The Indian market is flooded with a plethora of budget phones that claim to be smart simply because they run Google’s Android OS and boast of a few multimedia features. Most of the time, these devices don't bring anything new to the table and are targetted at an audience that wants to have its first experience with smartphones but isn’t willing to shell out a lot of money.
Introducing the Micromax A50 Ninja, a “budget smartphone” that boasts of the Android OS, a capacitive touchscreen and a voice controlled personal assistant called Aisha that can give Siri a run for its money. Is this the ideal budget device or does it sound too good to be true? Read on to find out.
Design and Build
A quick look at the device and it has a glossy white finish making it a fingerprint and dust magnet. The front of the device has a 3.1-inch display with a resolution of 240 x 320 with 3 physical buttons below the screen – menu, home and back. The rear of the device houses a 2MP camera without a flash and the device compromises on a front facing camera that isn’t missed.
The left side of the device has the microUSB port and the volume rocker where as the top of the device has the sleep/wake/on/off button along with the 3.5mm headphones jack. The microSD card slot and the space for the 2 SIM cards rests below the rear cover near the battery. This is a slight disappointment as there is no hot swap option for the memory card or any SIM card.
Overall, the Micromax A50 Ninja is your average 3.5-inch smartphone with a lot of extra real estate surrounding the screen. The device is well built for its price point and is comfortable to hold. The design is simple and gets the job done.
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Features and Specifications
In terms of raw power under the hood, the device has 650MHz processor, 256 MB RAM and a 1200 mAh battery. The Micromax A50 Ninja runs on Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread straight out of the box, which is very nice. The device has expandable up to 32GB via MicroSD card.
In terms of raw power under the hood, the device has 650MHz processor, 256 MB RAM and a 1200 mAh battery. The Micromax A50 Ninja runs on Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread straight out of the box, which is very nice. The device has expandable up to 32GB via MicroSD card.
The lock screen of the device is pretty standard and displays the day, date and time along with missed calls messages mail and just about all the information you’d expect to see on the lock screen of any Android smartphone. There is nothing unique or different about the skin of the device and it is a fairly simple experience to use.
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The device doesn't come with a lot of preloaded apps but what it does have is a voice controlled personal assistant called Aisha, which is by far the best feature in a Sub Rs. 5000 phone, and the best part is that it works pretty well.
When you power up Aisha for the first time you may be asked to download an update from the Google Play store. We recommend that you do this as it will enable the app to function better.
Aisha is like an Indian’s version of Siri. We put Aisha and Siri against each other and found that Aisha performed much better than Siri.
The functioning of Aisha is the same as Siri. Tap the icon on screen, hear the beep, ask your question and wait for the answer. Its better to use the device in a slightly less noisy environment as Aisha will be able to understand you better. It was quite surprising how accurately the app detected and understood our “Indian” accent. The app is a lot of fun to use and Aisha does come up with quite witty, sarcastic and at times satirical answers to all your silly questions.
There is also access to the Google Play store giving users access to the plethora of apps available.
Overall, apart from Aisha, the phone is your every day run of the mill Android device. Its specifications are the bare basics and access to the Play store ensure that you will always have apps to keep you occupied if you get bored of Aisha.
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