Micromax A116 Canvas HD vs Karbonn S1 Titanium – price, features, specifications, review
The two budget smartphones which created ripples in the smartphone market after their release in January and February 2013 are Karbonn S1 Titanium at Rs.10,990 and Micromax A116 Canvas HD at Rs.13,990. If you are confused which one to buy, you can make your decision easy by reading the comparison of the two smartphones presented in this article. The features and specifications of Micromax A116 Canvas HD and Karbonn S1 Titanium are aptly compared here in this article.
Introduction
The first consideration, a prospective smartphone buyer will give is to the price of the smartphone. Secondly, the buyer of a smartphone will search for the information of any rival phone with almost the same price and features which has been released in the phone market. Then, the buyer will think of the company which has manufactured the phone and will compare the features and specifications of both the phones to arrive at a decision to buy the phone. As such, there is no use to compare a phone with average features with the phones with high end features. Neither it will be advisable to compare an averagely priced phone with some other cheaper phones in the market. After a search, I found that the best comparison of Micromax A116 Canvas HD released on February 14, 2013 priced at Rs.13,990 should be with the Karbonn S1 Titanium released in January 2013 at Rs.10,990.
Both the smartphones are within the reach of the budget of middle income group buyers. At these prices, these smartphones provide a better option for the parents to gift smartphones to their children. The comparisons given here would facilitate the selection of the right phone by the buyers. Karbonn S1 Titanium is already in the market for the past one month and has become popular in its category of smartphones. The sale of Micromax A116 has begun only on February 14, 2013. The immediate sale reports of this smartphone indicate that the initial stocks got sold out immediately after the sale started of this phone. There are scores of favourable reviews about the new Micromax A116 Canvas HD smartphone immediately after its release for sale in the Indian market on 14 February 2013. Samsung has also just released its Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos GT-i9082EWA which almost costs Rs.8,000 more than Micromax A116 Canvas HD whereas both the phones use similar operating system, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS, 1.2 GHz quad core processor, 5 inch screen and 8 MP Camera. However, I am not comparing the Micromax A116 with Samsung Galaxy Grand Duo, because there is a lot of cost difference between the two. I will confine my compassion of Micromax A116 with Karbonn S1 Titanium. Comparison of Micromax A116 Canvas HD with Karbonn S1 Titanium
As far as the price differential of the two smartphones is concerned, Micromax A116 Canvas HD is priced Rs.3,000 more at Rs.13,990 than its rival Karbonn S1 Titanium which sells at Rs.10,990 in the Indian phone market. Let us now proceed to compare the features and specifications of the two phones to find out the winner in spite of the price difference. Both the smartphones run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS.
It is very good news for the buyers of the budget phones that both Micromax A116 Canvas HD and Karbonn S1 Titanium run on one of the latest operating systems from Google, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The buyer of a smartphone does not need to go for a costly smartphone unless he or she needs to use the very high end features of those smartphones. So, both Micromax A116 and Karbonn S1 are the winners as well as the OS is concerned. Both smartphones are powered by quad core processors, 1 GB RAM & 4 GB on board Memory
Both Micromax A116 Canvas HD and Karbonn S1 Titanium are empowered by the quad core processors. The Micromax A116 is powered by MediaTek's MT6589 SoC, which contains a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU and PowerVR Series5XT GPU. On the other hand, Karbonn S1 is powered by quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. The processors in both the smartphones have a speed of 1.2 GHZ. Both the smartphones do not compromise on their performance, power and efficiency. In fact, Karbonn was the first cheapest smartphone to run a quad core processor. Both the smartphones are supported by 1 GB RAM and 4 GB on board memory storage. Here again, both the smartphones are the winners with almost the same features. Display, dimensions and SIM in Micromax A116 and Karbonn S1
As far as the display of Micromax A116 is concerned, it is surely the winner since it has provided a 5 inch HD display IPS screen with 1280x720 pixels resolution, the IPS enabling pixel density of up to 294ppi in comparison to 4.5 inches qHD TFT LCD screen with 960 x 540 pixels resolution and pixel density at 244.7ppi in Karbonn S1 Titanium. So, it is quite obvious that the dimensions of A116 are slightly larger at 144x74x10.7 mm as compared to 120.5x63x10.3 mm. Both the smartphones have dual SIM. So, the winner is Micromax A116 Canvas HD with a larger 5 inch HD IPS screen, with better resolutions and with higher pixel density.
