Micromax A70 First Impressions

SunnyBoi

SunnyBoi

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So me n Supra got the Micromax A70 from ebay for 6075rs :P

As soon as I got the phone, I rooted it using z4root 1.3. Deleted almost all micromax crap ( antivurus blah blah, ebuddy, opera mini, etc). Retained only micromax app store, mi roamer ( dont know what it does, if useless then remove) mundu TV and newshub. NOTE: cant uninstall the stock crap, have to root phone and then delete them using root explorer.

Display : Surprisingly good, display has 180* viewing angles :O (both L to R and top to bottom)

Call clarity: Damn good. even with -100dB signal, spoke to Supra in crystal clear sound :P

Handsfree: Havent tested the stock one, but SoundMagic MP-21 works just fine.

Audio quality: Good, with the MP-21. Tested using TuneIn Pro radio, no MP3 yet.

Camera: Havent tested yet, Supra says its as good as Defy pics

Wifi: Havent tested, but it is really shitty as described by Supra. Currently i'm using internet on laptop using Portable WiFi from the A70. 25 minutes and no dropouts ( phone is next to laptop though)

Speed: Stock launcher gets laggy. Install launcher pro and its as fast as my Nexus One

Overclocking: Installed SetCPU, could not increase max from 600, however lowered the min from 245 to 122. No crashes yet, should improve battery life.

There is a home button on the phone (nope it isnt a trackball). Its redundant, but when you press it when sleeping will wake the phone (perfect replacement for my Nexus One trackball wake :D )

Phone Info:

Processor is a Qualcom MSM7627 and not the rumoured MSM7227. Shouldnt make much of a difference I believe. RAM is 190MB but with many apps running it was 36-26 free for me. Internal storage is 160MB

SD card gave me 16MBps read and 6MBps write with a 8GB class4 (dunno which company) with the 2KB hack.

Some screenshots

screenshotciw.png


screenshot2ci.png


screenshot3oc.png


micromaxmicromaxa702011.png


So Summary

Plus Points:

Good at multitasking ( 8-9 somewhat heavy apps and no lag)

Screen is really good for a 6k PHONE

Call clarity is very good

Zero lag, with launcherpro.

Minus points

no Gtalk ( not in phone, cant find it on Market) :@

WiFi is supposedly bad.

Have to root to remove micromax crap.

Filemanager lags when going thru folder with 200MB of files (100+ files) (have to test with other filemanagers n see if stock one is crap)

Will update thread when I test it more.
 
Thanks for the update. Available RAM is only 160MB? They advertised it as 512MB phone, right? But looks like its only 256MB. Then how can this be good at multitasking?

I was confused between this and Galaxy Pro but looks like it was a blessing in disguise that I got Galaxy Pro at 5999 ;)

BTW you need to reverse RAM and internal storage values in your post.

Edit: Can you please post the results of Quadrant and Antutu benchmarks?
 
^^ Galaxy Pro is 2.8 inches and 240 X 320...there are serious issues managing to type and sms using that res and small screen

Btw I will add my impressions soon :P....let me complete the chicken curry in dinner :D
 
Supra said:
^^ Galaxy Pro is 2.8 inches and 240 X 320...there are serious issues managing to type and sms using that res and small screen
Btw I will add my impressions soon :P....let me complete the chicken curry in dinner :D
Click to expand...

LOL.. It got full QWERTY keyboard to type and sms.
 
I did try the Galaxy Pro, felt the keys were too plasticky and not as good as an E72. Did some tests and found out I can type way faster on a touchscreen than physical QWERTY. Hence dropped the plans.
 
Here is what I can Add :

Build Quality : Way way better than the Blade...in fact though its not metal body...the plastic seems really sturdy and there are no squeaks. Capacitive Buttons r very responsive and seems good quality. Though slight uneven lighting for the capactive buttons. All in all this is the built as good as a low end HTC :)...much better than low end Samsung. May be I can compare to the Spice MI-300 which had a really awesome build quality (the ones manufactured by Foxconn atleast).

Screen : This is the most fabulous part of the whole package. Viewing angles r awesome...colors r spot on....good blacks for a 256K LCD. No Backlight bleeding. Was cloudy here in Blore today so no comments yet on Sunlight legibility...but should be decent. Its a HVGA 256K screen so no comparision to the 16M Blades and AMOLED Blades. All new blades after Dec manufactured were 256K ones. All in all for a 6k phone this is quite nice.

