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

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[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 14th 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.

Micromax-A116-Canvas-quad-core-phone

Contents

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.

Antutu Benchmark Score

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]

15 Comments
  1. Julia says

    Thanks for your review. I am also using it for a month now. Micromax Canvas a116 is very reasonable mobile with attractive design. What i liked about this phablet is:

    5inch HD IPS Touch Screen
    Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS
    1.2GHz Quad Core MediaTek Processor, 1GB RAM
    8 Megapixels Camera
    2,100mAH Battery

  2. SriSreedhar says

    Micromax’s 110 & 116 are emitting too much of radiations. there were cases been booked on this.
    People who carried this phone in thier pockets caused some burns, kinda skin alergy on their Thighs.
    Seems like Micromax is working on it by blocking the Inventory.

  3. waymoon007 says

    After about 3 weeks of usage here is my review:
    Pros
    -for 13990 INR it’s a worthy package.
    -Touch screen is good, camera is decent enough.
    -Most of the games run well without any lag or display issues.
    -applications run super fast

    Cons
    -One of the biggest problem I experienced is that the phone gets warmed up so fast. So bad that I can’t hold the phone near to the ears if the call last more than 5 mins. The same is the case when you play games or run multimedia. I find it a serious problem.
    -The screen though say 5 inch appears to be smaller, I compared with galaxy grand which looks bigger and more appealing.
    -The camera quality is very poor for night videos. Images look slightly artificial, lack true color warmness, Overall camera is ok.
    -Few times the application close automatically when open, seen with few games like temple run.
    -Lacks premium look-no diary case, even not available to purchase from outside.
    -battery doesn’t stay long-I don’t know what’s the benchmark but if I use the phone for multimedia for few hours, the bar drops down very fast.

    1. waymoon007 says

      Yet another -ve point is -the earphone is not ergonomic, it’s bulky and hurts your ears, for the best of micromax phone model we expect the headphone to be better from the entry level models.

  4. sid says

    i tried other earphones like of htc sensation n explorer on A116 but they didnt work perfectly on A116, only provided earphone is working nicely. why is it so? have you tried any other model?

    pls tell me which earphone works perfectly with A116? seihieser or sony?? how to check?

  5. santosh says

    Samsung galaxy grand is now available fir 19300/ &may reduce further

  6. Gaurav says

    I too have this phone since last 10 days and definitely the phone is pretty good for it’s price point. It’s good looking, very very light, has a great screen, doesn’t lag at all, decent camera. MMX has done a good job.

  7. Leo G says

    The q800 hundred is definitely better 13000 on the antutu score and for a cheaper price http://techarena51.blogspot.in/2013/03/xolo-q800-review-cheapest-quadcore.html

    1. Amit Bhide says

      The biggest difference between the 2phones is the Display 5″ 1280×720 294ppi screen as against the 960 x 540 4.5″ display of XOLO. And as i have mentioned lot of ppl have got Antutu Scores of 13200+ for Canvas HD. But all said Xolo seems to be a good phone as well.. but For me Since I had used the earlier Canvas 2 it was always Canvas HD ! Just for Information sake.. The Dual Sim Capabilities of Canvas HD are way better than Canvas2 or other similar devices…

  8. Animesh Roy says

    It’s only Micromax which can give this type of great features in a mid price range.

  9. Reg says

    One of my friend also felt luck when he got his HD A116 as one of the early birds to catch the fish.. Read story from his side – http://micromaxhda116.blogspot.in/2013/03/before-you-buy-any-product-from.html

  10. Prashant Mohta says

    what about launcher crashes?

    1. Amit Bhide says

      Prashant.. As i have said, not even once did it crash nor this has given those infamous launcher crashes.. even once…

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