Micromax Canvas 6 review
The specifications of the new Micromax Canvas 6 are similar to the Canvas 6 Pro but it is completely different in design, look and other features. Therefore, according to the name, this phone is not at all like Canvas Pro. But does this phone have what it takes to bring back the golden days of Micromax? Know the pros and cons of this smartphone in our detailed review.
Look and Design
The biggest feature of Micromax Canvas 6 is its metal body which looks very beautiful especially in champagne gold. The build and finish of the phone is great and its chamfered edges make it look classy. The design of the phone is not very special in itself and one could easily mistake it for a Gionee or Honor smartphone if it did not have a logo on the rear.
Sharp lines have been given on the phone along the edges. The phone is comfortable to hold but the metal body makes it a bit heavy. The edges of the phone are quite thick for good grip but due to its smooth texture there is a fear of the phone slipping from the hand. The back part of the phone has a hole, so the phone does not feel like a block when held in the hand.
The 5.5 inch IPS display given in the smartphone is of full-HD resolution which means that pictures look sharp. The phone can be easily read even in sunlight. There is no Gorilla Glass for protection, which may have been removed due to the metal body being expensive. There is no notification LED on the top along with the 8 megapixel front camera.
The hybrid SIM tray in the phone is on the left side, which means either two nano-SIMs or a single SIM and a microSD card can be used at a time. There are volume and power buttons on the right side which can be operated easily. There is a micro-USB port and speaker grill at the bottom, while a headphone socket is provided at the top.
On the rear, a 13-megapixel camera with LED flash and fingerprint sensor is provided. The sensor does not recognize fingerprints very fast but works well. We faced some trouble in using the fingerprint sensor but did not face any major problem.
By purchasing Micromax Canvas 6, you will get a 7.5 watt charger, data cable, screen guard, SIM tray ejector tool and an in-ear headset. Overall, the Canvas 6 looks good and manages to keep up with today’s smartphones. Micromax’s lack of important features like Gorilla Glass in this smartphone is definitely disappointing.
Specifications and Software
Since Canvas 6 has been designed keeping lifestyle in mind, not much attention has been paid to its specifications. This Micromax smartphone has MediaTek (MT6753T) octa-core processor and 3 GB RAM. The inbuilt storage in the phone is 32 GB which can be expanded up to 128 GB via microSD card. For connectivity, the phone has standard features like Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi B/G/N, USB OTG, GPS, FM radio and 4G LTE on both SIMs.
Talking about the software, the phone has a close-to-stock version of Android Lilpop with custom icon pack and other features. Swiping right on the home screen takes the user to Micromax’s Around service which allows access to services that are partnered with Micromax. These include food ordering, cab booking, flight booking and services like mobile, data and DTH. Apart from this, in Micromax Canvas 6, the user has also been given Micromax’s cloud backup feature, through which the user can create a backup of his contacts, call logs, SMS and other data on the cloud. Apart from this, many free apps and games are also available, information about which we had given in the review of Canvas 6 Pro.
performance
Looking at the overall size of the phone, it can be said that the phone is convenient to use but its sharp edges do not give a very pleasant feeling after a certain time. Apart from the metal body, we did not see any overheating problem in the phone. The phone also gets warm as expected while charging and playing games for long periods of time.
The app performance of the phone is fine. In benchmarking tests, we found better performance for the Canvas 6 than the Canvas 6 Pro.
Gaana app is provided in this phone for streaming and playing local music files. The mono speaker provides good audio quality and the accompanying headset provides decent sound quality. Full-HD videos can be played from the video player. The video can also be looped or trimmed in the player itself.
Talking about the camera, PDAF (Phase Detection Autofocus) and focus speed are quite excellent. However, the camera has shutter problems which become worse in low light. The detailing in landscape photos is not bad but the photos look blurry even in daylight. HDR mode solves this problem to a great extent and also makes the photos somewhat sharper. Macro photos come with good detailing. Photos in low light are of below average quality.
Decent selfies can be taken from the front camera. The camera app is not much different from Micromax’s other budget smartphones. Shooting modes are given in the app on the left side which have features like Face Beauty, Panorama, Multi-Angle View, Motion Track and Live Photo. The shortcuts above allow you to toggle between HDR, smile shutter, and flash. By swiping up, you can use many other filters.
Features like face detection, voice capture, anti-shake, zero shutter delay, EIS (stabilization) can be tweaked in camera and video settings. Apart from this, exposure and white balance can be set manually but there is no ‘Pro’ mode. Videos up to 1080 pixels can be recorded but the quality is decent.
battery life
The 3000 mAh battery provided in Micromax Canvas 6 lasted for 8 hours and 37 minutes in our video loop test. During normal use, we were able to use the phone for more than a day on a single full charge.
our decision
Micromax’s policy of attracting users from different regions by offering two smartphones at one price makes sense. But, the company has not been able to implement this policy properly. After looking at both the phones, the user will definitely choose Canvas 6. If Micromax had provided better CPU and camera in the Pro variant, it would have been difficult to choose between the two phones. For now, Canvas 6 is a better option. This phone has better design (metal body), fingerprint sensor, double onboard storage and better battery life.
Micromax could have made this phone better. We did not understand why the company did not provide Gorilla Glass in this phone. Nowadays, while buying a phone, people demand this feature the most. Apart from this, the camera also could have been better. VoLTE support or faster Wi-Fi could also be provided.
