The Karbonn Titanium S1 comes powered by a quad core processor with dual SIM support running the Android 4.1 OS with a 5MP camera and 1GB RAM. The handset is probably the cheapest quad core handset priced at Rs. 10,290.
Karbonn S1 box pack
Inside there is the S1 handset, the battery of 1600 mAh capacity, power adapter, USB cable, earphone, user manual, warranty card and screen guard.
Design
The S1 Titanium handset looks good the side has got the grey/silver metal texture and the rear side is glossy black. The glossy rear side looks good but with usage it looks bad cause of finger print impression that are easily visible. You will need to clean it often to get back that glossy look. The handset is 9.25mm thick and the built quality is very good.
Display
The 4.4 inch screen sports a 960×540 pixels resolution with 16M colors. The viewing angles are good and touch is smooth and responsive. There is light, proximity and G-sensors.
Memory, storage and OS
The handset comes with 1GB RAM of which 564MB is available. Of the 4GB internal storage 1.41GB is allocated for apps (1.29GB free) and 1.4GB as internal storage. Karbonn S1 runs on the Jelly Bean OS. You can install apps on the external storage.
Processor, GPU and performance
The S1 model is powered by quad core MSM8625 Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with Adreno 203 GPU. Though initially the handset performance may look smooth but when you play some high end games you can clearly see it under-performing. Some of the benchmark scores however are pretty impressive.
Benchmark scores
- Quadrant Benchmark: 4550.
- Antutu Benchmark: 10966.
- Nenamark2: 40.1 fps.
- Linpack : Single 50, Multi 105.
- Multi Touch: 5 point.
Camera
The camera interface is different there are some interesting features like red eye reduction, face detect etc. There is also an option wherein you can activate both the cameras i.e the rear 5MP and the front VGA. That way you will get small window on the left side with front camera view, just like you get when initiating a video chat / call. You can click images or record videos in this mode.
The camera resolution / output is good, however the 720p video resolution is not at all impressive. In fact being a quad core handset the S1 cannot even record or play 1080p videos.
Entertainment and Gaming
You cannot play 1080p videos, it will lag the experience is the same as on the MediaTek dual core handsets that also cannot play full HD videos. 720p videos however work with ease.
I installed the Nova 3 game on this handset and the good news is that it did work. However the bad news is that, it is not at all smooth, you will experience it lagging and at times will also see some strange shapes showing up on the screen for a fraction of a second.
Others
The sound is loud and clear, 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth works with no issues. It is dual SIM with dual standby mode.
Battery
The battery is of a 1600 mAh capacity with 4 hour talktime and 200 hours standby time. I think it should be enough for users who are not much into gaming.
Karbonn S1 Titanium review
The S1 is priced at Rs. 10,290 and for about the same price or even cheaper, you can get a better dual core handset like Micromax A110, Xolo A700, Xolo A800 and Lava iris 501 etc. The performance of quad core S1 though is better that these dual core handsets (Benchmark scores).
However when it comes to gaming, video playback, camera the performance is same as on the dual core handset s, in fact the 720p recording on the S1 is nowhere as compared to the dual core 8MP output.
Buy a MediaTek powered dual core handset for around 9K, or spend extra and get the Xolo Q800.
Image Gallery
Sample Images
Karbonn S1 Titanium unboxing and review video
720p video recorded using the Karbonn S1 handset
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