Micromax Mobiles has really taken off in India with it's super cheap phablets. The company has grown really fast in a very short time and have around 22% to 24% market share in India. The company has launched many new cellphones in recent times and is looking to hit the International market with it's recent announcements in Russia. One such recent cellphone is the Canvas Magnus A117. It is a really exciting phone which has created a lot of buzz in the Indian Market. It sports some very good specifications and has nice looks. The question is, is it a worthy phone to buy? Read this in-depth review to know whether you should consider this phone or not.
UPDATE:
After using the phone for over 1 month, I have found certain issues with the device which I have listed down in the sub sections.
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| Canvas Magnus A117 |
UPDATE:
After using the phone for over 1 month, I have found certain issues with the device which I have listed down in the sub sections.
Design and Build Quality:
The Micromax Canvas Magnus has a very nice looking design. Though it has the same old front as other Micromax phones, it has an aluminim back and silver side profile. The back panel fits nicely and has a really appealing look. The aluminium case looks really nice and the fact that the phone is relatively slim also helps to enhance it's looks. One con here is that this aluminium casing is really slippery in the hand. The phone feels really light in the hand which makes it a joy to hold. The Micromax logo rests just below the primary camera. The camera module bulges out from the body. The micro USB port and 3.5 mm jack are on the top along with the volume rocker and the power key on left and right side respectively. All in the phone has really nice looks.
The phone is quite well built with all the parts firmly fixed together. The back panel is really difficult to remove and thus increases the safety of the device. The battery is removable which is handy when one carries an extra battery pack. The overall build quality is decent and one of the best from Micromax till date.
Rating: 8.5/10
Hardware:
The Canvas Magnus packs in some great specs. It comes with a 1.5 Ghz Quad-core Cortex A-7 processor along with the PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU. The device also comes with 1GB of RAM. The sad part is that the device has only 4GB of internal storage out of which only 1.6GB is available for storage and only 0.9GB space for apps. On the brighter side though, the apps can be installed on the external sd card which basically removes the above con. Also USB OTG support is there which further increases the total storage available on the cellphone. Thus, the hardware on this device is quite satisfactory, though it is advisable to use a case to protect it from physical damage.
Update:
The low storage is a real bummer for such a device. The low storage has made the device really laggy because of installation of several apps. The problem can be solved by not installing much apps so that you have atleast 200MB of phone storage left free. Another thing is that never install more than two heavy games on your cellphone. This would somewhat cure the problem.
Rating: 8.5/10
Revised Rating: 7.5/10
Display:
The display on this phone is a 5 inch HD display with a pixel density of around 290 ppi. The display on the phone is quite good with good colour reproduction and good viewing angles and good sharpness. The display seems really nice and is a nice panel which is of comparable quality to some of the higher priced phones. The outdoor visibility is also good. The display does not come with any sort of protective glass so, it is advisable to put a good screen guard to protect it from scratches. All in all, the phone has a decent display.
Rating: 9/10
Camera:
The camera on the Canvas Magnus is a 12 MP shooter with LED Flash. The camera is a good one. In daylight, the pics come out to be really nice with good colour reproduction, good details and great sharpness. The daylight camera quality is comparable(sometimes better) to that of Samsung Galaxy Note 2, which had a really decent camera. In low lighting conditions, the camera performs above average with okay-ish details and so so sharpness. It performs better than any other cellphone in it's class with the LED Flash being good enough. The only shortcoming of this camera can be seen in completely artificial lights of a normal room. Here the photos turn out be having somewhat okay details but the sharpness is not there. All in all the camera quality is above average and is really nice for daylight shots.
Rating: 8/10
Software:
The Canvas Magnus comes with Android 4.2 Jellybean out of the box. As with the other phones of the Canvas series, this phone also does not have any sort of custom skin on and feels more or less stock android. This makes the phone feel really smooth and most of the operations are lag free. But the lack of optimization of the phone has it's own shortcomings. The phone freezes sometimes though the frequency is really less(like once every two weeks). The phone mainly freezes when a really heavy game is run along with many apps running in the background. There are few apps pre-installed by Micromax but some of them are really not of any use.
Update:
The freezing of the phone has increased a lot more often than before. The lack of phone memory and software optimisations has let the phone to become very laggy and freezing. The only option to cure this is either not to install many applications or to format the phone once to solve the issue.
Rating: 7.5/10
Revised Rating:7/10
Gaming:
The gaming experience on the Micromax Canvas Magnus is quite good. All the heavy games can be installed simultaneously as they get installed on the external sd card. Most of the games worked really well on this device without any issues. Even the graphic intensive games like Asphalt 8 run smoothly, though it's graphic setting had to be reduced to medium. The phone has a really good screen size of 5 inches which further enhances the gaming experience. The only con here is that the phone hangs sometimes when opened with multiple apps running in the background. All in all the gaming experience is quite satisfying on this phone.
Rating: 8.5/10
Battery:
The battery on the Canvas Mangus is of a modest 2000 mAh capacity. This battery gives a decent battery life to the phone which can last a heavy user, a full working day(around 15 hours). Average users can expect a battery life of one full day. This is a decent battery life which is above average when compared to the modern cellphones.
