A smartphone can be super too?this is all about Micromax A85 Superfone. It has predominantly been termed the superfone because of its dual core processor. The phone also comes with gesture control which is supposed to register any movement before the front camera and translate it into a response as a substitute for touch-based gestures.
Hardware specifications on the A85 Superfone include the Nvidia Tegra 2 dual core processor billed at 1 GHz. The phone is powered by 512 MB RAM and 8 GB internal storage. One can insert a micro SD card and increase the storage by 32 GB. The phone has a 3.8-inch
capacitive touchscreen display with a screen resolution of 480 x 800 pixels.
The display is bright and clear even on a cloudy day. It has 5 MP primary rear camera and a 0.3 MP secondary front camera for video calling. The phone misses a flash which could be a problem for shooting in low-light conditions. It records videos at 720p but in compressed 3 GP format. This results in a not-so-impressive quality. The phone is loaded with Android 2.2 Froyo OS. This is a downer as most phones these days work on the 2.3.x Gingerbread version awaiting 4.0 ICS update. The phone supports GPRS, 3G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. There is also support for stereo FM radio. The sound on the phone was decent throughout.
The secondary front camera is used for gesture recognition. The gesture control feature allows users to operate the applications such as the browser, through to contacts, photo gallery, and music player. It even allows users to
receive and end calls with hand gestures. Our experience of the gesture control was not mind-boggling though. It appears to be much more a gimmick rather than an actually usable feature because of its quality. The gestures had to be repeated umpteen number of times before the phone actually recorded them to do something worthwhile. The user is bound to get frustrated by this very fact and switch back to the normal more dependable touch interface. A feature which would have been the USP is now a con because of quality.
The phone comes loaded with hardware capability and keeping its price at R15,249 in mind, the specifications are indeed impressive. The phone was earlier launched for R18,990 and a price cut of R3,700 may be directed towards gaining consumer interest in the device.
The phone is indeed economical but its features are also mediocre. The dual core processor fares well but the below average gesture control and the older version of Android OS, do not make for a USP.