Micromax Canvas A1 here is the costliest among Android One phones that released on September 15. Market was of course quite disappointed when Google revealed that the price segment is well and around Rs.6,000 to Rs.6,500.With Android One, while everyone expected Google to lower the prices, what it actually did was raising the bars.
Design and Display
As for Micromax Canvas A1, not much of a lookie as far as the external features are concerned. The phone is finished with plastic, yet manage to sport a neat finish and handy design with rounded corners and edges. Front view has a glossy finish with FWVGA display. Micromax A1 does not have any hardware navigation keys compared to the previous Micromax models. Phone has a rubberized matte finished back which features 5MP camera with Led flash tucked safely inside a metallic ring. Micro SD card spot is inside the cover along with two sim slots and a removable battery which is good enough for many of us who have been crying over non-removable batteries. To mark the difference, we also have a Micromax logo marked at the back cover, thank god or else we might have got confused with all the three. Fun aside, low resolution has been one of the downfalls bothering people since the launch of the product. But it isn't so bad because such a resolution works pretty well for a screen size of 4.5 inch display. Well, we do have phones with better displays at much lower prices for one thing. So this is to be discarded as a sacrifice done on behalf of the Android One experience.
Performance
However coming to the ultimate point for it all, this phone was created specifically to present a complete and quality Android experience to the users who have been tired with cheap and lagging interfaces from the much abused Android. Well, what is the verdict? the verdict is that it stands proud at exactly what it was created for: Pure vanilla stock Android experience. Browsing experience on this phone proves okay with the larger screen displaying a fairly good amount of text on the screen. HD games perform well with the Mali 400 GPU but storage space plays the villain here and we cannot install apps on SD card, while some parts of the apps can be saved in it.
Storage
Only 2.2 GB of the in built 4GB memory will be available to the users. Its better to start using the device along with a memory card or else all the dreams about Android Apps are likely to be shattered. Even with the external storage , as mentioned earlier, only parts of the App data can be saved in the SD card, not the entire App.
Camera
For those who went viral about Google camera app, here's the deal. It wont even commence unless and until you add an external storage device, is that bad? It depends on how you look at it. And like all phones with LED flash, this one too works well in day light, but not so well with flash. HD video recording is something we all fall for, so yeah, we have it here in all its glory at 720p and the camera has Auto focus too, not so bad for a 5MP camera.
Extras
You will get a set of pre-loaded non removable apps like Amazon, Hike, M!Live whether you need it or not. Yes, there is a Google app installed here for anything and everything. As for perks, users will have 35 GB of free space in Google drive.
All the gallantry is fine until you get a low battery sign within 3-4 hours. Sigh!
Final verdict will be to cut down all the hype about Android One phones except for an improved Android experience on handsets that are costly compared to the existing ones in market. What we have to keep in mind is that, there are still phones priced at RS.19,000 to Rs.20,000 running on Android 4.4.2 Kitkat, while we get a 4.4.4 Kitkat version here with automatic updates up to next two years at Rs.6,499.
