Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 review
Expanding its Selfie series of smartphones, Indian handset maker Micromax has introduced the Selfie 2 in the market.
It would be wrong to call it the successor to the impressive Micromax Canvas Selfie smartphone, which was launched earlier this year, as this is simply a cheaper variant in the series and the two don't really share a lot of similarities.
With every second smartphone trying to woo the selfie lovers, does the Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 stand out from the rest of the crowd? We try to find out...
Design The Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 smartphone comes with a plastic body and features a leather-patterned back.
The front is dominated by a 5-inch display, and also houses an earpiece, sensor array and the front camera. There are no physical buttons at the front but three capacitive touch keys are placed below the display.
The phone comes with a removable back cover that has Micromax branding at the centre, along with rear camera and LED flash at the top left corner and a speaker grille at the bottom.
Removing the cover reveals two micro sim card slots and a microSD card slot along with a removable battery.
The volume rocker button and the power button are placed at the right edge of the phone while the micro-USB port is at the bottom and the 3.5mm jack placed at the top.
Compared to the Canvas Selfie smartphone, Canvas Selfie 2 doesn't really sport the premium build quality that the former smartphone featured.
In terms of design, the edges of Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 are rounded, which render a firm grip on the smartphone.
Display
The Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 smartphone sports a 5-inch screen with FWVGA (854x480p) IPS display.
The sunlight legibility offered by the smartphone is pretty decent but the display is a little more reflective than what most people would prefer.
While many other budget smartphones offer HD display, the Canvas Selfie 2 smartphone loses out in this department due to its low-res panel.
Software
The Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 smartphone runs Android Lollipop 5.0. The phone comes preinstalled with FirstTouch launcher that features an app marketplace that features Indian apps and is called the App Bazar. We felt the FirstTouch UI was not pleasing to look at or use and switched to the other Android launcher.
Users can switch to stock Android version, which is flooded with several preloaded apps to add some features to the handset.
While many of these can be uninstalled, some of them can only be disabled, and not deleted.
Hardware & performance
The Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 smartphone is a dual-sim smartphone powered by an octa-core 1.3GHz Mediatek MT6592 processor and comes with 1GB RAM with 8GB internal storage out of which about 4.75GB is available to the user. Users who want more storage space can install microSD cards of up to 32GB.
In terms of performance, there was a major lag while navigating through the UI and switching between apps. We also faced a problem in switching between calls with occasional frame drops or freezes.
There was also a slight problem while using the GPS feature as the phone was unable to detect our location a few times.
The handset also offers FM radio. We were able to play most popular video and audio file formats. The sound output through the phone's two speaker outlets was loud and offers decent sound quality.
Connectivity features of the phone include 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB.
While cheaper smartphones such as the Phicomm Energy 653 offer 4G, this phone misses out on that.
The phone packs a 2,000mAh battery (removable) and will last you a little less than a full day if you use 3G data all the time. You'll be able to make about 1-2 hours of phone calls, play some casual games and browse the web in this time period. Your mileage may vary with different usage patterns.
Camera Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 smartphone features a 5MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP front-facing camera. The phone takes good pictures with accurate colour reproduction.
Pictures in daylight turned out to be slightly overexposed; however, pictures taken in low light were good with accurate detail.
Just like the Canvas Selfie smartphone, this phone too comes with face beautification features and enhancement effects including skin smoothening face slimming, dark circle reduction and eye enhancement.
Shot with the front camera
With a 5MP camera on the board, you don't expect very great results, but if you want a camera just to occasionally share images, Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 won't disappoint.
Verdict At 5,999, Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 caters to the needs selfie lovers pretty well. With decent display and durable build quality, the budget smartphone delivers what is promised.
However, the lag in touch and low-end hardware are downers.
Another major disappointment is absence of 4G connectivity. Phones such as ZTE Blade Qlux 4G and Phicomm Energy 653 — that are cheaper than the Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 — come with this option.
We cannot recommend Canvas Selfie 2 due to the performance issues and would rather suggest options like Xiaomi Redmi 2, Yu Yuphoria and Lenovo A6000 which are all-rounders.
