Micromax Canvas 5 review: Good value for its price

Home-grown brand Micromax has got some great devices in its Canvas range. The company has now launched the next flagship smartphone - Canvas 5 - at a very aggressive price.

Design: The Canvas 5 has a premium feel to it and doesn't feel like a Rs 11,999 smartphone. It has a metal frame with curved edges and the back panel has a faux finish to it. With the 5.2-inch display, Micromax has nailed the size of this smartphone that makes it really comfortable to grip. Volume control and power keys are placed on the right edge, making the left edge look clean. Auxiliary port is on the top and the microUSB for charging at the bottom. The back panel is removable hiding the two SIM slots and the memory card slot. However, the battery is non-removable.

Display: Micromax has added a full HD display to the Canvas 5, which still isn't common in the under Rs 15,000 price category. The full HD display is great to look at. The colours appear bright and vivid; it has good viewing angles too. The text appears crisp. The black levels were excellent. Even the touch response was superb, but it does attract a few finger impressions.

Performance: This is one department where the Canvas 5 managed to score full marks. Micromax has added a custom UI based on Android Lollipop operating system and there isn't any app tray. All the apps are placed on the homescreens. Swiping between the homescreens was quick and so was switching between the multiple running apps. It has a 1.3-Ghz octa-core processor, which has been paired with 3 GB of RAM. This handles all heavy usage tasks such as multitasking or playing heavy graphic games. Where most of the smartphones heat up after continuous long duration usage or while running power hungry apps, Canvas 5 didn't have any heating issues.

Camera: Capturing images is something we all do with our smartphones. And for this, Micromax has equipped the Canvas 5 with a 13-MP rear camera and a 5-MP front facing camera. The camera locks the focus instantly and offers good images in bright daylight. But move inside and the images captured have some noise visible on the smartphone itself. When zoomed in on a bigger screen, the images have a lot of noise and even lack details. Overall, it has an average camera that you can survive with.

Battery: The biggest challenge today is the battery backup of a smartphone. Canvas 5 manages to survive a day with calling, email, social networking and camera usage. It packs in a 2,900-mAh non-removable battery.

Bag it or Junk it: Will give tough competition to the Moto G 3rd gen.
Rating: 5/5
Price: Rs 11,999
Plus: Design, Display, Performace
Minus: Camera