Speaker-phone/Call Quality & 3G/2G Reception : Very nice and decently loud loud-speaker. Even songs playback is decent and loud via the speakers. Ear-piece and mic seems good to go with no issues during calls. Calls were very clear and had no issues with low signal with BSNL 3G. No issues with reception....1.5Mbps in speedtest even with 1 bar signal...no drop-out zones and is as good as my Nokia 5230. Earphones SQ testing with Ipod Touch stock earphones...though not as good as my Nokia 5230...but this is one of the better SQ with earphones of the few android phones I have tested/used. Blade was most horrible.....SQ is similar say to a Galaxy Ace.

Wifi --- Terrible range....dropped out when I moved 2 rooms further(20m) from the AP. Works dine with 5~6m range with a single wall in between. Have to check if this is a hardware issue :(

Gaming -- Lags slightly in Angry Birds Rio which is expected...works fine in basic games like Paper Toss etc. Normal old Angry Birds also seemed smooth in the initial few levels I tried.

Battery Life --- As of now ...seems better than Blade as this has a huge sized 1450 mah battery ! with 50~55% battery when I opened phone....arnd 6 hours of full usage with calls and heavy 3G usage and some 30 min of WiFi usage was done.
Surely it should last a normal day w/o any issue with heavy 3G usage also. Mobile Hotspot drains battery like a major hog as usual.

All in all if this phone was for 7.5~8k I would be dissapointed ....but at 6k its seems to be awesome for what it provides. Will upload some pics and camera samples tmr :)
 
Where and how did you get the galaxy pro for that price? Please do share...

arjun123 said:
Thanks for the update. Available RAM is only 160MB? They advertised it as 512MB phone, right? But looks like its only 256MB. Then how can this be good at multitasking?

I was confused between this and Galaxy Pro but looks like it was a blessing in disguise that I got Galaxy Pro at 5999 ;)

BTW you need to reverse RAM and internal storage values in your post.

Edit: Can you please post the results of Quadrant and Antutu benchmarks?
Click to expand...
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
 
^^ I guess it was on sale at Letsbuy.com for 6990 (-1000 using RCOMLB1 coupon) around 2-3 weeks back...now min u can get it arnd 6.5k or so in ebay.
 
Update on battery life. Put the A70 thru a what I call battery torture test:P Portable Wifi over 3G, constant dloads on laptop, internet radio thru TuneIn Radio.

Runs as long as my 1.5year Nexus One :P i'm surprised because the N1 runs at 1.1GHz and battery is well over 1.5 years old.

Oh boy. hope the battery improves over the next few charges.

screenshot6el.png
 
SunnyBoi said:
Update on battery life. Put the A70 thru a what I call battery torture test:P Portable Wifi over 3G, constant dloads on laptop, internet radio thru TuneIn Radio.

Runs as long as my 1.5year Nexus One :P i'm surprised because the N1 runs at 1.1GHz and battery is well over 1.5 years old.

Oh boy. hope the battery improves over the next few charges.

screenshot6el.png
Click to expand...
never did i knew that an android can take you a month in future and back. :P
 
^^ RAM is 256MB....but there are absolutely no lags ! Its way smoother than ZTE Blade and once custom ROMS are out...with SD partitioning and if CM7 is available for this....its gonna be a gala time....I will update some camera samples in sometime :)

@supra:Thanks for your update, have you tested with gprs using 2g connection,can you please give an update.I use only 2g.
Click to expand...

Whats there to test with 2G or GPRS ! You use 2G/3G or whatever EDGE/GPRS/UMTS/HSDPA it will work with the Mobile provider provisioned speeds. Of course when we use a 3G sim/plan also ....it goes into 2G mode sometime or the other and its bound to work. If data doesn't work on a mobile...I wonder what will :P
 
SunnyBoi said:
So me n Supra got the Micromax A70 from ebay for 6075rs :P

As soon as I got the phone, I rooted it using z4root 1.3. Deleted almost all micromax crap ( antivurus blah blah, ebuddy, opera mini, etc). Retained only micromax app store, mi roamer ( dont know what it does, if useless then remove) mundu TV and newshub. NOTE: cant uninstall the stock crap, have to root phone and then delete them using root explorer.