It would be wrong to call it the successor to the impressive Micromax Canvas Selfie smartphone, which was launched earlier this year, as this is simply a cheaper variant in the series and the two don't really share a lot of similarities.
With every second smartphone trying to woo the selfie lovers, does the Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 stand out from the rest of the crowd? We try to find out...
Design The Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 smartphone comes with a plastic body and features a leather-patterned back.
The front is dominated by a 5-inch display, and also houses an earpiece, sensor array and the front camera. There are no physical buttons at the front but three capacitive touch keys are placed below the display.
The phone comes with a removable back cover that has Micromax branding at the centre, along with rear camera and LED flash at the top left corner and a speaker grille at the bottom.
Removing the cover reveals two micro sim card slots and a microSD card slot along with a removable battery.
The volume rocker button and the power button are placed at the right edge of the phone while the micro-USB port is at the bottom and the 3.5mm jack placed at the top.
Compared to the Canvas Selfie smartphone, Canvas Selfie 2 doesn't really sport the premium build quality that the former smartphone featured.
In terms of design, the edges of Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 are rounded, which render a firm grip on the smartphone.
Display
The Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 smartphone sports a 5-inch screen with FWVGA (854x480p) IPS display.
The sunlight legibility offered by the smartphone is pretty decent but the display is a little more reflective than what most people would prefer.
While many other budget smartphones offer HD display, the Canvas Selfie 2 smartphone loses out in this department due to its low-res panel.
Software
The Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 smartphone runs Android Lollipop 5.0. The phone comes preinstalled with FirstTouch launcher that features an app marketplace that features Indian apps and is called the App Bazar. We felt the FirstTouch UI was not pleasing to look at or use and switched to the other Android launcher.
Users can switch to stock Android version, which is flooded with several preloaded apps to add some features to the handset.
While many of these can be uninstalled, some of them can only be disabled, and not deleted.
Hardware & performance
The Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 smartphone is a dual-sim smartphone powered by an octa-core 1.3GHz Mediatek MT6592 processor and comes with 1GB RAM with 8GB internal storage out of which about 4.75GB is available to the user. Users who want more storage space can install microSD cards of up to 32GB.
In terms of performance, there was a major lag while navigating through the UI and switching between apps. We also faced a problem in switching between calls with occasional frame drops or freezes.
There was also a slight problem while using the GPS feature as the phone was unable to detect our location a few times.
The handset also offers FM radio. We were able to play most popular video and audio file formats. The sound output through the phone's two speaker outlets was loud and offers decent sound quality.
Connectivity features of the phone include 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB.
While cheaper smartphones such as the Phicomm Energy 653 offer 4G, this phone misses out on that.
The phone packs a 2,000mAh battery (removable) and will last you a little less than a full day if you use 3G data all the time. You'll be able to make about 1-2 hours of phone calls, play some casual games and browse the web in this time period. Your mileage may vary with different usage patterns.
Camera Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 smartphone features a 5MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP front-facing camera. The phone takes good pictures with accurate colour reproduction.
Pictures in daylight turned out to be slightly overexposed; however, pictures taken in low light were good with accurate detail.
Just like the Canvas Selfie smartphone, this phone too comes with face beautification features and enhancement effects including skin smoothening face slimming, dark circle reduction and eye enhancement.
Shot with the front camera
With a 5MP camera on the board, you don't expect very great results, but if you want a camera just to occasionally share images, Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 won't disappoint.
Verdict At 5,999, Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 caters to the needs selfie lovers pretty well. With decent display and durable build quality, the budget smartphone delivers what is promised.
However, the lag in touch and low-end hardware are downers.
Another major disappointment is absence of 4G connectivity. Phones such as ZTE Blade Qlux 4G and Phicomm Energy 653 — that are cheaper than the Micromax Canvas Selfie 2 — come with this option.
We cannot recommend Canvas Selfie 2 due to the performance issues and would rather suggest options like Xiaomi Redmi 2, Yu Yuphoria and Lenovo A6000 which are all-rounders.
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