The Karbonn A27 retina sports a 4.3 inch IPS qHD screen with 8MP auto focus camera running on Android Jelly Bean OS over a 1.2GHz dual core processor (Qualcomm Snapdragon). This handset is priced at Rs. 9,000.
A27 Box Pack
The box pack gives you the complete hardware specifications including the SAR value (1.0 W/kg). Inside the box you will find the handset, charger, battery of 1800mAh capacity, USB to Micro USB cable, earphone, warranty card and user manual.
Design, Display and OS
The handset has got an elegant look with glossy black front view (for the Black colored model) and the rear side is matt finish. It is comfortable to hold and pretty slim at 9.1mm thickness. The A27 gets a little bulkier on the top area which includes the camera.
There are 4 touch sensitive backlit navigation buttons on the front face (bottom) and on the top there are the sensors, in call speaker and 2MP front camera. On the rear side you will find the 8MP camera with LED flash.
The Retina word is used to grab attention, the screen is IPS (capacitive touch) of size 4.3 inches with qHD (960×540 pixels) resolution. The PPI is 256.15 and it’s no way a retina display. The touch is smooth and responsive. There is light, G-Sensor, magnetic and proximity sensors.
The Karbonn A27 runs on the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS.
Memory and Storage
The handset comes with 512MB RAM and 4GB ROM. Of the 512MB RAM you get around 101MB free. Of the 4GB internal storage 1.7GB is allocated as phone storage with 1GB free space and 1.79GB for apps storage of which you get around 1.7GB free.
The top status menu is different than what we have seen on other handsets. When you touch and drag the top screen you will get the live CPU graph which will help you monitor performance / CPU usage (check the image below). It’s a good option but then you have to compromise on the memory as it’s already low.
Processor, GPU and Performance
The A27 retina is powered by 1.2GHz MSM8225 Qualcomm Snapdragon dual core processor with Adreno 203 GPU.
Benchmark scores
- Quadrant Benchmark: 2949.
- Antutu Benchmark: 6034.
- Nenamark2: 25.7 fps.
- Linpack : Single 48, Multi 77.
- Multi Touch: 4 point.
Camera, Entertainment and Gaming
The 8MP camera quality is okay not very good. The interface is a little different. You can record videos in 720p resolution. I tried it the out but was not that good (20fps).
The camera app crashed many times when shooting videos in 720p resolution. But I could manage to shoot. The recording mic volume is very low. Check the video sample at end of article.
I tried playing 720p videos using the MX player some of the videos played really smoother while most had sync issue. Also in most cases H/W mode didn’t work. The speaker sound is loud and clear.
Common / popular games will easily working for example temple run, Angry birds etc. High end games probably will not work.
Connectivity and phone features
3G and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth worked well. GPS gets a lock within 20 seconds. The in call speaker is loud enough and clear.
Battery
1800 mAh battery should easily give a decent usage time of over 1 day.
Karbonn A27 Retina Review
This dual SIM handset comes with good features but it cannot comfortably play 720p videos. In fact the Mediatek processors really do well as compared to this one. The Lava Iris 501, Xolo A700 / A800 and many more. The camera again is a bit disappointing. Instead of the A27 you should looking out for other qHD handsets in this price range with MediaTek dual core processor.
Image Gallery
Sample Images
Karbonn A27 unboxing and review video
Sample 720p video shot using the A27 Retina camera
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