Connectivity features in both the smartphones
Both Micromax A116 Canvas HD and Karbonn S1 Titanium have a memory card support with micro SD cards. Both have a standard micro USB port. Both the smartphones have the same internet connectivity 3G, EDGE, GPRS and Wi-Fi 802.11 'n'. Both are supported by Google maps as GPS software. There is Bluetooth support for both the smartphones. Both the Micromax A116 Canvas HD and Karbonn S1 Titanium are winners as far as the connectivity features are concerned. Micromax A116 has advantage over Karbonn S1 with regard to camera features.
Micromax A116 Canvas HD smartphone supports an 8 MP primary camera at the rear with auto focus and LED flash features. However the primary camera at the rear of Karbonn S1 Titanium is of only 5 MP resolution although it has auto focus and LED flash features like that of its rival. Both the smart phones have the same VGA resolution for the front secondary camera which can be used for video recording and snaps. Multimedia video support in A116 is provided by MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264 whereas the video support in Karbonn S1 is with MP4/H.263/H.264/AVI/3GP. The audio support in Micromax A116 is with MP3/AAC//WMA/WAV player and it is with MP3/MIDI/WAV/AMR/AAC/AAC+ in Karbonn S1 Titanium. Both the smartphones have drag and drop support for media transfer and both are supported by in-built FM radio. In terms of the above camera and other features, Micromax A116 Canvas HD is the real winner over its rival Karbonn S1 Titanium. Stronger battery in Micromax A116 gains over the weaker battery in Karbonn S1 Titanium
Micromax A116 Canvas HD supports Li-Ion 2000 mAh battery according to specifications given on the official website of Micromax, although some of the reviews in other websites state it to be 2100 mAh strong. Whatever may be the case the battery of Micromax A116 Canvas HD is much stronger than the Li-Ion 1600 mAh battery of Karbonn S1 Titanium. Prices and availability in India of A116 HD and Karbonn S1 Titanium compared
Though the price of Micromax A116 Canvas HD was quoted on the higher side at approximately $280, when this smartphone was announced last month, yet the smartphone is now quoted at Rs.13990 at the online shop SnapDeal against Rs.17999 mentioned on its online shop. Micromax has tied up with SnapDeal for sale of its A116 Canvas HD and the online sale started on February 14, 2013. Even when the buyer goes to the official website of Micromax and clicks on ‘Book now', he is taken to another window of the website where once again he has to click on ‘Book Canvas HD now' and he will be taken to the SnapDeal page. The price of Micromax A116 Cavas HD quoted at this page is Rs.13990 against Rs.17999. There is a message at the website which says that the first lot of orders are sold out and the buyer might book new lot which will be supplied in 20 days. There is no official announcement from Micromax when the smartphone will be available at local dealers or other online retail shops. On the other hand Karbonn S1 Titanium is freely available at Rs.10,990. On the face value of the quoted prices, the Karbon S1 Titanium appears to be the winner. But looking at the enhanced features like higher resolution camera, the bigger screen with better resolution and bigger battery of the Micromax A116 Canvas HD makes it a clear winner of its rival Karbonn S1 Titanium.
The bottom line
If we go by the features and the specifications of both the smartphones compared here, we shall find that Micromax A116 Canvas HD is quite obviously better placed than its rival Karbonn S1 Titanium. The buyers will be rather willing to pay Rs.3,000 more for a much superior camera, a larger 5 inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels and strong battery of 2000 mAh of Micromax A116 Canvas HD instead of buying Karbonn S1 Titanium with 5 MP camera, 4.5 inches TFT LCD screen with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels and very weak battery of 1600 mAh. It will not be wrong to conclude that Micromax A116 Canvas HD will offer a lot more to the buyer at a slightly higher price. It appears that Micromax A116 Canvas HD will sweep the market with its popularity, very soon in the budget category of smartphones.
Read more about Micromax A116 Canvas HD.
Which are better smartphones - Micromax or Karbonn? Both are Indian products and I think many of their parts are coming from China. Other than the big brand image, what are the problems faced by customers for buying these Indian phones?