Micromax A85 with Tegra 2 (Rumored)

Powered by 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual Core processor, the phone runs on Android Froyo which is quite disappointing, specially as more and more phones are seen spotting Android Gingerbread.
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Not good :( Atleast Gingerbread should be norm for future phones, since we are days from Android 4.0 Ice cream release.
 
aradhakr84 said:
Not good :( Atleast Gingerbread should be norm for future phones, since we are days from Android 4.0 Ice cream release.
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I hope MM will provide 2.3 upgrade for this. Going over the specs, the phone is fully capable of running future 2.4 rel :p
 
Leaked Micromax A85 is a re-branded K-Touch W700 - Exclusive | AndroidOS.in

So it might be a rebranded K-Touch W700. Still not sure since Micromax A85 has 4 soft keys as opposed to 3 keys found in K-Touch W700

Coming to the pricing now, the original K-Touch W700 is sold for 3500 Yuan ($535 or INR 24K) in China, but we are expecting Micromax will try to price it more attractively; probably under INR 20K price point. At least after its recent an ad stunt with A70, showing it as an affordable smartphone.
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If this is priced at 20k, then it will not be as popular considering that optimus 2X is sold around the same price. If priced under 20k like say 17k-18k then there might be some people who would seriously consider it given the dual core hardware. Only time will tell. But I sure welcome all second, third-tier companies releasing dual core phones. It gives us choices.
 
Very happy with this development. Micromax even though Indian is miles ahead of dying mnc's like motorola and se. I have faced more problems with my defy and xperia then my cousins have faced with mm. Time to go swadeshi I suppose
 
Confirmed!

Leaked Micromax A85 Dual Core PowerPhone | Price | Specs | Features | in India - iGyaan.in

Originally Published on: Jul 14, 2011 @ 14:00

Update: we have confirmed new that this device is now called the Micromax A85 , the specs remain final.

Whats up butterflies of the inter-webs, we have exclusive news for you folks. Micromax is working on a dual core smartphone for the Indian Market. Currently dubbed “PowerPhone†expect a “Poseidonâ€, “Titan†or “Hercules†type of name on launch.

The new device will be based around a phone made in the depths of Chinese Manufactories. Micromax will add its design hues but more or less the specs will remain the same.

Rumored Specs will include:

A Tegra 2 Processor with Geforce8
Android 2.3 Gingerbread
1 GHZ dual core – 2 x Arm Cortex A9 processors
512 MB RAM- 8 Gb onboard storage
3.8 inch screen with 480×800 pixel resolution
Capacitive Touch Screen with 4 Multitouch points
5 Megapixel camera with tap focus and intelligent illumination
Rumors point to a possible drop of the onboard storage to make the device affordable. There is also a front facing camera and a 1650mah battery.
Whatever may be the case the device is set to launch later this year with a price tag of less than Rs. 18,000/-
Hold on while we try to get an official word on this, so to happen Rumor!

Update: we have confirmed new that this device is now called the Micromax A85 , the specs remain final.

Remember we dropped first information on this device back in June!
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I work with these mobile phone companies closely, and even if say, these rumours are true, still, dont expect a top notch quality. Micromax uses extremely cheap plastic as its phone casing, cheap components, cheap quality PCB.

For example:

There is a PTFE layer strip (polytetrafluoro ethylene) below phone with keypads. PTFE is a high end polymer whose resin costs about Rs. 1500 per kg, then add you moulding and fabrication costs.

Phones like Micromax/Lemon/Spice, all use cheap UHMWPE (ultra high molecular weight Poly ethylene) layer strip instead of PTFE, which is used by Nokia, Samsung and other premium mobile manufacturers. Reliance Polymers sells UHMWPE resin for Rs. 165 per kg.

The difference in price between these polymers is about 1000%. If I go into details about the properties of these polymers, it would provide a clear picture, but I wont, I'll just let the price speak for itself.

Another example of cheap material:

Every phone has a PCB (Printed Circuit Board). Now, these PCBs come in a thousand varieties/qualities, all depending on the way they are fabricated. One of the first steps in fabrication of PCB is: before the circuit is drawn/stuck on the metal, it needs to be etched.

Etching can be done by various methods, from manual etching with sandpaper and sodium to High End Plasma Ethcing. Premium mobile phone manufacturers use Plasma Etching, whose machine alone costs minimum Rs. 2.5 crore.

Cheap Chinese (as in micromax et. al) use manual sodium etching with hands and sandpaper.

The quality and finish difference between these two types of ethcing is literally day and night.

The properties, like conductiveness, tensile, Shore D, temperature resistance, water resistance are influenced heavily by etching methods.

Heres the story about these Indian-branded-Chinese phones:

They use extremely cheap materials and phones cost them so cheap I'll make you laugh if I tell you how much % profit they earn. Its DIRT CHEAP for them, its mainly because of ultra cheap quality materials 'inside' the phone, which the common man ignores.

Thus, no matter what Micromax says about its phone, I know they're junk, whatever the specs, and I advise you all to not buy them, since they arent quality products. Yes, they do solve the purpose in Tier 2 cities and villages, but if you can afford a phone from a premium company, please do.
 
