Going by just the price at which it comes, the Micromax Canvas HD A116 — the factory review unit carried an MRP tag of Rs. 17,500 but it should retail for even lesser — this is serious value for money. Look at all that it packs at that price — a 1.2 Ghz quadcore processor, a 5-inch full HD IPS LCD display, an 8 MP rear camera, a 2 MP front-facing camera and an out-of-the-box Android Jelly Bean version 4.1.2.
The successor to the low-cost handset manufacturer’s previous hit, Android phone A110 Canvas, this is a phone that has as many features as some of the other flagships but at nearly half the price. The price differential does show when it comes to build quality but, by and large, this is not a phone one would shy away from. The pearly-white back panel has a slightly tacky finish but the black front panel looks classy enough.
Despite the fairly huge frame — the 5.67 x 2.91 x 0.42 inch phone weighs 156 gm — it feels slightly smaller than the other big phablets (phone plus tablet) around. For a phone priced so economically, the camera features some improvements not seen in similarly priced phones, including HDR and a time-lapse functionality on video. These features are courtesy Micromax’s own camera App. The time lapse feature was most intriguing but, unfortunately, the software seemed to be a bit buggy. Though it shot time lapse videos, the gallery refused to show them properly. However, regular videos and photos were pretty impressive. The call quality on the phone is good while the battery life - clocking in a decent 8 hours on full charge - is on a par with similar phones.
Though the IPS panel produced good images, the capacitive touch experience seemed a little less impressive when compared to the bigger brands. The accelerometer also acted a little weird at times, when I kept shifting the phone from landscape to portrait mode.
But such small bugs are probably a small price to pay for a phone filled with features.
Specifications
* 1.2GHz MediaTek MT6589 Processor
* 1 GB RAM
* 4 GB internal storage
* expandable microSD card slot
* 8 MP back camera
* 2 MP front-facing camera
* out-of-the-box Android Jelly Bean operating system
