With the the huge success of Superfone Canvas A100 and increasing demand for bigger screen phones in the budget range, Micromax has launched Canvas 2 A110 an upgraded version of  Canvas A100.  The new A110 features an upgraded dual core processor an IPS panel, and an upgraded 8-megapixel camera and the best Android phone in the 10K segment. Here’s our review of the device.

Design

The Canvas 2 A110 looks similar to the Galaxy Nexus phone with similar three capacitive touch buttons below the display. The chrome trim along the side is shaped in such a way so as to create an illusion of a curved glass. The phone appears a little larger than it actually is due to thick bezels on either side. The back panel is made of plastic with a matte finish, feels durable, and offers a good grip. The rear panel also have a Micromax branding log at the center

The volume rocker buttons are place on the left side, the power/sleep button on right side , while the Micro-USB port and the 3.5mm audio ports sit on the top of the phone. The camera lens, however, protrudes out towards the top, and feels awkward. There’s a dual LED flash besides the camera and a speaker.

Hardware

The new Micromax  A110 Canvas 2 is powered by a MT6577 chipset from MediaTek featuring a 1GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor  along with PowerVR GPU. The device includes 512MB RAM, and 4GB internal storage expandable up to 32GB with microSD card.

Other then this the Canvas 2 A110  is a Dual-Sim phone  and supports GSM SIM card in both the slots. The SIM Card slots and a slot for the micro SD card hide behind the back cover just above the battery slot. Other Feature includes Wi-Fi with hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, Micro-USB 2.0, 3.5 mm audio jack, A-GPS, Accelerometer and  Proximity sensor to name a few..

Display

The Micromax A110 features a huge 5-inch 262k colour capacitive touch screen with an IPS panel sporting a resolution of 480×854 pixels having 196ppi pixel density. The screen resolution is too low considering the size of the display, and the graphics and text appeared to be less sharp. The viewing angles are good, and the under-sun visibility on the phone was decent, though the screen seems to be highly reflective.

The MT6577 chipset used in the A110 is specifically designed for the 10K smartphone segment and has the potential to support up to 720p displays and record videos at 1080p. Unfortunately, Micromax has not exploited its full potential, which is why we have to live with lag in the UI.

Camera
The 8-megapixel rear shooter captures decent photos in daylight with accurate colors and good amounts of detail. Touch-to-focus and face detection is also present along with many scene modes. While the Indoor picture quality is not the best and the dual-LED flash isn’t very powerful in illuminating a dark area. Macro shots fare pretty well with a decent amount of detail and depth of field. The dual-led flash fulfills its intended purpose.

Video recording can done at 720p but the quality is not very good since the recorded file is not an MP4 video but 3gp.It also has a front 0.3 mp camera for Skype and video calls. Overall, we feel that the phone’s good for casual photography.

Software/ Interface
The Micromax Canvas 2 runs Android 4.0.4 ICS out of the box. The company has added a SIM management option to set the default card for call, messages, Internet, etc. Both SIMs can be active at the same time if needed.The notification tray is tweak with minor changes and includes toggles for settings such as Wi-Fi, Brightness, Rotation, Bluetooth, GPS, Data and profiles. Additionally the A110 also included Micromax’s custom apps and content store, M! Store, and services store, M! Zone, in addition to its messaging app, HookUp, and friends locator app, M! Buddy and a few games (Fruit Devil, Cricket Fever).

Media
Audio is handled by the stock music player of ICS. The quality of audio is  average even with a good pair of earphones. The rear speaker is quite loud so you won’t miss any of the alerts even in a noisy place.  Video playback leaves a lot to be desired. First of all, the Canvas 2 A110 can only handle 720p video playback smoothly. MP4 files play well in the stock player but AVI, MKV, etc. have trouble playing back even in MX Player. The colour reproduction is good but the viewing angles are weak so you have to hold the phone just right for a decent experience.

Performance

Being powered by Dual core MediaTek processor, the Canvas 2 A110 performed very well with no problem in multitasking.During our use of the phone we noticed some minor lag, especially while playing high grapicis games, but other than that, we’d rate our overall experience as above average. We expected a bit more from a phone that runs on a dual-core processor. We’re not sure if the phone would get updated to Jelly Bean, which offers a smoother user experience compared to ICS.

Battery Life
The Micromax Canvas 2 come fitted with a 2000mAh battery pack, which is clearly not enough to power such a huge screen for the entire day. We got  just about 7-hours in our video drain test. We expected a bigger battery given the size of the phone. The phone lasted about 7 hours in the loop tests which included an hour of calls, two hours of music, two hours of music and the rest was taken up by audio streaming over Wi-Fi.

Micromax A110 Specifications

• Mediatek MT6577 chipset
• 1 GHz dual core ARM Cortex A9 CPU
• PowerVR SGX531 GPU
• 512 MB of RAM
• 5″ FWVGA (854*480) IPS LCD display with 196ppi
• 8 MP auto focus camera, dual LED flash
• VGA front facing camera
• 4 GB internal storage 32Gb expandable
• 9.7 mm thickness
• 2000 mAh Li-ion battery
• Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich

Verdict and Price in India 
Micromax  A110 Canvas 2 is priced at Rs 9,990 in India, which is the same price as the  A100. The phone seems to be a decent option in the low budget segment. However, Micromax should have offered a better resolution screen, and with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The dual-core CPU doesn’t seem to be put to good use as the UI is very laggy and the phone cannot handle video beyond 720p. Overall, the Micromax A110 mobile turned out to be the cheapest Android phone in the 5-inch Phablet segment. Recently the company has also launched the Micromax A116 Canvas HD with better specs than A110 with price of Rs 15,000 in the Indian market.