Micromax's quad-core 5-inch budget smartphone will be made available to consumers this Valentine's day as per the companies official website.
Micromax has announced on its official website that the A116 Canvas HD will be available to consumers starting this Valentine’s day, February 14. There is no information about the pricing of the device.
At the launch event, Micromax said that the Canvas HD would be priced under Rs. 15,000. The information on the website is a simple banner which isn’t clickable as of writing this article.
In terms of specifications, the A116 Canvas HD is a powerhouse. To start with, it has a 5-inch IPS display with a 1280×720 pixel resolution. Under the hood, it has a 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek MT 6589 processor along with 1GB of RAM. It also shows off a PowerVR SGX5 GPU. The A116 boasts of dual-SIM capabilities. It has 4GB built-in storage expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card. The rear of the device houses an 8MP camera whereas the front has a 0.3MP shooter for video chatting. It also has a 2100mAh battery. Straight out of the box, the device runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
At the launch event, we got some hands on time with the A116 Canvas HD. You can read our first impressions of the device here. The one thing about the A116 that has really excited us is the SoC it houses, the MediaTek MT 6589. We take a close look at what the SoC is capable off here.
Micromax isn’t the only one launching a device with the MediaTek MT 6589 SoC. Chinese manufacturer Jiayu reportedly plans to launch three smartphones in India priced at Rs. 3,000, Rs. 8,000 and Rs. 9,000 for an entry level, dual-core and quad-core smartphone respectively. Of the three devices, the Jiayu G4 is one that is powered by the same quad-core processor as the A116 Canvas HD but is priced much lower at Rs. 9,000. The performance of both the devices however will be judged once we have the devices in for review. You can read more details about the Jiayu G4 here.
Micromax reveals A116 Canvas HD release date
Another company that wants a piece of the quad-core budget smartphone pie in India is Karbonn with the announcement of the Smart Titanium 1. In terms of its specifications, the Smart Titanium 1 has a 4.5-inch qHD (540×960 pixels) display, and most importantly, is powered by 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core CPU based on the MSM8225Q SoC, and Adreno 203 GPU. This is coupled with 1GB of RAM, a 4GB ROM and expandable memory via a microSD card slot. Other specifications include a 1600mAh battery, a 5MP rear-facing camera, and a front camera (presumably VGA) for video calls. Straight out-of-the-box, the phone runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. You can take a look at more details of the device here.
Karbonn and Micromax are at loggerheads when it comes to the budget smartphone market. Since both the companies plan to launch their own variant of the quad-core smartphone, we though we’d take a look and compare at the power under the hood of the two quad-core budget smartphones. You can take a look at our comparison here.
With the announcement of quad-core budget devices, the consumer is the winner as he is getting a great device at an affordable price. What remains to be seen is which of these devices hits store shelves first to gain the first mover advantage.
Will you pick up a Micromax A116 Canvas HD this Valentines Day?
Source: Micromax