XOLO A500S review – low cost dual core with Jelly Bean 4.2

The XOLO A500S is upgraded version of XOLO A500. The A500S is powered by a dual core processor, supports dual SIM and sails on Android 4.2 with 512 MB RAM. This handset is priced at under Rs. 7,000.

A500S box pack
This handset is available in different colors, blue, red, white and black. Only the black version is currently available in the market. Inside the box you will find the A500S, charger, battery of 1400 mAh capacity, earphone, data cable, warranty card and user guide.

Design and Display
The build quality is very good, handset is light weight at 122 grams and slim too with 9.31 mm thickness. The breadth is 63.37 mm and length is 125.16 mm. The XOLO A500S has got a unique premium look – check the video review.

Power button is placed on the right, volume rockers on the left, 3.5mm audio jack and micro USB ports on the top. The rear back cover is of matte finish with good grip.

The TFT touchscreen is with 800×480 pixels resolution (16M colors). The touch is smooth and responsive, but seems kind of sticky; use the screen guard and experience will be smoother. The viewing angle is okay. There are accelerometer, light and proximity sensors.

Memory, storage and OS
The handset comes with 512 MB RAM of which 237 MB is available (free) and of the 4GB internal storage 1.27 GB is assigned for apps and another 1.27 GB as phone storage. Micro SD card of up to 32 GB is supported. You can install apps on external storage. OTG is not supported. The A500S runs on Android 4.2.2 OS.

Performance
It’s a dual SIM handset powered by 1.3GHz dual core processor (Cortex A7) MT6572W coupled with Mali 400 MP GPU. The GPU seems powerful. We will now compare the benchmark score with XOLO A500.

Benchmark scores (XOLO A500 V/s XOLO A500S)

As seen in the table above the XOLO A500S performance is better than A500 and there is hardly any price difference.

Camera and Entertainment
Just like its predecessor the A500S also comes with 5MP fixed focus camera. The box pack says 5MP AF (Auto Focus), however do note that this is not an auto focus camera. It is fixed focus. If you tap the screen to focus it just shows the rectangle and beeps and really doesn’t do anything. And since it is a fixed focus camera, do not expect too much out of it. The LED flash is also not that powerful. You can check the sample images at the end of this review. However the long shot still images does look good.

You can record HD (720p) videos. The output is good enough considering the price tag. You can play full HD videos (1080p) using the MX player. The video playback quality is quite good (no pixilation). You can play full HD in H/W (Hardware mode only) and really no good in S/W (software mode).

Gaming
With Mali 400 GPU, users would be expecting much more out of it. I tried the MC4 (Modern combat 4) game that surprisingly did work, though not really smooth, but playable. Even Dead Trigger was a bit jerky but cannot complain much considering the budget tag.

Others
Sound loudness is at a decent level. 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth worked well. I could not get the GPS lock for the first time. I then download the GPS test app and got the lock in 70 seconds.

Battery
The battery is of 1400 mAh capacity with over 7 hours of talktime. The handset comes pre-loaded with XOLO Power app for optimal battery performance. With moderate usage the handset should last for over a day on a full battery charge.

Verdict
It is definitely a better option than the XOLO A500. The price is too tempting, the performance is good. Fixed focus camera is good when used outdoor. It can record HD videos and play full HD videos. Cannot really recommend this for gaming users but some heavy games are playable which is good enough for the price.

If you have a tight budget and looking for a handset with premium look, is light weight, with decent performance, then… this is it.

A500S image gallery

Sample images shot using A500S handset

Xolo A500S unboxing, review and Gaming video

HD video shot using the A500S handset

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