iBall has launched a lot of Android smartphones in India for a while now and it is yet to make the mark that others like Micromax or Karbonn have been able to make. Things could change very soon for Mumbai based iBall with the launch of their recent iBall Andi 4.7G Cobalt.
The iBall Andi 4.7G Cobalt has the right mixture of specifications and pricing to make it a successful, but only if people knew of its existence. It is a typical mid-range phablet that has the specifications and pricing resembling other devices, but is different in its own way. It was launched at a hefty price tag of Rs. 19,995, but now it is available for around Rs. 15,500 in the market.
Box Contents
iBall Andi 4.7G Cobalt comes in a very big package with a photo of the popular Kareena Kapoor inside the phone’s display. Inside the box, we have
- The phone
- Battery
- In-Ear type earphones
- USB OTG Cable
- microUSB to USB cable
- USB charger
- Documentation and Warranty Card
The quality of the box contents is surprisingly good for a phone at this price. The quality of the earphones is good and it comes with a flat wires that don’t get tangled. We are more than satisfied by the box contents and their quality.
Design, Build Quality
The iBall Andi 4.7G Cobalt brings a new perspective into the mid-range phablets with a very solidly device. The front and sides of the phone are made of plastic, but feel quite solid. Andi 4.7G has a matte back that makes it resistant to scratches and fingerprints. The curved edges along the back give it a good grip in the hands.
On the front of the device, we have the 4.7inch HD display with not so thin bezels. Above the display, we have the earpiece. To the left of the earpiece, we have the proximity and ambient light sensors and to the right side, we have the 5MP front camera.
Below the display, we have capacitive touch keys for navigation. These keys are recognizable only when they are backlit. They have just dots to identify their functionality. The responsiveness of the touch capacitive keys wasn’t impressive.
The positioning of keys is a little weird as we find the volume rocker on the right side.There is a also a single step shutter key on the right side.
On the bottom of the phone, we have just the microphone.
On the left side of the device, we have the power lock key.
On the top, we have the 3.5mm audio jack and a microUSB port.
The different positions of the volume rocker and the power lock key make it a little tough to use at first. The keys are made of plastic, but they are very low and pressing them can be tough at times. The feedback of the keys isn’t great either.
Moving to the back of the phone, we have the 12MP camera at the top center and a dual LED flash to the right of it. There is a secondary microphone below the camera. The 12MP camera shows a big bump above the rest of the back. There is a speaker grill on the bottom left. The back of the iBall Andi 4.7G feels very grippy thanks to the matte finish.
The back cover is removable and removing it, we have the 2200mAh battery. There are two SIM card slots(not microSIM) and a microSD card slot above the battery compartment.
Overall, the build quality of iBall 4.7G Cobalt is quite good and we liked the matte back. The device feels perfect in hand, but we were not impressed by the capacitive touch keys and the poor sidekeys.
Display
iBall Andi 4.7G Cobalt has a 4.7inch IPS HD(1280×720 pixels) display sporting a pixel density of 312ppi. The display was very good in terms of sharpness. In terms of viewing angles, the display was impressive for the price range. The colors appeared a little washed out and the contrast wasn’t great. Sunlight legibility was good. The touch responsiveness isn’t that great and we found ourselves tapping more times on the screen than we actually need to.
Overall, we liked the display on the iBall Cobalt although we would have liked more contrast and richer colors.
Hardware and Performance
Like most other mid-range phablets, iBall Andi is powered by the very popular MediaTek MT6589 processor, has 1GB of RAM and graphics are handled by PowerVR SGX544 GPU.
Out of the 1GB RAM in the device, only 971MB is available and when the device is idle, around 560MB is available.
The phone comes with 16GB internal storage. Out of the 16GB, 1GB is available for apps and around 12.47GB is user accessible. There is also a microSD card slot. You can install apps directly on the SD card and move apps to the external SD card.
