Micromax Canvas HD A116 Review [After week’s usage]

[Note:This review has been done after a week of actual usage]

There have been thousands of reviews on the internet of the new (much fancied) Micromax A116 Canvas HD phone. So, why the hell am I writing another one?

Well, very few of them have actually used it for a week and then reviewed it. So here are my impressions after 10 days of using Canvas HD A116 as a normal smartphone user.

I bought it online on 14^th Feb at the price of 13990/- and was lucky enough to get it exactly after a month (on 14th March). Now the price is gone up to Rs. 14,499/-, while elsewhere it is selling for over 15,000/-.

So, spending that kind of monies on a Micromax phones…Is it worth its price?? Every Penny I would say.. now lets find out why and how.

Display

Canvas HD stands out for its excellent 1280×720 Pixels IPS Display. With a 294 ppi pixel density, it is not the highest, but excellent in any situation. Ok, it is not above 300ppi like the high-end phones that have come out recently.. but for a phone of Rs. 15K or less.. it is more than what you pay for.

Camera :

This 8MP Shutter can give a very good picture quality in daylight and an above average quality in low light. ( though you may have to tweak few settings here and there). The best feature of Canvas HD is that it can continuously shoot 99 pictures in one go.. that’s fast shooting. Front camera much better as well..(compared to the Canvas 2). A definite 7/10 for the Camera.

Processor and RAM

The Most highlighted feature of this phone is its Quadcore processor! But does it delivery at all? Yes it does.

Definitely faster than any dal core processor around. But not the fastest in comparison with other quadcores in the market. So, it is better than Galaxy Grand (costing Rs. 21.5k) that’s what people compare it with right? Here are some numbers for you.

I did my own Antutu Benchmark and it gave a score of: 12580 . Other People have got scores of 13283 as well on their Canvas HD. My scores were less probably because of my Old 8GB Transend sdcard.

What the score means is, it is better than Galaxy Note / Galaxy Nexus / Galaxy S2 & Way better than Galaxy Grand ( which btw ranges from 7800 to max 9000 range). 1GB of a fast ram does help its cause for Canvas HD. After running 12-15 apps I still have more than 250MB free for doing more. Now that is a lot of free memory. But I still envy my friend Arun Prabhudesai and his Nexus 4 with 2GB of ram. But that is another thing.

Canvas HD also has a PowerVR SGX544 GPU that offers good speeds when playing games like Temple Run 2 and Pitfall. For All of you who are interested in finding what quad core processor is inside this one, it is a Mediatek MT6589 quad-core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz

Build Quality and OS

Guys I have already had a crash test for this one.. it just popped right out of my T-shirt Pocket and bammm!! Nothing happened.. The metal rim really does help is absorbing all the shocks first.

I thing I have to concede, Canvas HD’s back looks and feels plasticy and cheap.

Canvas HD runs on Jellybean 4.1.2. which btw is now is also available for Canvas 2 A110 officially from Micromax. So all those who don’t know, go and get it on you Canvas 2.

Jellybean is definitely faster than Ice Cream Sandwich in terms of speed as well as getting the usual tasks done like accessing the phone book, messages and phone dialer. I can write a lot About OS and the unnecessary apps given by Micromax. If you want then write to me and I will be glad to help.

Battery :

Unlike so many reviews that say it has a 2100 mAH Battery, it doesn’t.. It has the same battery that came with Canvas2. ie A 2000mAH battery. But don’t understand why it gives more battery life than the Canvas2 even with its quadcore processor. Probably because of more RAM the load on the processor is reduced resulting in slightly more battery backup.

After normal phone usage, it will still have more than 40% left at the end of the day. Play a lot of games, access a lot of internet and still it will give you a full day of backup, which according to me is good for any android phone.

My Verdict

A Great phone. A real value for money, even at 15500/- it is all worth it. Btw, it has not hung even once, as mentioned by some people on various forums. One thing which still keeps phone without full set of features is the lack of Gravito Meter.. so guys no Compass..if you require one.

Micromax has really given sleepless nights to Samsung / LG and others, only if they could ramp-up the production, then this is a really really hot buy.

[About the Author: Amit Bhide is an Entrepreneur at heart and a avid Gadget Freak. He is a partner at K C Bhide Technologies having more than 18 years experience in printing and Prepress Industry. He recently launched a new Online Printshop at artandprintshop.com which offers one-stop print services directly at your doorstep]