Rating: 8/10
Valur For Money:
The Micromax Canvas Magnus retails in the Indian Market for around the Rs 13000 - Rs 14000 price bracket. At this price point, the phone is a really good value for money buy, with very less phones as good as this one.
Rating: 8.5/10
Conclusion:
The Canvas Magnus sells for a budget price of Rs 14k for which it is a really nice phone to buy. Apart from some minor cons, it is an exceptional device. This cellphone indicates the progress of Micromax and how it has improved leaps and bounds as a phone manufacturer. It is hard to beat this phone especially with this price point and such a good camera.
Overall: 8/10
Revised Overall:7.5/10
Micromax Canvas Magnus A117 White
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Rating: 8.5/10
Hardware:
The Canvas Magnus packs in some great specs. It comes with a 1.5 Ghz Quad-core Cortex A-7 processor along with the PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU. The device also comes with 1GB of RAM. The sad part is that the device has only 4GB of internal storage out of which only 1.6GB is available for storage and only 0.9GB space for apps. On the brighter side though, the apps can be installed on the external sd card which basically removes the above con. Also USB OTG support is there which further increases the total storage available on the cellphone. Thus, the hardware on this device is quite satisfactory, though it is advisable to use a case to protect it from physical damage.
Update:
The low storage is a real bummer for such a device. The low storage has made the device really laggy because of installation of several apps. The problem can be solved by not installing much apps so that you have atleast 200MB of phone storage left free. Another thing is that never install more than two heavy games on your cellphone. This would somewhat cure the problem.
Rating: 8.5/10
Revised Rating: 7.5/10
Display:
The display on this phone is a 5 inch HD display with a pixel density of around 290 ppi. The display on the phone is quite good with good colour reproduction and good viewing angles and good sharpness. The display seems really nice and is a nice panel which is of comparable quality to some of the higher priced phones. The outdoor visibility is also good. The display does not come with any sort of protective glass so, it is advisable to put a good screen guard to protect it from scratches. All in all, the phone has a decent display.
Rating: 9/10
Camera:
The camera on the Canvas Magnus is a 12 MP shooter with LED Flash. The camera is a good one. In daylight, the pics come out to be really nice with good colour reproduction, good details and great sharpness. The daylight camera quality is comparable(sometimes better) to that of Samsung Galaxy Note 2, which had a really decent camera. In low lighting conditions, the camera performs above average with okay-ish details and so so sharpness. It performs better than any other cellphone in it's class with the LED Flash being good enough. The only shortcoming of this camera can be seen in completely artificial lights of a normal room. Here the photos turn out be having somewhat okay details but the sharpness is not there. All in all the camera quality is above average and is really nice for daylight shots.
Rating: 8/10
Software:
The Canvas Magnus comes with Android 4.2 Jellybean out of the box. As with the other phones of the Canvas series, this phone also does not have any sort of custom skin on and feels more or less stock android. This makes the phone feel really smooth and most of the operations are lag free. But the lack of optimization of the phone has it's own shortcomings. The phone freezes sometimes though the frequency is really less(like once every two weeks). The phone mainly freezes when a really heavy game is run along with many apps running in the background. There are few apps pre-installed by Micromax but some of them are really not of any use.
Update:
The freezing of the phone has increased a lot more often than before. The lack of phone memory and software optimisations has let the phone to become very laggy and freezing. The only option to cure this is either not to install many applications or to format the phone once to solve the issue.
Rating: 7.5/10
Revised Rating:7/10
Gaming:
The gaming experience on the Micromax Canvas Magnus is quite good. All the heavy games can be installed simultaneously as they get installed on the external sd card. Most of the games worked really well on this device without any issues. Even the graphic intensive games like Asphalt 8 run smoothly, though it's graphic setting had to be reduced to medium. The phone has a really good screen size of 5 inches which further enhances the gaming experience. The only con here is that the phone hangs sometimes when opened with multiple apps running in the background. All in all the gaming experience is quite satisfying on this phone.
Rating: 8.5/10
Battery:
The battery on the Canvas Mangus is of a modest 2000 mAh capacity. This battery gives a decent battery life to the phone which can last a heavy user, a full working day(around 15 hours). Average users can expect a battery life of one full day. This is a decent battery life which is above average when compared to the modern cellphones.
Rating: 8/10
Valur For Money:
The Micromax Canvas Magnus retails in the Indian Market for around the Rs 13000 - Rs 14000 price bracket. At this price point, the phone is a really good value for money buy, with very less phones as good as this one.
Rating: 8.5/10
Conclusion:
The Canvas Magnus sells for a budget price of Rs 14k for which it is a really nice phone to buy. Apart from some minor cons, it is an exceptional device. This cellphone indicates the progress of Micromax and how it has improved leaps and bounds as a phone manufacturer. It is hard to beat this phone especially with this price point and such a good camera.
Overall: 8/10
Revised Overall:7.5/10
Micromax Canvas Magnus A117 White
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