Micromax Canvas HD A116 – a rage against Samsung Galaxy Grand

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-By Vaibhav Kaushal

The crown is worth fighting for. For those who have lived it, they know. They know that it was Nokia ruling the crest for years and then the revolution began – iPhone. Samsung came running in with a confident heart of a search giant and dethroned the fruit company. We believe Samsung now has to face something which is nothing like anything else. Micromax has started challenging Samsung and recent phones from Micromax contain the proof of them gaining strength. With the release of new phones in the market, the battle rages on again. The slim form factors provide the bleeding edge, a large screen serves the weight of the weapon while specifications the thrust and speed of the attack. We present to you two really lucrative phones and in this comparative review.

Specifications

Specifications matter because at the end of the day they determine how much you are going to like your phone. It does not matter if your phone looks like a white fairy or a green rage monster – if it does not work, it’s futile. Though Galaxy Grand is the costliest one among the two, it is not a clear winner. It gets a tip to toe competition from Canvas HD. Have a careful overview and you would be able to see that Canvas HD actually beats Grand in few areas as well.
Both Grand and Canvas HD have processors clocking at 1.2 billion operations per second (1.2 GHz) and come with 1 GB of RAM. However Micromax A116 (Canvas HD) has a Quad-core against a dual core of Galaxy Grand! While Samsung Galaxy Grand comes with 8 GB of internal storage and can welcome a 64 GB microSD in the slot, Canvas HD puts up with 4 GB of internal storage and 32 GB limit for the external card. Does that make a difference? Well, for most it does not. Most people are still happy enough with 16 GB cards. It is difficult to find someone with 32 GB cards in their phones. That said, Canvas HD (A116) does have a technical disadvantage against Galaxy Grand but not a practical one. If you however, are the type who wants 64 GB card inside the slot, then go for the Grand.

Communications

Wi-Fi, Hotspots, Dual Sim, 3G support, Bluetooth and what not. Both of them have got all of that. Canvas HD however falls behind in a one single case – types of networks supported. While Grand is multilingual with GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, Micromax Canvas HD offers GSM 900 and GSM 1800. Tell you what – that is enough for India. Grand again supports more HSDPA profiles than Canvas HD. While the former would keep you happy with HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100, the latter is known to support only HSDPA 2100.  Both Samsung Galaxy Grand and Micromax Canvas HD come with bluetooth 4.0.
Now, both the network profile and Bluetooth version remain insignificant. After all how many of us bother about the frequency at which the phone operates when we make a call. When it comes to Bluetooth, we have seen a large drop in the usage of this technology. Most people would use Google Drive, Email and Facebook to share things. When one needs to transfer files from the computer to the phone, we see AirDroid as the preferable option due to extra security conscience Bluetooth desires. For those who want to use Bluetooth, version 3.0 would suffice. Again, to truly gain the advantage of version 4.0, two devices must have the save version. Given those factors, Bluetooth does not make a large difference. The network profiles however can be a trouble with Canvas HD if you have to go on foreign trips – get yourself a Grand in that case.

Screen

Okay, so here is a question: which screen would you prefer – one with a size of 5 inches or the other one with a size of 5 inches? No one cares answering that, including you, we know. Okay, there is another question (and this one’s for real): What resolution do you prefer: 1280 x 720 pixels or 800 x 480 pixels. We are sure, the more pixels you see, the happier you get.
Grand comes with 800x480 pixels screen while Canvas HD comes with a (as the name suggests) HD screen @ 1280x720 pixels. We are not sure why someone would want to shell out more than 20 grands to get a Grand which is less grand than the one which comes at 15 grands. Confused? Well,  let us help you – Galaxy grand comes for more than 20 thousand (Indian) rupees (that’s about 390 American dollars) while Micromax comes at about 15 thousand rupees (around $300). Now we hope you would understand that sentence.

Camera

8 Millions. No, that’s not the cost of course. That figure represents the number of pixels you can save at a time using any of those phones. If you know how the default android camera is, you know how the interface is for Micromax A116 and if you have used one of Samsung phones, you would know the interface and features you would get on Grand. Nothing new or off-the-shelf here. Ah, how we wish we could once again make your jaws drop by surprising you with words like autofocus, smile-shot, pinch to zoom and touch to focus but those times are gone. For real, we know! There is this one thing though – Canvas HD comes with a VGA camera on the front and Grand has 2 MP for the same. Ummm....do you make video calls?

Software

Both have got great enough hardware to run the OS and applications and both have Jelly Bean 4.1. You want better looks and white milky backgrounds? Please head on to Google Play store and do the self service. Simple as that.

Battery

We would say one thing – Grand’s is gonna last just a bit longer than Canvas HD’s. Though not worlds away, A116 with a HD screen and 2000 mAH sure falls a little behind Grand featuring a sub-HD resolution and 2100 mAH.

So who wins?

Frankly, we are confused. Some of us on the team have been saying that Canvas HD is a better bang for the buck and the rest swear by the name of Samsung and quality. Unless we get our hands on both of these, it would be difficult to decide.
As far the fight for the crown is concerned, Micromax is proving to be a great rival for everyone else. Although there are a few points where Canvas HD lags behind Grand, it is almost as good as Grand in most areas. The fact that Canvas HD comes with the same screen size with more pixels on it and at a much lower price makes it a hot-shot in its price range. If you are there for a new feature packed phone and want to save yourself a few bucks, go for Micromax Canvas HD. Galaxy Grand is better for you only if you plan to use a MicroSD card of 64 GB or if you want world-wide roaming.