Micromax Canvas 1

Micromax, being a major player in the budget segment, is back at it again with the Micromax Canvas 1. A 5 inch HD display, 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage which can be expanded to 32 GB via an SD card are some of its standout features. 

The phone has an 8 MP shooter at the back, and a 5 MP shooter on the front for those selfies. The phone offers the standard set of connectivity features, which include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, OTG and 4G connectivity.

The Canvas 1 offers a sleek design for a 5 inch display. The phone is available in two black finishes, matte black and chrome black. We think that these two finishes are nice choices, and give the phone a bit more premium feel. 

The phone weighs in at 150 g, and is 8.3 mm thick. It is quite handy as a backup device, and given the price and features, serves the purpose quite well. The camera is arranged in an iPhone-esque way, with the flash located on the right hand side of the rear camera.

Canvas 1 has a 5 inch, 1280 by 720 pixels resolution screen, which is an IPS LCD one, and is capable of displaying the standard 16 million colours. The colours displayed, however, are nothing special, and lack any real edge or sharpness. The display largely reflects the fact that the phone is an entry level smartphone.

The screen to body ratio stands at 67.9%, with a 294 pixels per inch screen density. The aspect ratio of the screen is 16:9. Overall, the screen is good enough to get through daily use, but watching movies or reading is by no means a pleasure on the device.

The phone houses the MediaTek MT6737 SoC, which contains a quad core 1.3 GHz ARM Cortex A53 CPU, and the Mali T720 GPU. Pair this with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage expandable to 32 GB, and you get yourself a decent budget smartphone. The performance levels are nothing extraordinary, with the phone being able to get the most menial of multitasking through. 

Gaming is a big no-no on this device, as one would expect. It would be great if you could minimize your gaming experience on the phone to that little game of Subway Surfers or Candy Crush, because even trying to run titles like PUBG on the phone would probably make it explode.

The Micromax Canvas 1 has a rear camera of 8 MP, with a dual LED dual tone flash, which is a nice feature to have in an entry level smartphone. It can record 1080p video at 30 frames per second, but it clearly cannot be viewed in the best quality on the device, owing to its 720p resolution. 

The front camera is rated at 5 MP, and has an LED flash too. This is also a great addition to a budget smartphone, with low light selfies possible using this device. 

The picture quality offered by both cameras is decent, enough to get by in daily use.

The phone is powered by a 2500 mAh lithium ion battery, which offers average performance. Getting through a day on regular usage would be possible, with decent use of the battery saver mode. Users, however, report that the battery life is nothing to jump around about, with some even criticizing the phone for having a very poor battery backup. It is safe to say that the phone is not a fan favourite in this department. The battery is non removable, which is a major trend in almost all smartphones these days.

The Micromax Canvas 1 is not the best phone in the world, by any means. What it is, though, is a good budget option, with decent features at the price tag to turn a few heads. 2 GB RAM and a MediaTek SoC give the phone satisfactory performance, albeit user reports that gameplay on the phone is a horror. Still, given that the phone will make only about an INR 6000 sized hole in your pocket, it is a very good option to consider.

So, if you are looking to own a smartphone for the very first time, or want a simple smartphone as a backup device, the Micromax Canvas 1 can certainly be a good option for the price.