^^ Not always some Android Phones from Micromax/Spice are built by good OEMS....I hope you know which models I am talking about. It will be good if you can guess the models and the OEMs for those :p

Of course cheap phones like Q50, Q66, Van Gogh and all are pure sh1t. But anyway TE members r not interested in those ! And It will be good if you can tell us the BOM of a cheap chinese phones like the very popular Micromax Q5 FB.

Also let us know your opinion about phones like ZTE Blade, Huawei Ideos X6 .About the manufacturing materials and ethching used for them. I am sure you have the info of such popular phones.

I work with these mobile phone companies closely
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Also it will be good to tell us the area you work on in technical terms ! very closely can be PR sh1t as well. We can just demean Micromax/Spice just like that :p
 
Hello Supra

I actually cannot disclose what area/company I work for (for obvious reasons) but I can tell you that I am directly involved in the fabrications/quality control/certifications(FERN/CE/EU etc)

I really cannot comment on the Huawei Ideos X6 and the ZTE Blade, but I can surely ask around, and get back.

For Micromax Q5, yes, it does use better plastic for its casing, which is somewhat comparable to the premium manufacturers, but on the interior, its still the same quality. We can organize a meetup in Delhi and I can explain to all the insides of a phone, and compare a Nokia 1100 with a Micromax/Spice/Lemon top model, and "prove" it to you the difference in the BOMs.

One thing, really important in phones, is certifications, which can tell you a lot about their quality. ALWAYS CHECK THE CERTIFICATIONS BEFORE BUYING A PHONE. The thing is, in India, certifications arent really required by the government, thats why these companies have expanded so fast. In Rest of the World, even in some poor African countries, CE and FERN certifications are a MUST. I dont think Micromax adheres to any of these certifications. A cell phone company (I wont name it), was planning huge expansion plans in Europe and South America but eventually took a backseat when they found out that for certifications they need to increase the internal quality which they just couldnt manage, and they tried a lot, and this process incurred them huge losses.

Also, these Indian companies dont really have a QC process. Let me tell you how these companies work:

1. There exists a tight knit community of processor manufacturers and body manufacturers in China, who, although competitors, are always in sync with each other and control the prices tightly.

2. An Indian company places order for, say, 2 lakh phones, by only specifying the model and some cheesy features.

3. With 2 months, the phones are shipped to India, with the Indian company (Micromax/Spice/Lemon/Karbonn etc) not being involved in the manufacturing process at all!

4. Now, how do these Chinese companies manufacture these phones? Patents are more dicy in china then in India, and there is no way the Indian companies can monitor production considering how secretive the Chinese are, plus with no certifications and laws, phones are mass produced with any quality control whatsoever.

5. The Indian company receives the phone, brands it accordingly, packs it, and sells it, at HUGE profit margins.
 
That is quite true for most of the low end chinese phones. But what I was talking about is say Spice MI 410, Spice MI 300, Micromax A70, A80 etc which are built by bigger OEMs like say ZTE, Huawei, Foxconn etc. So how about these big Chinese OEMs...I am sure they r comparable to Samsung/Nokia.

For once I have to say Samsung plastics are so good :p....take it in the other sense ! 30k phone but totally cr@p build quality...on the other hand HTC/Motorola is so much better. But PCB etching with Sandpaper...I wont digest that at all...even in Engg 10 years back we mostly used chemicals if I can remember :p. Any links to confirm this sandpaper manual etching please :)

As of certification my firm belief if some of them do some good , but most of them are money making machines and just Govt and corporate red-tape to earn more cash. Take MS WHQL for example :p
 
@Supra, You should already know that bigger/well known OEMs doesn't always guarantee quality. A ZTE re brand for India isn't necessarily manufactured with the same quality specs as a re brand of same product for another country/seller or their own retail version. I think for most of the so called Indian mobile phone brands, quality is never a factor. They would simply specify features, customization and volumes and set a target price point. Its up to the OEM how he tweaks the materials and process to meet the target price and still be in a position to make a neat profit for themselves. Specs wise it may be the same phone, but they may have used inferior materials and components to minimize costs.

With stuff like mobile phones that doesn't just translate into a question of life of the product, but the life of the user as well. An inferior quality battery in a re brand can explode no matter how great their original product may be. We are safe with such OEM's only when its just a relabeling job.
 
Dont get Micromax im stuck with the a60 ,the home button is continuously pressed and some times opens in debugging mode,i have been trying to find a service center close to my area i haven't found one yet which is functional,i live in Andheri , i went to Croffet market where their main service center is which was closed WTF?? i traveled for fours hours straight ,went to Andheri East ,there was a notice saying that micromax isn't a partner with them anymore for warranty and a number was given to call which does not work ,and at the last went to Borivali in which the service center was not of Micromax but was of Maxx mobiles??
 
MicroMax just knows to sell the phone and then forget the customers, I too had a bad experience with MicroMax, their after sale service is very bad.
 
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