Wammy Passion review – quad core handset with HD display

The Wammy Passion comes powered by MediaTek’s quad core processor with 1GB RAM, 8MP camera and 5 inch HD display. The handset features and specifications are similar to the Micromax A116.

Box Pack
The packing is just like as seen on Wammy note, Wammy titan handsets. It’s plain white with specs mentioned on the rear side. Inside the box you will find the Wammy Passion handset, screen guard, silicon case over, 2x battery of 2800 mAh capacity, earphone,  travel charger and micro USB to USB cable.

Design
When compared with the Micromax A116 the handset is not that slim, in fact the A116 looks slimmer because of its curvy looks. The A116 gets slimmer towards the edges, whereas in the case of Passion it’s the same (check the video review). The Passion is also a little heavier than the A116.

There are 3 touch sensitive buttons on the front (bottom) and incall speaker, led notification, 5MP front camera & sensors on the top. The volume rockers and power button are placed on the right side, 3.5mm jack on the top side and microUSB / mic on the bottom side. The front panel is black, sides are grey-silver and rear side is black matt finish that feels like rubber.

5 inch HD display screen
The IPS screen is 5 inches with 1280×720 pixels resolution, the viewing angle is good and touch as smooth as on the Micromax A116.

OS, Memory and storage
The Wammy passion from Wickedleak runs on Android Jelly Bean (version 4.1) and can be upgraded to Android 4.2. The RAM is 1GB of which 653MB is free and of 4GB internal storage, 1.44 GB is allocated for apps (1.3GB free) and 1.2GB as internal storage.

You can select the external SD card as the default storage location for apps and in fact apps do get installed on the external storage. On the Micromax A116 you cannot install apps on external storage but here on the passion you can.

Processors, GPU and performance
The hardware as mentioned is the same as on A116. It’s MTK6589 cortex A7 Quad core processor clocked at 1.2GHz with Power VR SGX544 GPU. The benchmark scores are as follows.

  • Quadrant Benchmark:  3482.
  • Antutu Benchmark: 12897.
  • Nenamark 2: 37.4fps.
  • Linpack: Single 36, multi 88.
  • Multi Touch: 5 point.

Entertainment
The wammy passion can play 1080p videos with ease. The speaker sound is loud and clear. The earphones sound better but if you can use a better quality earphone you will get better output.

Gaming
Since you can directly install apps on external storage I downloaded the NOVA 3 game and it played really smooth. The game does take around 5 to 6 minutes to load. You can check the gaming video at the end of the article.

Camera
it’s 8MP rear auto focus camera with 1080p (full HD) video recording capabilities. There is a front camera of 5MP resolution which is not that great. You can change the front camera resolution to 3MP,2M, 1MP and VGA mode in case you want to video chat and avoid using too much bandwidth by reducing the quality. Do check the sample images and videos at the end of this article.

Others
The 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS works fine. GPS does take some time to get a lock. There is magnetic sensor apart from light, G-Sensor and proximity sensor. The Passion supports dual SIM with dual standby mode.

Battery
The battery is better than as found on A116. Passion comes with 2800 mAh battery along with and additional spare battery of the same capacity. On a full charge the handset will easily last for over 2 days (as per my usage).

Wammy passion review
A good handset and a good alternative to the Micromax A116. However this handset comes for a price of Rs. 15,499. It is a bit costlier than the A116, but you get 2 x 2800 mAh battery, silicon cover, screen guard and an extra magnetic sensor that is missing on A116.

We will also need to see if Micromax will increase the price of A116 cause of budget effect or will it keep it the same. So for now we have the Xolo Q800, the Micromax A116 and the Wammy passion (all quad cores) to choose from.

Image Gallery

Sample images shot using rear 8MP camera

Sample images shot using front 5MP camera

Wammy passion unboxing and video review

Sample 1080p video shot using the Wammy Passion handset

1080p video and Nova 3 game playback

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