Last year Micromax released several Android powered smartphone at different price points, this year won’t be different for Micromax, as it is planning to release at least 30 new handsets.
Micromax has already released a 5-inch phablet Micromax A116 Canvas HD, following that release it launched another handset A89 Ninja recently. A89 is a 4-inch Android ICS powered device that comes with 1GHz dual-core processor. It is available online for a price of Rs. 6299 from Flipkart.
Design / Hardware
Design wise Micromax A89 Ninja is not a rocker, but looks better than some of the Micromax handsets. The front panel is mostly occupied by the 3.97 inch screen along with three buttons for Menu, Home and Back . The back panel looks glossy in dark grey. The side panel gets silver treatment which adds to the looks of this phone.
The left side panel has the volume rocker, right side panel hosts the power button. The power button feels too small and sometime we search with our fingers for that thing. The top panel hosts the 3.5mm jack and microUSB/ Power port for charging the phone, while the bottom panel is devoid of any buttons. The back panel hosts the 3-megapixel camera and speaker. The protruding camera gets a silver ring around it. Overall A89 looks decent with no special attractions design wise.
Display
Micromax A89 comes with a 3.97 inch TFT multi touch screen with 480 X 800 pixel resolution (240dpi). The display quality is ok for the price you are paying, the viewing angles are also good. But under sun light the visibility is not that great.
Software
A89 Ninja runs on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich version. Micromax is not known to give updates to it’s smartphones, keeping that in mind don’t expect update to Jelly Bean or ICS updates. Along with the default apps you will also get Micromax specific apps and games pre-installed. These apps include Hookup, M!Live, M!Store, M!Zone+, Fruit Devil, M!Buddy, The Dark Man. Micromax has skinned some elements of the UI. For app switching long press the home button, that will open previously accessed applications. Low end Micromax phones suffer from lag while using those phones, this phone performs decently and doesn’t suffer from any log.
Camera and multimedia
This smartphone has some decent specs under its belt at an affordable price, but when it comes to Camera it is a disappointment. It only comes with one camera, a 3-megapixel camera at the rear. The camera performs on in normal conditions, but in low light conditions the quality is average at best. But remember this is a m-megapixel camera with out flash and comes at an affordable price. Camera has white balance options as well as color effects to choose from while taking pictures.
You could play 720p videos on this phone but you can’t record 720p videos, max you can record is 640 X 480 videos. Recorded video quality is not that good, videos are grainy. Loudspeaker is present at the back panel, which gives decent sound quality. Microphones that come with this phone looks cheap.
Performance
Micromax A89 is powered by a 1GHz Dual-Core MediaTek Processor MT6577 and PowerVR SGX 531, it is couple with 512MB of RAM. Being a dual-core processor it gives decent performance while multitasking and playing games also. If you are a heavy gamer you might feel lag in some games but overall it performs well. 2.0 GB of internal memory is available for the user and can be expanded upto 32GB using a microSD card.
This is a dual-SIM phone with GSM+GSM support. One SIM supports 3G while the other is only 2G. Call quality is good on the phone. It comes with stock Android browser which renders web pages well.
Battery
It comes with 1450mAh of battery, which is ok for a dual-core phone. For standard usage with browsing, occasional video play or gaming battery might support for a day. I will update Battery performance later once I use the phone fully for a couple of days.
Conclusion
A89 with Dual-Core processor under it’s belt is a decent performer. For Rs. 6190 you will get an Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich phone, now a days you will find many Gingerbread phones at this price point. It also has a large 4-inch screen which is good for what it offers. If you are on the lookout for an Android smartphone in a budget, you could consider this phone as it has good specifications under its belt with decent performance.
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