Display : Surprisingly good, display has 180* viewing angles :O (both L to R and top to bottom)

Call clarity: Damn good. even with -100dB signal, spoke to Supra in crystal clear sound :P

Handsfree: Havent tested the stock one, but SoundMagic MP-21 works just fine.

Audio quality: Good, with the MP-21. Tested using TuneIn Pro radio, no MP3 yet.

Camera: Havent tested yet, Supra says its as good as Defy pics

Wifi: Havent tested, but it is really shitty as described by Supra. Currently i'm using internet on laptop using Portable WiFi from the A70. 25 minutes and no dropouts ( phone is next to laptop though)
Speed: Stock launcher gets laggy. Install launcher pro and its as fast as my Nexus One

Overclocking: Installed SetCPU, could not increase max from 600, however lowered the min from 245 to 122. No crashes yet, should improve battery life.

There is a home button on the phone (nope it isnt a trackball). Its redundant, but when you press it when sleeping will wake the phone (perfect replacement for my Nexus One trackball wake :D )

Phone Info:

Processor is a Qualcom MSM7627 and not the rumoured MSM7227. Shouldnt make much of a difference I believe. RAM is 190MB but with many apps running it was 36-26 free for me. Internal storage is 160MB

SD card gave me 16MBps read and 6MBps write with a 8GB class4 (dunno which company) with the 2KB hack.

Some screenshots

screenshotciw.png


screenshot2ci.png


screenshot3oc.png


micromaxmicromaxa702011.png

So Summary

Plus Points:

Good at multitasking ( 8-9 somewhat heavy apps and no lag)
Screen is really good for a 6k PHONE
Call clarity is very good
Zero lag, with launcherpro.

Minus points

no Gtalk ( not in phone, cant find it on Market) :@
WiFi is supposedly bad.
Have to root to remove micromax crap.
Filemanager lags when going thru folder with 200MB of files (100+ files) (have to test with other filemanagers n see if stock one is crap)

Will update thread when I test it more.
Click to expand...

very good review Bunnysoi. really a great one.

I would like to add a few points to it.

I dropped the phone on the first day itself from 4 ft hit two three places before landing on floor. Still in one piece and working fine.

sound quality of the phone is very good when we playback music in speaker in a silent room... or even we listen with a headset. volume is a bit low though.

FM radio reception is a bit poor and sound output is bit low compared to music playback. FM reception is directional (holding it in a particular direction locks the station)

GPS works, I've used GPS test and it locked upto 7 to 8 satellites under open sky in front of my home took around a min for that .

I've installed evernote and camScanne, camSacnne can scan any document just by clicking a snap (the autofocus camera works like a wonder). I've scanned a couple of documents and even in night time it works so good clarity is very good . + it exports the images to pdf.

I've been experimenting with wifi which consumed most of my time till date.. and in a room with access point the wifi reception is good provided your phone is directed towards the wifi antenna, heck I could even get wifi in the next room on the other side of the wall when I pointed the top of the phone to towards the antenna but not when I pointed away from it. and reception of the wifi becomes good when the modem/Access Point sits around 5 to 6 ft high. I thing it will be better if modem is kept around 6 feet high ( may need to wall mount it).

Phone becomes warm (not hot) when you use gprs/3g data connectivity continuously.

signal reception of the this phone is phenomenal. I've used headset to make phone call. very good sound quality.

Wifi tethering and usb tethering(just plug in Ubuntu Linux ) works very good. tried may times.

Bluetooth yet to be checked. (both headset and data transfer

I'm using Go launcher, just for the eye candy sake, if net connectivity is there it updates the weather info, rain drops wash down your screen, when there is rain outside(really), a few drops of rain will be there if rain has subsided.. these i've checked in real conditions yesterday.

installed apps to sd. moved some apps to phone. needs reboot for apps to move fully.

yet to root it.

haven't played around with its functionality fully. Installed so many apps that the device is showing low disk. I want to write a lot of things but can't remember each point.

and use Opera mobile 11, it works like a desktop browser.....with multiple tabs. can't do without it. in desktop I've always a 5 to 10 tabs open so this browser is a must for such guys. and there is button to exit opera (we need to enable it from settings). pinch to zoom works. wish rotate using fingers was also there.

so much for now. rest in next.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
arjun123 said:
Thanks for the update. Available RAM is only 160MB? They advertised it as 512MB phone, right? But looks like its only 256MB. Then how can this be good at multitasking?

