Android literally is the new canvass mobile phone companies are charting their growth. The best part about a canvass is anyone can draw on it. So its no longer just about Samsung, Nokia, Sony, LG or the telco giants. Home grown companies like Micromax, Spice and Lava and even a company as unknown as Maxx are coming with products that not only look deliciously good but so well priced that a normal non-technical person wonders what the hell do the Apples and Samsung of the world charge for?
Spice Coolpad is a collaboration between Spice and Coolpad, one of the popular Chinese brands and amongst the top 10 mobile phone manufacturer in the world. So I guess that lends a bit of credibility to Spice. Spice Coolpad is a device for the price conscious Android user. Coolpad runs on Android Jelly Beans. The high point is its looks specifically its blue metallic finish. At just over 8000 a metallic look finish 5 incher seems to be worth it considering the bigger brands come for almost plus 30,000 for similar finish. The low point is Full-HD don’t seem to play on it without pixelation. Although the normal HD 720 play on it just fine. Let’s explore more details about the phone. Gaming wise the phone manages it well.
Specifications
Operating System: Android OS, v4.1 (Jelly Bean)
CPU: Quad-core 1.2 GHz
Internal memory: 4 GB, 1 GB RAM
Memory microSD up to 32 GB
Screen size: 540 x 960 pixels, 5.0 inches
Camera: 5 MP, 2592?1944 pixels with autofocus, LED flash
Price: Rs.8,800 on Amazon
Battery: <a href=”http://www.thebusinessedition.com/press/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/1Spice-Coolpad-1.jpg”><img src=”http://www.thebusinessedition.com/press/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/1Spice-Coolpad-1.jpg” alt=”” title=”1Spice-Coolpad (1)” width=”482″ height=”365″ class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-3062″ /></a>2000 mAH
The High Points
The blue metallic finish gives the phone a cool look
Internal memory of 4GB is absolutely great considering some of the more expensive handsets hardly have a memory of around 1GB
Camera is 5 mega pixel but the picture quality is far superior. I guess its to do with the exposure levels set in the phone. Definitely one of the better cameras I have seen.
Pricing – At around 8,800 its a great device.
The low points
Doesn’t play Full HD videos. This is a huge setback for this 5 incher considering the razor sharp resolution a user expects. .
Battery life isn’t great.
Skype for some unknown reasons crashing. Maybe its to do with the layering on Android.
<strong>Overall Spice Coolpad is one of the better phones in its segment. A definite recommendation
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Puneet Mehrotra is a columnist on business and technology puneet@tbe.in