Instagram

15 September 2014

Android One

Android One had a huge buzz, they were supposed to be the under $100 kinda NEXUS devices.
We've all been waiting for them and here we have the Spice Android One Dream UNO  Mi-498
It's a huge name but does it live up to the hype ?? Lets find out...

It's a 4.5inch 854x480 pixels screen. Not even a 720p, I feel a little disappointed but it's priced good enough and I haven't used the device yet so I can't exactly tell how the display looks like.


The device has a MediaTek 1.3Ghz Quad Core chipset and a Mali 400 MP GPU. It's backed up with 1GB RAM and here's the tricky part the storage, it has 4GB of internal storage out of which only 2.27GB is available for apps. But it offers microSD card support upto 32GB plus you get 25GB of cloud storage which includes 15GB on Google Drive and 10GB on Spice Cloud.
                           
               



        
Talking about the camera, well it has a 5MP auto focus rear camera and a 2MP front camera and yeah the fun part you can capture full 360 degree photosphere images with the rear camera.

     


Now what makes this device different from the other budget android devices ?? Here's where Android One comes into play. The device runs Android 4.4.4 out of the box and will be updated to the latest android for the next 2 years. So it's basically an underpowered Nexus device, well you could say that but seeing the specs I don't think this device will be capable of pushing the limits but you never know, anything can happen in this age of Android :) Now this device will be updated which is great, almost no other manufacturer updates their android device, you can see so many smartphones from Micromax, spice etc which were never updated even though they had these specs last year. So Google backing up the update part well it looks promising...


My one concern is the after sales service. The service centers are a live example of what HELL must be. Here's what my friend experienced when he took his device to the service center. 1st part they don't bother at all, my friend explained his problems and then they accepted and took his device and asked him to collect it a week later. So one week passed and my friend reached the service center to collect his device and he got one answer "Sorry sir we could not repair your phone, it'll take us some more time. You can collect your device next week." The reason they gave for this was that they had no replacement parts in stock... But let's fast forward, so my friend finally got his device back and this whole procedure took a Months Time... Now could you stay for a whole month without your smartphone and you don't even get a replacement phone for that long. Well I can't stay without it. This was a year back and now the situation seems to be improving and spares are readily available and you don't have to wait that long to get your device up and running. But yeah seeing that Google is ready to help these devices get updated, I think the after sales would improve a little. Let's hope for the best.

Overall the device itself look promising and the 2 year update guarantee that's something to die for considering the price i.e. Rs 6,299 i.e. approx $100 it's great and I hope you don't have to go visit the scary service centers ever... But yeah don't give up on this device because of the after sales services I'm sure they've improved and I seriously wish your device stays healthy. To ensure that your device stays healthy all you need to do is use it with tender love and care. That's all a smartphone asks for. Do surely check out the other Android One offerings from Micromax and KarBonn..  The spice Android one is a flipkart exclusive, the Micromax Android One that is the Micromax Canvas A1 is an Amazon exclusive and the KarBonn Android one is a snapdeal exclusive..   

So go ahead, if you are on a tight budget and can't get your hands on the Xiaomi Redmi 1S. Then the Android One smartphones are for you....

Yeah the full review will be coming soon. Do share and leave a comment below. Enjow :) 

0 comments:

Post a Comment