Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Micromax Canvas HD A116 : Full Detailed Review




Micromax Canvas HD is the most hyped smartphone in India in 2013. Coming from using Apple iPhone, I never wanted to try an Indian brand. But because of all this hype, I just went out there and bought it. This phone have changed my view about the Indian company Micromax which used to have an impression of providing cheap mobile phones.





Build Quality


The phone looks very sexy and Micromax have done a good job on this. When Canvas HD was first launched on 14 Feb, it had a glossy finish on the back. I've bought this phone in April (new stock) and it have a matte finish on the back, which looks and feels much better. It provides good grip and is more resistant to dirt/stains/smudges. The camera is a little beveled outside. Overall, it the build quality is better than expected.



Screen Quality / Resolution

Micromax Canvas HD A116 comes with 5" HD IPS display. The screen looks very vivid and alive. The viewing angles are good also. The 720p equipped device beats almost all other Indian quad core smartphones (such as Xolo Q800 or Karbonn Titanium S5), furthermore no MNC branded smartphone have an HD display with 5" screen in this price range. 


Don't get overexcited, this comes with a drawback. The HD IPS display drains the battery very much when comparing to Samsung's Super AMOLED display. The battery backup could be better, but if you don't play games and watch movies all the time, it should be okay. The HD display makes it very pleasurable to watch HD movies and play HD games on the Micromax Canvas HD A116.

Camera



The stone-age is gone, megapixels are not a magic number. If you are a tech freak, you may know this but most people in India still believe more megapixels = better camera = better images. That's flat out wrong. What matters the most is the size of the lens, the aperture and the sensor which the camera uses. Micromax have not told the press about anything related to which sensor they are using. But the 8 MP camera of Canvas HD is not good as it should be. Grand's camera is better. Shooting in low-light is a nightmare and the camera engine used by Micromax a little over saturates the image. Sometimes the camera overexposes the images. But if you have a separate camera or SLR and you carry that you shoot photos, this shouldn't be a matter. Manual touch focus is a plus point and the camera is better than the one used in Canvas 2.

Hardware

This is the part where Micromax Canvas HD A116 is making the news all over Indian newspapers, magazines and TV Channels. It have a quad core A7 Mediatek MT 6589 processor. This chipset is very capable but cannot be compared to S4, Grand or Xperia Z's processor. A dual core A9 processor is almost equivalent to A7 quad core processor. You can see the full specifications in the bottom of this article. Gaming is a breeze on this smartphone, I've played quite many games on it and have not experienced any issues rather than not being able to install big HD games because of low internal memory. You cannot install apps on the external memory but this can be solved by rooting the phone (however it will void the warranty).

Conclusion


This phone is probably the best one you can get in the 25K price range (yes, even better than Galaxy Grand). But, if you care very much about brand reputation and showing off then this is not the phone for you as Micromax is still considered "china phone" in India by some people. I believe that it will soon compete with the reputation of MNC's like Samsung (it is already competing in the sales, the launch of Canvas HD was followed by the launch of middle range smartphone Galaxy Grand by Samsung.).

A few things Micromax needs to work on

1. Better after-sale customer service (this is the only and the most important part Micromax lags in): The after-sale service of Micromax flat out sucks. I'm sure you've read some nightmares about it on the internet. 

2. Updates: Micromax is improving on this one, the Canvas HD got a Jelly Bean update. I wish Micromax to release timely updates for all of its premium devies.

3. Making a high-value name for itself: When I started carrying this device along with owning an iPhone, people looked at me like I'm an alien or something. Micromax should work on increasing the brand value, and making a name for itself in abroad also making it an MNC. Micromax is working on it. Yesterday, I was watching the MTV Video Music Awards and Honey Singh (probably the most popular singer right now in India) displayed his Micromax Canvas HD A116 on stage. Micromax should also work on making better, professional looking TV commercials - the Canvas HD commercial doesn't make sense, it should be more about the phone and less about "colors coming alive" like Galaxy Grand's commercial.

4. Ear-phones: Why? why so cheap and old-fashioned earphones with a premium and flagship device? Micromax should wake up from stone-age and upgrade it to a 21st century earphone.

