Micromax launched the Canvas 4 this week and despite the heavy speculation, the improvement in the specifications on paper is quite incremental. We were expecting the smartphone to bring something revolutionary, just like we saw during the launch of the Canvas HD. Alas, what we got at the event was a slightly better built device when compared to the predecessor, some slight improvement in specifications and a lot of software shenanigans.
The Canvas 4 comes with a bunch of camera improvements as well. You can check out our first impressions of the Canvas 4 to see what we thought of the features on offer.
The biggest disappointment when it comes to the Canvas 4 has to be the specifications of the device. True, we will comment on the capabilities of the smartphone once we have it for review and we have put it through its paces, but until then this is a comparison of the hardware of the smartphones on offer at the Rs. 18,000 price point.
| Models | Micromax Canvas HD | Micromax Canvas 4 | Karbonn Titanium S9 | iberry Auxus Nuclea N1 | Xolo X1000 | Xolo Play | Lava Iris 504Q | Xolo Q1000 | Spice Stellar Pinnacle Pro | Zen Ultrafone HD |
| OS | Android 4.2 | Android 4.2 | Android 4.2 | Android 4.2 | Android 4.0 | Android 4.1.1 | Android 4.2 | Android 4.2 | Android 4.2 | Android 4.2 |
| Display Size | 5-inch | 5-inch | 5.5-inch | 5-inch | 4.7-inch | 4.7-inch | 5-inch | 5-inch | 5.3-inch | 5.3-inch |
| Display Type | IPS LCD | IPS LCD | IPS LCD | IPS LCD | TFT LCD | NA | IPS LCD | IPS LCD | IPS LCD | IPS LCD |
| Display Resolution | 1280×720 | 1280×720 | 1280×720 | 1920×1080 | 1280×720 | 1280×720 | 1280×720 | 1280×720 | 960×540 | 1280×720 |
| Built-in storage | 4GB | 16GB | 16GB | 4GB | 8GB | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB | 16GB | 4GB |
| Expandable storage | up to 32GB via a microSD card | up to 32GB via a microSD card | up to 32GB via a microSD card | up to 64GB via a microSD card | up to 32GB via a microSD card | up to 32GB via a microSD card | up to 32GB via a microSD card | up to 32GB via a microSD card | up to 32GB via a microSD card | up to 32GB via a microSD card |
| Processor | 1.2GHz quad-core | 1.2GHz quad-core | 1.2GHz quad-core | 1.5GHz quad-core | 2GHz single-core with multi threading | 1.5 GHz (4 1 core) NVIDIA Tegra 3 | 1.2GHz quad-core | 1.2GHz quad-core | 1.2GHz quad-core | 1.2GHz quad-core |
| RAM | 1GB | 1GB | 1GB | 1GB | 1GB | 1GB | 1GB | 1GB | 1GB | 1GB |
| Rear Camera | 8MP | 13MP | 13MP | 13MP | 8MP | 8MP | 8MP | 8MP | 8MP | 8MP |
| Front Camera | 2MP | 5MP | 5MP | 8MP | 1.3MP | 2MP | 2MP | 1.2MP | 5MP | 3.2MP |
| Dual-SIM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Battery | 2000mAh | 2000mAh | 2600mAh | 2800mAh | 1900mAh | 2000mAh | 2000mAh | 2100mAh | 2550mAh | 2000mAh |
| Price | Rs. 13,850 | Rs. 17,999 | Rs. 19,990 | Rs. 18,000 | Rs. 17,899 | Rs. 15,999 | Rs. 13,499 | Rs. 14,999 | Rs. 14,990 | Rs.11,999 |
Starting with the Canvas 4 vs the Canvas HD, the two smartphones are nearly identical when it comes to the power under the hood. The only difference is the camera and the built in storage. Sure, the build of the Canvas 4 is better than its predecessor. It has a plastic back, the sides have an aluminium finish to it, though its front is very reminiscent of the Canvas HD’s.
One device that has the ability to give the Canvas 4 a run for its money is the iberry Auxus Nuclea N1. To start with, it boasts of a full HD display where the other smartphones boasts of a 720p display. It houses the “turbo” MediaTek chipset that gives it a clock speed of 1.5GHz. From this we can expect that the smartphone will be better than other quad-core smartphones in the sub-Rs. 20,000 price range. It also houses the largest battery of the lot clocking in at 2800mAh. The battery life however will be determined once we test the smartphone.
Apart from the larger battery and the larger display, the specifications of the Karbonn Titanium S9 are at par with the Canvas 4. Sure, the Canvas 4 brings with it a set of gesture controls and the pixel density will be more on the Canvas 4 that the S9 but we would like to take a look at the 5.5-inch Karbonn phablet. Who knows, it may just turn out to be the new budget Galaxy Note.
The Xolo X1000 isn’t a quad-core smartphone but it is powered by the Intel Atom chipset and we have come to appreciate the capabilities of this hardware. The only downside to the smartphone is that it runs on Android 4.0 ICS, which feels really old when compared to the Android 4.2 offerings from smartphones in the market.
Another interesting device that has caught our attention is the Xolo Play. For Rs. 16,000 the smartphone offers users 1.5GHz (4 1 core) Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset and that sounds really impressive. Again, on the downside, the smartphone runs on Android 4.1.1 straight out of the box.
In less than six months, we have seen the launch of quite a few smartphones in the budget segment that boast of a quad-core processor. 95 percent of the time, the smartphone was powered by a MediaTek SoC. We have seen a few devices launch with the Qualcomm SoC, but it looks like manufacturers have preferred the offerings of MediaTek to Qualcomm in this budget segment. We consider a smartphone to fall in the budget category when it is priced under the Rs. 15,000 price tag. Now however we have seen these budget smartphone makers cross the Rs. 15,000 barrier and launch smartphones in the sub-Rs. 20,000 price point with the offer of quite an interesting hardware and feature set.
Stay tuned for detailed reviews of all the Android smartphones discussed above, to give you a much better idea of which device to invest in.