Rapid price drops have ignited demand for mid-range Android smartphones. Although we are yet to see a 1Ghz phone under Rs 15,000, Huawei’s Ideos X5 stands apart by offering a larger display than the competition. The X5 has a solid construction all around with a curved top and bottom that makes it easy to slide into a pocket.
The phone features a bright 3.8-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. The touchscreen is very responsive but sunlight legibility is an issue if brightness is kept anything under 50%. Under the display are the usual four touch sensitive buttons.
On the left side is the volume rocker while the right side is bare. The top has the 3.5mm audio out and the bottom houses the microUSB port for charging and data transfer. On the back, the phone has a 5MP camera with LED flash and speaker grill right next to it.
The phone runs a 800Mhz processor with 512MB RAM. The hardware makes the phone run butter-smooth with basic applications like music, Twitter, Facebook and browser running in the background. However, the X5 will start struggling if too many applications are left running in the background.
The phone has Wi-Fi , Bluetooth and 3G for data connectivity and though it worked perfectly fine over EDGE, we faced trouble with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. In our review unit, Wi-Fi kept disconnecting from the network every now and then for no apparent reason.
Also, the phone is supposed to have Wi-Fi Hotspot functionality, but it was missing in settings or in terms of any app. The Bluetooth connection also had the same issues and it kept disconnecting and reconnecting with the Bluetooth headset it was paired with. Hopefully, a quick software update will correct this anomaly. In terms of camera performance, the Ideos X5 has one of the better 5MP cameras available on phones today. In daylight, the phone takes surprisingly sharp images with natural colors.
Indoors and at night, the flash worked for nearby objects, but there was noise visible when viewed on a computer screen. Video recording is in 720p and again is above average in quality with smooth recording and crisp audio. The phone’s audio output in voice calls through the speaker as well as loudspeaker is crystal clear and the active noise cancellation on the mic keeps the ambient noise at bay. The phone gave just over a day’s battery backup on a full charge, which is good for a phone with a large display.
At the price of Rs 15,000, the X5 offers good value-for-money (we couldn’t find any reports of erratic wireless performance in the X5, so the problem was likely limited to our early review unit itself). However, competition is not keeping silent. With a recent drop in prices, Motorola’s Defy has come down to the same price range and tops the Ideos X5 with a rugged body and 3.7-inch Gorilla Glass display (with a slightly better 480 x 858 pixel resolution). The Defy still runs Android 2.1 (expected to be updated soon) and records videos in VGA resolution only.
[Source : The Times of India]