36 comments:

  1. I always had doubts on its camera as the y have always delivered poor quality. The quad core processor, RAM and the low price are the features that keep this phone out of stock. My friend owns one and it was a win for him. I also had doubts regarding its app support but was proved wrong. I love browsing and I use One Browser for it. It's really fast and loaded with features like download manager, night mode which looks awesome when active on the 5" HD screen. It looks huge and amazing. Anyways I generally use my phone for gaming and browsing so I need a strong battery backup which Micromax fails to provide. Hope the manufacturers will come up with some thing interesting soon. ;)
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have the phone and I love it, The only thing I see is the issue with it often loose network, I mean I am not able to make or receive calls or sms. The signal strength is good but when people try to reach me they hear phone out of range. If I do a quick reboot it works fine and am back.
    Any suggestion ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you have some battery saver app installed on your phone? If you do, try uninstalling it and see if the problem of losing network is resolved. A few battery saver apps are notorious for causing this.

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  3. Very nice... keeping switching your phone off and switch it on whenever someone calls.... loving it...may go to a ear specialist..

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  4. seriously MMX service centers are nightmare for me. Plz guys do not buy any thing from Micromax or these kind of cheap companies as they wr just suck your money n will never provide you any kind of service. Micromax sucks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. F**k off I have the phone and I know about the service centers dude I know the service centers are a night mare but the phone is good only if you take care of the will you enjoy it but some b*****ds like you wont understand it because you break them

      Delete
  5. Once you have purchased anything from any one, 1st you consider price and quality right. The next you will consider customer service after purchase. If you get any problem with your MMX device, you will never received your device with in time period as well as I dont think MMX will provide you any kind of refund or exchange or replacement. Thats why NOKIA SONY and these most company charged more thn these cheap company becoz they will provide you a better solution and awesome service. I will never buy anything from Micromax not becoz the service is suck but also products sucks as well as. Cheap brand Cheap products cheap company.

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    Replies
    1. I think anyone who chooses to buy a Micromax product knows that they are trading away good customer service with reduction in price. Those who have the extra bucks to spend on the quality of customer service, should definitely go for Sony, Samsung, Apple etc. However, I disagree that their products 'suck', can you elaborate on that?

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    2. Compass does not work on canvas hd a116, screen is not scratch free, Compass is very much required for navigation etc.

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    3. Its battery perform very poor, does not update to recent android versions, play store is not getting updated and pc is not able to download apps by connectin via cable.

      Delete
  6. Headphone sucks when i try to change song or change station of radio it's not working even that i hang my call using headphone button it's not working?

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  7. My grlfrn works in pantaloons as a sells girl she hardly earn 8 thousand month...she gifted me MMX a116 by saving her money from last 5 months..but I used for almost a month now nor its ear phone works well I gave it for servicing but now they replaced the ear fone after 15 days..and now they gave meold ear phone if I find out in market it cost 60 to 100 rs now again touch screen not working properly I lodge a complaint service centre people told me I need make a bond signature in case if phone dsnt work after servicing they are not responsible... now suggest me wat the fucking company is this..... so plz don't Eva go for cheap...its like now ma love cZ so upset.. Cz 15000 is not matter of joke for ne 1.c worked for 9 hrs even did ot just to gift me a phone.diz suckng don't understand.. and this will not last long..

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  8. My MMX A116 have touch screen problems. It receives touch input randomly without me ever touching it while charging. When contacting MMX customer care they taught me that mobiles are not supposed to be used while charging. What BS is this? Almost everyone I know with smartphone have used their smartphones while charging at least once.