I was confused between this and Galaxy Pro but looks like it was a blessing in disguise that I got Galaxy Pro at 5999 ;)

BTW you need to reverse RAM and internal storage values in your post.

Edit: Can you please post the results of Quadrant and Antutu benchmarks?
Click to expand...

you wasted your money on galaxy pro.

No phone in this range will match A70. I've personally tested Galaxy 5 with customised ROM (nothing short of Cyanogen mod 7.1) but A70 in its stock form out performs them all.

Can't get over the feeling that I'm using a better device.

yes almost all phones with this range will have only 256 mb ram out of which only 160 will be available as some RAM is reserved for GPS and other system apps.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
jijojose79 said:
@supra:Thanks for your update, have you tested with gprs using 2g connection,can you please give an update.I use only 2g.
Click to expand...

coonected gprs using Airtel, bsnl and tatadocomo. works fine. I'm using docomo (data Rechage for Rs.48 2 GB for a month.) there is limited range for docomo in my home. so I don't get data inside my home. but when I put my damn foot out of my door (Exactly what I experienced) edge gets connected though. Airtel gprs was the first connection I got inside my house. very good connection, I wish Airtel had some good 2g plans.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
jijojose79 said:
@supra:Thanks for your update, have you tested with gprs using 2g connection,can you please give an update.I use only 2g.
Click to expand...

connected gprs using Airtel, bsnl and tata docomo. works fine. I'm using docomo (data Recharge for Rs.48 2 GB for a month.) there is limited range for docomo in my home. so I don't get data inside my home. but when I put my damn foot out of my door (Exactly what I experienced) edge gets connected though. Airtel gprs was the first connection I got inside my house. very good connection, I wish Airtel had some good 2g plans.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
comp@ddict said:
RAM is a bit too low.
Click to expand...

dont go by the figures. even the stock rom works very nice.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

tell which screen guard will be the best for this one. will Nexus One stuff suite this

bunny soi pls tell, as you've got both the phone.

both you and supra get my respect as veteran testers of this phone. reading your feed back i see that the berlin wall between professional testing and personal feed back has blurred to a thin line. great reporting guys.

and pls give a link towards the screen guard. nothing can beat your best price option.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

tell which screen guard will be the best for this one. will Nexus One stuff suite this

bunny soi pls tell, as you've got both the phone.

both you and supra get my respect as veteran testers of this phone. reading your feed back i see that the berlin wall between professional testing and personal feed back has blurred to a thin line. great reporting guys.

and pls give a link towards the screen guard. nothing can beat your best price option.

Still using the crap which came from the factory.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

I'd seen 8gb class 4 micro SD @ let'sbuy for 399 bucks

16 gb class 2 for 1050 bucks

now supra & bunnisoi please tell which one

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

just walked on the railway track typing this. screen set to full brightness. not torturing myself. now guys tell me whether this phone is good or not. just good fot me though
 
ordered for 8 gb class 4 verbatim from letsbuy for Rs.399 with coupon rcomlb1 .

Hey suddenly all active guys have vanished......what happened.:huh:

rooted the phone with z4root version 1.3. you can download the app here http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=446145&d=1290341328

after installing z4root, i ran it and opted for permanent root. the device went in for a reboot without prompt (a chill ran down my spine and with a heart burn all sorts of fearsome thoughts went through my mind including a frantic search for the stock rom of this phone). After some lag the phone booted back.

before z4root, i tried universal androroot 1.6.1 and 1.6.2-beta5 both were unsucessful.

after rooting the first thing i observed was that I got signal range and data connectivity inside my house in the places I where I could not even get a single strand of signal. some apps have behaved mysteriously. (Can be because there is almost no free space left in my stock rom).

@sunnyboi : newshunt application packed with the stock Micromax rom is the best app for reading regional language news papers. thanks for z4root.
 
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