPS True HD screen with 1280x720p. Corning Gorilla Glass.
• Android 4.2.1.
• 8.9mm thick.
• 1GB RAM, 16GB storage (2.4GB for apps and 10GB as phone storage) and micro SD support 32GB.
• 13MP rear AF camera with LED flash + 5MP front camera with video call support. Full HD recording and playback.
• 3G, 2G, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 4, Micro USB and 3.5mm audio jack.
• Sensors: G-Sensors, proximity, light.
• Smart Gestures : Upside silent, proximity dial / answer.
• Battery : 2000mAh with up to 8 hours talktime.
• Price : 17,999. (With free Aluminum Flip cover with Surface Touch technology, worth Rs. 2999/-).

Personal opinion :

Micromax started to "sign" their products as all the major brands nowadays do. Instead to run behind big numbers, last cpus and benchmark they started to focus on the software side adding their touch in it and giving more attention to the quality part of their products then challenging the other market brands about the number of cores.

This company policy may be not well seen by some users but in my opinion shows Micromax is starting to get out from the "anyything" as their motto says. This phone looks really wel done and if you have a look at the dedicated website (Micromax canvas 4) you will be able to see the effort done to give a product including a software package different from the others. Yes, been reading on gogi.in there are more performant phones on the market for the price tag but what about the support? Micromax firmwares are immediately available and they update the firmwares with regularity, expecially as bugs fixing, while other brands you must relay often on the OEM firmware when needed or on custom ones when some developer is willing to work on it.

To be honest I start to belive in this brand more then before and the only word I can say about this model and its caratteristics is Bravo!
As usual here on gsmhosting we are proud to give you on the support as world first the firmware and the tools for this model: you can download them here

http://support.moulnisky.com/index.p...%20Serie/A210/

BR

Alex