Celkon launched its new Millennium series recently. The Celkon Millennium Vogue Q455 is a low to mid-range smartphone in the series that competes with the likes of Moto E, Micromax Unite 2, Lava Iris X1 and the Xolo Q600s. We had already reviewed all these smartphones. How good is the Millennium Vogue Q455 compared to these smartphones ? Let us find out in the complete review.
Unboxing
We unboxed the Millennium Vogue Q455 recently, check out the unboxing.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m47jVhM6pY
Box Contents
The box contents include,
- Celkon Millennium Vogue Q455 in black
- 2000 mAh battery
- 2-pin charger
- In-ear headset
- Screen protector
- User guide and Warranty Card
Video Review
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YIffbMT28c
Hardware and Design
The 4.5-inch (960 x 540 pixels) qHD display has a pixel density of about 244 ppi. Since the display based on one-glass-solution (OGS) technology, it reduces the phone’s thickness by reducing the air gap between the touch sensor, display and the cover glass. Black are deep, viewing angles are decent and touch sensitivity is good too.
The display is bright, but this also acts as a drawback since it is too bright even when you set it the least. This makes it hard to use in dark, since the display is too bright to your eyes. The sunlight legibility is decent. Since it is glossy, it attracts dust and is prone to fingerprints easily.
The phone has a plastic matte covering around the display. It also has bezels around the display. It is still taller than most smartphones with a 4.5-inch screen, such as Moto G.
Even though it just has 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, it looks huge due to the covering around it. The camera can record videos at VGA resolution. There is an earpiece and the usual set of sensors next to it.
It has the usual set of capacitive touch buttons below the display. These are not backlit, but offer haptic feedback when pressed.
The main USP of the phone is its sleek design. The smartphone is just 7.9mm thick.
The power button and the volume rockers are present on the right side of the phone. It has smooth matte finish even on the sides.
The 3.5mm audio jack located on the top.
The micro USB slot and the microphone are present on the bottom of the phone.
Since the smartphone has smooth matte finish it is a bit slippery to hold. Even though the back cover is made of plastic, it offers premium feel. The matte back is prone to smudges.
There is a 8-megapixel camera module on the back with single LED flash. We will discuss more about the camera in detail later.
You can remove the plastic back cover easily. Once you remove the cover, you can see the respective slots and a 2000mAh removable battery.
There is a primary micro SIM slot below the camera module. Next to it is the microSD card. The secondary mini SIM slot is present next to it. Overall, the build quality is good for its price.
Camera
The 8-megapixel camera is just average. As you can see, the camera UI is stock, different from MediaTek smartphones. Even though the images look decent, colors are not vibrant and some images seem washed out with muted colors. Macro shots came out pretty good. Autofocus is quick, but touch to focus doesn’t let you focus on an object properly. Low-light images had a lot of noise obviously, but flash is powerful to capture good images. Even the front-facing camera is not the best. Check out some camera samples below (Click to view the full resolution image)
It can record videos at 1080p full HD resolution. It goes out of focus often when recording a video. 1080p doesn’t offer much details, so 720p is recommended. Since it lacks a secondary microphone audio is not crisp. Check out the full hd sample below.
httpv://youtu.be/KUs0oXs7aXA
Software
Coming to the software, the phone runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat) out of the box. The OS is almost stock and the homescreen looks almost similar to the Google Now screen, but it doesn’t launch Google Now when you swipe from right to left. Quick settings and the settings menu are similar to other Celkon smartphones running on Android 4.2. Creating folders in the homescreen shows the Celkon Icon instead of showing a preview of apps inside the folder, which is weird.
Out of 1GB of RAM, you get 957 MB of usable RAM. About 500 MB of RAM is free when the phone is idle, with just the default apps running in the background. Out of 16GB of internal storage you get just 1.78 GB of usable storage for apps and 11.44 GB for mass storage. This is more than enough to install several apps. It also lets you move compatible apps to the SD card.
Apps
It comes with a lot of pre-loaded apps. Other than the standard set of utility apps and Google apps, it comes with Abhibus, Hungama, Mobogenie, OLX, TaxiPixi. Some pre-loaded apps include, Some pre-loaded trail games include, Assasin’s creed III, Bubble Bash 3, Modern Combat 4 and Real Football 2014. It has CGames and CLive apps to download more games.
Music Player and FM Radio
The music player is stock and can play a range of audio formats. The loudspeaker output is good and audio from the bundled earphones could be better. FM Radio has a new UI and comes with auto search, RDS and recording. It can play 1080p videos smoothly.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
It has SIM manager option that lets you set a default SIM for calls, messages and data connection. Connectivity features include, 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and GPS. It has support for wireless display and also has USB on-the-go (OTG) support.
Both the SIMs support 3G, but you can use 3G on only one SIM at a time. It also has Dual SIM Smart on option that lets you forward calls from either SIMs, if one SIM is busy. This doesn’t work with all operators.
Performance and Benchmarks
It is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Broadcom BCM23550 processor with VideoCore IV GPU, but according to CPU-Z, it is clocked at 1.3 GHz. It had occasional lags, mainly during multitasking. It also gets heated quickly on 3G usage. Check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
Quadrant Benchmark
It managed to score just 2997 points in the quadrant benchmark.
AnTuTu Benchmark 4
It scored 20243 points and topped the AnTuTu Benchmark 4.
Vellamo 2.0 HTML5
It managed to score just 1151 points in the Vellamo 2 HTML5 browser benchmark and lies behind the Lava Iris X1 that is also powered by the same processor. Check out the complete set of Celkon Millennium Vogue Q455 benchmarks here.
We tried several games such as Riptide GP2, Dead Trigger 2, Shadow Gun, Asphalt 8 and Subway surfers 2. All these games lacked graphic details and the performance was not smooth in most games. Check out the gaming review below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb6k1SO4v_o
Battery Life
It packs a 2000 mAh removable battery.
It offers around 20 hours of battery life with average use and screen time of about 2 and half hours. This is less compared to Moto E, but still this is decent compared to other smartphones in the range. Also the battery drains quickly due to the bright screen. With heavy use such as intensive gaming and video playback, it lasts for less than a day.
Conclusion
At a price tag of Rs. 7,999, the Celkon Millennium Vogue Q455 is a decent smartphone in the price range. It stands out in front of its competitors in terms of its sleek design, 16GB of internal storage to store more apps and option to move apps to the SD card, but it disappoints in the performance since the overall experience is not smooth. The camera is just average, especially when it comes to video recording. If you can compromise these things, go for it, otherwise there are a lot of options in this price range.
Pros
- Good design and solid build quality
- 16GB of internal storage with expansion slot
- Decent battery life
Cons
- UI is slow and sluggish
- Average gaming performance
- Average camera