In terms of performance, there were some occasional lags in the UI. Opening apps and switching between them wasn’t the fastest, but it gets the job done.
Benchmarks
It is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core MediaTek 6589 processor with PowerVR SGX544 GPU.
Quadrant Benchmark
The Andi 4.7G manages to score 3963 points in the Quadrant benchmark.
AnTuTu Benchmark 3.3
In the AnTuTu Benchmark 3.3, it scores over 13k
Vellamo 2 (HTML5)
The Andi 4.7G scores 1471 points in the Vellamo 2 HTML5 browser benchmark
Vellamo 2.0 (Metal)
The Andi 4.7G hold the same second spot with 462 points even in the Vellamo 2 CPU subsystem performance test. In benchmarks, the iBall Andi performed very closely to the other budget quad-core phones. You can check out benchmark post to get more details or watch the benchmarks video below.
Camera
One of the key aspects of the iBall Andi is its 12MP camera at the back and the 5MP camera with Auto-Focus at the front. The rear camera records 1080p videos while the front camera records only 480p videos.
The camera UI is exactly like the one on Micromax Canvas 4. The various shooting modes like HDR, Panorama, Multi-Angle panorama, Face Beauty mode, Auto scene detection mode, smile detection shot, best shot and EV Bracket mode are present on the left side of the UI. On the right side, we have the access to the recent photos(you can also swipe left in the viewfinder to access this). Below the shortcut to recent photos, we have camera shutter key and the video shutter key below it. On the bottom- right, we have the settings icon. Focusing on an object takes some time and it can be tough to focus nearby objects.
In terms of image quality, images are good with nice details and colors. Check out the images below.
The phone is capable of recording videos at a resoultion of 1080p full HD. Here is the video sample.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H20ucKjSQBw
You can check out the camera review video of the iBall Andi 4.7G below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Be99TDUHM0
Software Features
The iBall Andi 4.7G Cobalt runs on Android 4.2.1 Jellybean and has lock-screen widgets and quick toggles notification panel. iBall has done very little customization and the UI is mostly stock UI. iBall has changed only the icons and the rest are pretty much stock. iBall has also included a OTA update feature that lets you update your phone just Over The Air without having to connect to the system. There is a power saving mode which can automatically save power and it lets you switch off various connectivity options and reduces brightness. There is a boot acceleration option which helps reduce the loading time of an app. There are also lockscreen gestures which lets you perform various options through gestures on the lockscreen. In addition to such basic features, the phone also comes preloaded with apps like Facebook, Whatsapp, Opera and WeChat.
Gaming
Gaming wasn’t as smooth as we expected it to be on this device. We tried out a mixture of games like Asphalt 7, RipTide GP2, Dead Trigger, Temple Run 2 and Subway Surfers. The heavy graphics games played out slow and were laggy. However, casual games like Temple Run 2 and Subway surfers ran without much trouble.
You can check out the gaming performance of the device in our video below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlfPTfitgkA
Media – Audio, Video and FM Radio
The quality of the headphones that comes with the device is quite good. It is an in-ear model with sufficient bass and loudness. In terms of video playback, the device supports 1080p video playback. There is an FM radio on-board too with recording.
Battery and Connectivity
iBall Andi 4.7G Cobalt comes with a 2200mAh battery. For the normal users, this will help the device last more than a day. However, for power users, it will last them just a day.
In terms of connectivity, the iBall Cobalt comes with the usual smartphone options like WiFi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth, 3G HSPA+, micro USB and GPS. Since it runs on Android 4.2, it supports Wireless Displays also.
Conclusion
The iBall Andi 4.7G Cobalt is an impressive package considering the internals and the pricing. The excellent build quality and a decent display work well with the near Stock Android experience.
Pros
- Good build quality
- Good rear and front camera
- Decent performance
Cons
- Touch responsiveness isn’t good
- Sidekeys are tough to use
- UI is slow and sluggish at times