Micromax Canvas Xpress 4G Launched On Flipkart For Rs 6599

Playing catch-up in the 4G segment, Micromax is out with another smartphone, this time an update to its Xpress 2 smartphone that was launched in July this year. The new Canvas Xpress 4G, priced at Rs 6,599, doubles the storage and RAM and introduces Android Lollipop to the fold, but decreases the camera resolution and battery capacity.

We went hands-on with the new Micromax Canvas Xpress 4G smartphone to see if it is worth a buy…

Design

Unlike its predecessor, Canvas Xpress 2 sports a pretty generic design, featuring a removable plastic back panel with chrome finish and the LED flash below seated between the protruding camera and the Micromax logo. Metallic-finish strips are placed on both sides; the right houses the Volume and Power buttons.

Instead of on-screen keys, the Micromax smartphone has soft-touch keys for Tasks, Home and Back below the display. The 5-inch screen is surrounded by wide bezels on all sides, something we are not used to seeing in smartphones these days. The earphone jack and microUSB port are located on the top.

The first thing you will notice as soon as you pick up Canvas Xpress 4G is how heavy it is. The block-ish design and the weight make the smartphone feel chunky in the hand.

Display                                                                                                         The 5-inch display of Micromax Canvas Xpress 4G sports HD (720p) resolution, a rarity in the sub-Rs 7,000 segment but not something unheard of. The screen did not seem too pixelated to use in the short span we spent with it, but its brightness levels sure seem to be rather low (which may affect sunlight legibility).

Another problem we found with the Canvas Xpress 4G’s screen is the reflectiveness. The viewing angles seem to be acceptable, but there is still some distortion of colours.

Hardware                                                                                                 The highlighting feature of Micromax Canvas Xpress 4G is probably the 2 gigs of RAM, which you will be hard pressed to find at this price band. Another feature worth noticing is the Cat 4 LTE compatibility, which allows the smartphone to download data at speeds up to 150Mbps, a feature good to have but not actually usable in the country at present.

Other key features of Canvas Xpress 4G are: 1GHz quad-core Mediatek MT6735 processor, 16GB internal storage, microSD card support, 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, and 2,000mAh battery.