    I see people use their Galaxy Grand in train connected to charger and it works perfectly. While on the other hand, when I plug my MMX A116 in train charger and try to use it, the phone starts touching itself and opening random apps and receiving touch inputs at random locations repeatedly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. S that's true, I noticed this problem on very first day, coz I was not able to open lock(pattern lock)coz of this touch screen problem while charging, in addition battery of this cell is another big worry, and as mentioned above by someone the 8 megapixel camera fails to deliver the quality photos as by the picture quality anyone can guess that the lens used are just not good enough to hold n capture 8 megapixel resolution, as we all know we get only for what we pay so with the config of phone n the price tag really worth buying, but s if u can afford to pay few extra k's better go 4 grand

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  9. Hi..can u suggest me a gd camera phone below 18000rs? I need indoor clear image..then a gd processor too..plz suggest. Thnku..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi naZz,what i can do is suggest you a realtime e-commerce platform where online retailers bargain to offer you whatever you want at the lowest price of the market: "mydeals247.com". I've experienced it and was really amazed.

      Delete
  10. Check my review of MMX A110 by clicking below link on YouTube
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y076Zd1DGkI

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  11. I have canvas HD A116 and I want play the computer games in my phone how can I play plz..... reply to which softwere to download

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  12. ya i bought this cell through MYDEAL247.... they are providing nice service to customer so cheers to mydeal247 & micromax

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  13. i bought new micromax canvas super HD clarity mobile from the www.mydeals247.com this site will provide good products and services.

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  14. Can you tell me how to do power saving in this phone? i have just buy this and its battery life is very short.

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  15. But the matte finish on the back is good to grip. But interms of stain and dirt it is pathetic. New mobile which is not even a month old, appears very shabby. Black color on the back is a better bet than white.

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  16. today i experienced a different things on this mobile. While i plug in my headphone it plays only left side only. Can someone please assist on this because i don't know how to check on this. please advise awaiting for reply

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  17. Sir I have micromax a116. In accident I lost display but touch is still working. May I know its touch or display is together or separate. Please reply soon. Or if any one can mail its very nice
    thanks
    neeraj bhatia
    neerbhatia143@yahoo.in

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sir I have micromax a116. In accident I lost display but touch is still working. May I know its touch or display is together or separate. Please reply soon. Or if any one can mail its very nice
    thanks
    neeraj bhatia
    neerbhatia143@yahoo.in

    ReplyDelete
  19. Quad-core processor with 8MP camera and 5" IPS LCD under just 14000Rs makes it a must buy phone..

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  20. G8 bt nt so good bt there is nt hanging problem just like galaxy mobile and hd screen is also good.And after update of 4.2 it is very good touch is also good nt bad and sensor are nice according to the rate .all over it is the best smart phone of micromax even canvas 4 is also flop against canvas hd and rate is also less .

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  21. I have done mistake by purchasing Micromax a116 it is having the hanging problem same as it was in a110 I have tried that phone also ,keeping ideal for some time it hangs I have to pull off the battery and reboot again 2nd while using dual sim drop of network is another problem overall don't go magazine review use net for others review

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  22. When I connect my device to PC via USB cable., the mobile automatically opens some random apps.. the internal and external sd card drives are detected only in rare ocassions... how do i fix this ??

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  23. Nice article

    I have got this phone last month

    Very good phone

    Better than most of the phone under 15 k

    Please suggest me how I can improve upon my video

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF5jUp0TCX0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

    ReplyDelete
  24. Nice post...Thanks for the information..specially those on Genie shop

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  25. hi!

    Now my canvas HD has JB 4.1.2 and doesnt have OTA Update options in the settings if i update it to JB 4.2.1 then will i get that option in my CHD?????

    If not how can i get that OTA settings/option without rooting my phone??????

    ReplyDelete


  26. It’s good to see some positive reviews of Indian brand mobile. It is nice mobile having great inbuilt features that grabs attention of mobile users all over the world. I have seen this brand’s positive reviews on well known review sharing website called Compalog.com and have even bought a mobile for my wife. It is really working well without any problem.

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  27. dont go for micromax canvas or any model of micromax , my canvas hd battery last for only 4 months. now the battery is dead. I call to service centre, but they says , we dont have any battery of this model . what the fuck ya !! if they dont want to gve service then what's the use of service centre.
    ys right cheap brand and cheap services, better spend little more money and buy sony or samsung, at least you will get good servicing.

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  28. My battery started performing poorly. I went to MMX Customer Care- They said batteries only have 6 month warranty. :/ I had to buy a new one.

    ReplyDelete