The Micromax Canvas Turbo A250 is powered by MediaTek turbo processor and sports a 5 inch screen with FHD resolution. Key features are 2GB RAM, 16GB storage and 13MP camera. The Micromax A250 is priced at under Rs. 20,000.
Box Pack
The Box packing is similar to the Micromax Canvas 4. However the handset looks different and does not really resembles the Canvas 4. The SAR value is 0.39 W/kg@1g head and 0.75 W/kg @ 1g body. Inside the box you will find the handset, earphone, charger, data cable, user manual, warranty statement, download goodies, ifloat app manual and SIM ejector. Screen guard is not included and we do not know if the screen comes with some added protection – it’s not mentioned anywhere.
Design and Display
The handset looks pretty cool, it’s made of aluminum and is light weight. I got the blue colored handset. The battery compartment is sealed and there are no visible options to remove it – this means you can get it serviced only from the service centre.
Micromax Canvas Turbo A250 weighs about 137 grams a little lighter than the Canvas Magnus A117. Thickness is 8.74mm, breadth 71.31mm and the length is 142.85mm.
Rear side is with matte finish, on the top side you will find the micro USB port, on the bottom the 3.5mm audio jack with mic, on the right side there is power / lock button and volume rockers and on the left there are the two Micro SIM slots. You need to use the SIM ejector pin to eject the micro SIM slots.
On the rear there is speaker out and 13MP rear auto focus camera with LED flash. The handset does come with accelerometer, light, magnetic, gyro and proximity sensors. Build quality is excellent and handset gives a pretty impressive look.
IPS Screen is 5 inches supporting resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. It’s with CGS technology (Continuous Grain Silicon Screen). Indoors in auto brightness mode the display looked sharp with vivid colors. I could also view the screen comfortably under direct sunlight. The colors reproduction looked good and viewing angles were very good. Touch is smooth and responsive. There is LED notification.
Memory, Storage and OS
The Micromax A250 comes with 2GB onboard RAM of which 1.5GB is available and of the 16GB built in storage 0.98 is assigned for apps (883MB free) and 12GB as internal SD storage. There is no external micro SD card slot, so you are left with 12GB of usage space only. However OTG is supported, you can connect your pendrive and access its contents using the OTG cable. A250 runs on Android 4.2.1 with OTA (Over the Air updates).
Performance and Benchmark
The handset is powered by MT6589T MediaTek turbo (quad core) processor clocked at 1.5GHz with PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU. Performance is good, though the FPS is lower because of FHD screen.
Benchmark Scores
- Quadrant Standard – 4648.
- AnTuTu – 15473.
- Vellamo – HTML5 1568, Metal 590.
- Nenamark 2 – 32.7 fps
- Multi touch : 10 points.
Gaming
I tried the Asphalt 7, the game play looked smooth but was not able to control the car properly probably cause of low FPS. The Dead Trigger 2 worked well but you can clearly feel the frame drop. The game play was smoother on the Micromax A117.
I f you are too much into gaming, Magnus A117 will be a better choice than Turbo A250.
Camera and Entertainment
There is 13MP rear AF camera with flash and front camera of 5MP resolution. The camera quality is as good as seen on the Micromax A117. Low light photography is also pretty decent. The handset can record full HD videos at 30fps and no doubt can play full HD videos with ease.
The camera comes with some enhanced features like GIF animation,3D panorama and remove objects. GIF Animation records a small video of few seconds and then allows user to animate particular area on the screen. The other area will show still image and the particular area selected will be running the video (animated effect), that’s how the GIF animation is created.
Remove Object also works on the same principle. It shoots several images and then allows users to merge the image to create a new image with most unwanted object removed. If you want to shoot a particular subject or an object but there is a lot of activity around –people moving, you can use the remove object feature. This will shoot several images and you can then remove unwanted people (by merging specific area of the images) and get a clear shot.
Others
I had no issues with3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Did not check the GPS but getting a lock within 30 seconds should not be an issue make sure you enabled EPO / EPO downloads and A-GPS. Speaker sound is loud (average) and clear.
Just like on the Micromax A117, the Micromax A250 also has the BBM link from where you can download the BlackBerry Messenger app. There are several gesture based control that you can setup (check video review).
iFloat Tray: This apps when launched shows a dedicated icon on the screen, you can place it anywhere, when you tap the icon you get quick access to certain apps.
The handset does get heated up and when I was outdoor shooting sample images (in sunlight) the temperature rose to 48 degree. This is normal with many handsets. Handset temperature is not only related to the hardware processing but also the environment.
Battery
There is built in non-removable battery of 2000 mAh capacity. As per Micromax the battery gives talktime of up to 7 hours. I used the handset for 23 minutes running benchmark apps and battery dropped by 13% and temp rose from 31 to 38 degree. I played some games for 10 minutes, battery dropped by 7% and temperature rose from 32 to 40 degree.
Verdict
The handset has got a premium look; it’s with an aluminum body and loaded with powerful hardware stuffs, unfortunately the FHD resolution lowers the FPS that affects the overall gaming experience. The Asphalt 7 game did not run as smoothly as expected.
Apart from this there are no issues. The screen looks great and viewable under direct sunlight. The camera quality is good. There is 2GB RAM and limited storage of 16GB. This handset is priced at Rs. 19,999 you can get it for under Rs. 19,500.
Another handset XOLO Q1000s is already available in the market for quite some time, it is with same hardware but HD screen, 1GB RAM and 2500 mAh battery it is currently priced at Rs. 16,999. A tough choice to make cause the Micromax Canvas Magnus A117 seems a better and cheaper option, if you exclude the RAM and FHD part.
Image Gallery
Sample Images
Micromax canvas Turbo A250 unboxing and review video
1080p video recorded using the Micromax Canvas turbo handset
Asphalt 7 and Dead Trigger 2 game play on MMX A250
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