One budget smartphone that has created a buzz in 2013 is the Micromax A116 Canvas HD. For a budget of Rs. 13,990 you get a device that offers a 5-inch IPS LCD display with a 1280×720 pixel resolution. It is 10.7mm thin, and weighs a mere 156 grams. It has a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and PowerVR Series5XT GPU. It also houses a 2000mAh battery, an 8MP rear camera and a 2MP front facing camera. It runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and is upgradable to Android 4.2.
When we put the Canvas HD through its paces, we found that it not only outperforms other smartphones in its price bracket in terms of the benchmarks, but also has a good camera, display, and build quality – making it a value for money smartphone on all fronts.
The display on the Micromax A116 Canvas HD is great and vibrant, with good colour reproduction. Apart from the Flipboard bug and random crashes, the smartphone’s overall interface and performance is quite smooth. It is no wonder that the Micromax A116 Canvas HD is virtually out of stock everywhere, and there is a waiting on every online shopping portal
If you are one who has a budget of Rs. 15,000 and is looking to pick up a smartphone that offers great value for money today, we list five alternatives that you can consider instead of the A116 Canvas HD.
Nokia Lumia 620
If you are someone who isn’t inclined towards the Android OS, we suggest you take a look at the Nokia Lumia 620. For Rs. 14,999, the Lumia 620 is powered by a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, coupled with 512MB of RAM. It features a 3.8-inch 800×480 pixel ClearBlack display, 5MP rear camera with 720p HD video recording, VGA front-facing camera, 8GB of built-in storage (expandable via microSD card to 64GB), and a 1,300mAh battery. Users also get 7GB of SkyDrive cloud storage with the smartphone.
The Lumia 620 runs on the Windows Phone 8 OS. If you are someone who uses a Windows desktop/laptop, a Windows Phone 8 smartphone is a nice way to integrate you into the Windows ecosystem.
For its price, the Lumia 620 is very well-built, and its vibrant display has great viewing angles. The WP8 smartphone is available in a large array of colours to satisfy a variety of users’ style needs. The only disadvantage of Windows Phone 8 is that the app ecosystem isn’t as robust or varied as Android or iOS. If you would like to load your device with apps and customize your screen with widgets, you should stick to the Canvas HD.
Lava Xolo A1000
The Lava Xolo A1000 is one of the underdog contenders to take on the Canvas HD. The processor under the hood of this budget smartphone is 1GHz dual-core and it is supported by 1GB of RAM. The rest of the specifications of the A1000 are quite impressive. It boasts of dual-SIM support, runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and has a 5-inch 720p HD display. The rear of the smartphone houses an 8MP shooter with BSI a feature that is absent from the 8MP camera of the Canvas HD. The front of the A1000 has a 1.2MP camera. The smartphone also has a 2100mAh battery, which is slightly higher than the 2000mAh battery on the Canvas HD. The A1000 also has 4GB built-in storage expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card.
Apart from the processor, the Xolo A1000 seems to have all the bells and whistles to take on the Canvas HD. The device is priced at Rs. 13,999.
Lava Xolo Q800
The Xolo Q800 is one smartphone that incorporates the same SoC as the Canvas HD. In terms of other specifications it has a 4.5-inch IPS display with a 960×540 resolution. It has 4GB built-in storage expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card. The rear of the camera houses an 8MP shooter and we think it will be better than the Micromax A116 Canvas HD as it shows off BSI. The price of the Q800 too is Rs. 1,000 cheaper. With average use and reduced display brightness, the 2000mAh battery of the Canvas HD makes it through the day. On the other hand, the Xolo Q800 has a 2100mAh battery. With a slightly smaller display and slightly larger battery capacity than the Canvas HD, we think the Xolo Q800 has the potential to last longer.
You can take a look at our in-depth comparison between the Canvas HD and the Q800 here.
Huawei Ascend G600
Another budget smartphone that has impressed us with its specifications is the Huawei Ascend G600. It has a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 768MB of RAM and 4GB of built-in storage. Add to that an 8MP camera, a 4.5-inch 540 x 960 pixel display and Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, and you have quite an impressive budget smartphone. It is powered by a 1930mAh battery, which means that the device has the potential to last through a day of above average use.
Priced at Rs. 14,990 the G600 is more expensive than the A116 Canvas HD but if you want a device that will run all the apps from the app store and give you smooth overall performance, you can consider this device.
LG Optimus L9
The LG Optimus L9 runs on Android 4.0 ICS, has a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 dual-core processor, the PowerVR SGX540 GPU and 1GB of RAM. It has 4GB built in storage expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card. The rear of the smartphone has a 5MP camera and the front has a 0.3MP camera for video calls. It also has a 2150mAh battery.
But the best feature of the LG Optimus L9 is its display. It has a 4.7-inch IPS display with a 960×540 pixel resolution. The display on the smartphone is very vibrant and the viewing angles are excellent. Consuming multimedia content and just generally working on the device was a lot of fun. The camera on it could have been better though. The battery on this device is a behemoth easily lasting over a day of average use. LG has done away with the bad skins it was known for and kept it fairly simple. You also have access to a quick memo app that lets you take notes on the display or highlight certain things for a screenshot.
The only downside is that the L9 is priced at Rs. 17,399 which is way higher than the price of the Canvas HD.