Micromax launched the Canvas Turbo, the company’s first smartphone with a full HD screen last year. The Canvas Turbo Mini is a smaller version of the Canvas Turbo, which has a slightly smaller HD display, a different processor, but it maintains the premium looks of the Canvas Turbo with its aluminium frame and a metal back. Is the Canvas Turbo Mini worth the price? Let us find out in the review.
Unboxing
We unboxed the Canvas Turbo Mini recently. Check out the unboxing video below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAFpI2IJQgU
Box Contents
The box contents include:
- Micromax canvas Turbo mini in silver
- White micro USB cable
- White normal earphones, styled like iPod headsets
- SIM ejector tool
- Information booklets and warranty card
- USB charger plug
Video Review
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8vOntlveHA
Hardware and Design
The phone has a 4.69-inch HD IPS screen, which is sharp and bright. It has vibrant colors and decent viewing angles. Overall the display is pretty good compared to other smartphone in the range. We guess the display is made of one-glass-solution technology (OGS), since the phone is thin.
There is a 5-megapixel fixed-focus camera on the top, which can record videos only at VGA resolution, unlike the Canvas Turbo which had HD video recording. It also has a usual pair of proximity and ambient light sensors. There is also a LED notification light, which is present on the back of the earpiece.
There are the usual set of capacitive touch buttons for menu, home and back, below the display. These are backlit and offer haptic feedback. The light bleeds out a bit, which looks too bright in dark environment.
The phone is 7.9mm thick, about 0.7 mm thinner than the Canvas Turbo. The phone has a metal back, which extends to the sides of the phone. The volume rocker and the power buttons on the right side also have metal finish. There is a shiny rim between the bezel and the hardware keys, which is made of plastic.
There is a secondary micro SIM slot on the left side.
You can remove the SIM slot easily using the bundled SIM card ejection tool. The SIM tray is also made of metal, similar to the Canvas Turbo. Since this has hot swap capabilities, you can remove or insert the SIM easily without turning off the phone.
There is a 3.5mm audio jack and a micro USB slot on the top.
You can see a tiny microphone hole on the bottom.
The phone is compact and is easy to hold. It is divided into three part. The top part near the camera module is made of plastic, which has a removable cover. The center part has metal build. The phone weighs just 110 grams, about 27 grams lighter than the Canvas Turbo. This is one of the lightest phones in the market.
You have a primary mini SIM slot and a micro SD card slot inside.
There is a loudspeaker grill on the bottom.
Camera
The phone has a 8-megapixel camera, compared to the 13-megapixel camera on the Canvas Turbo. The Camerazzi camera UI is exactly similar to the Canvas Turbo with all the features such as GIF Animation, Object Removal and more. Images were good, but low-light had noise.We did face some focusing problem in macro shots. LED flash is good, but it’s a bit overpowering in some shots. Since the phone has Smart Gestures, you can capture pictures by waving your had over the proximity sensor.
Here are some photo samples
The phone can record videos at full HD 1080p resolution at 30fps. The video quality is good, but it had some noise and the video was too bright. As usual you have Electronic Image stabilization (EIS). Since the phone lacks a secondary microphone audio is not crisp. Check out the video sample below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhvqPvf5Lro
Software
The phone runs on Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean). The UI is similar to other phones from Indian OEMs running on Android 4.2, but this has a new white theme.
This White theme cannot be changed, which is a big drawback. In addition to the usual set of quick setting options in the drop-down notification bar, you also have a one key lock option that locks phone easily.
It doesn’t have Micromax’s Blow to Unlock app, Pop Up browser or iFloat Tray, but you have a Video Pinning with a new UI. The previous version present in the Canvas 4 and the Canvas Turbo had only two size options, but this has several resize options. You also have smart gesture that lets you perform several actions.
Out of 1GB of RAM, you get 966MB of usable RAM. About 450MB of RAM is free when the phone is idle. Out of 4 GB of internal storage you get 1.61 GB of user storage and 0.98GB for apps.
You can also set the default write disk to SD card and move apps to the External SD card, when you insert one.
Apps
The phone comes with lot of pre-loaded apps. It also comes with the usual set of Utility apps and Google Apps. Other apps include, BBM, Opera mini, Hike messenger, Kingsoft Office (to view and edit documents) and Spuul (to view free movies). It also comes pre-loaded with some games that include, Bubble X Slice, Seven Stars and Zombie Smasher.
Music Player and FM Radio
The new user interface in the music player is completely different from the Canva 4 and Turbo. It lets you enable the equalizer for Bass boost and 3D effect features when you are listening using earphones. It can play different audio formats. Audio from the bundled ear phones is decent, loudspeaker output is pretty good. The FM Radio also has a new UI. It has auto search, option to set favorite radio stations and recording, but lacks RDS. The phone support 1080p full HD video playback in different formats.
Calls and Messaging
The dialer and the messaging UIs are also in white. You can change to either SIMs from the drop-down bar when calling or sending a message. You have a standard AOSP keyboard.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
The phone has SIM manager option that lets you set a default SIM for several operations. Both the SIMs support 3G, but you can use 3G on only one SIM at a time. Connectivity features include, 3G (HSDPA: 21 Mbps, HSUPA: 5.76 Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v 4.0 with A2DP and GPS. It has support for wireless display like most of the phones on Android to connect to a HDTV using wireless display adapter. The phone supports USB on-the-go (OTG) feature, similar to the Canvas 4 and the Canvas Turbo.
Performance and Benchmarks
The phone is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582 processor with Mali 400 GPU. The performance is pretty good without any lags. Check out some benchmarks below.
Quadrant Benchmark
The Canvas Turbo mini tops the Quadrant benchmark with 5911 points.
AnTuTu Benchmark 4
The Turbo mini scored 16942 points in the AnTuTu Benchmark and stands in the second place.
Vellamo 2.0 HTML5
The Canvas Turbo A200 tops the Vellamo 2 HTML5 browser benchmark by scoring 1925 points.
Vellamo 2.0 Metal
It managed to score 509 points in the Vellamo 2 Metal CPU subsystem performance test. Check out the complete set of Micromax Canvas Turbo Mini A200 Benchmarks here.
We tested some high-end games on the device, which were decent. Some games like Ashphalt 8 worked only with low graphics, but other games had good graphics with occasional lags in the gameplay.
Check out the Ashpalt 8 gameplay
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZmTqpyv7Qg
Check out the gaming review, in which we test several games such as Shadow Gun, Dead Trigger 2, Real Boxing and Riptide GP2.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK8ZkzE9NFU
Battery Life
Coming to the battery, the phone packs a 1800 mAh lithium-ion battery, compared to the 2000 mAh battery on the Canvas 4 and the Canvas Turbo. It offers battery life of less than a day average use and about half a day of battery life with gaming, 3G, some video recording, with both the SIM cards enabled. Overall the battery life is not impressive. The battery is also not removable, so that you can switch to a spare battery when it runs out.
Conclusion
The Micromax Canvas Turbo Mini is a decent smaller sized version of the Canvas Turbo. It has good display, premium lightweight build and doesn’t lag like the Canvas Turbo. It also has an expandable memory card slot. At a price tag of about Rs. 14,490, it is a bit costly compared to other phones in the range. It is expected to get a price cut by Rs. 2000 since Micromax faces a tough competition against the new Moto G. Anyways, if you are looking for a light-weight smartphone with good build and display, go for it.
Pros
- Good display
- Good build quality and lightweight design
- Decent Camera
Cons
- Battery life could be better
- Battery is not removable
- Default launcher is slightly overdone