Micromax Canvas Fire 4 (A107) Review

Few days back Micromax announced the new phone in the Fire series, the Canvas Fire 4 (A107) and the device is the first smartphone from Micromax which runs Android Lollipop 5.0 out of the box.

The phone has 4.5 inch FWVGA display (854 X 480) and is powered by 1.3Ghz Quad Core Processor with 1GB RAM. There is also 8GB internal storage which can be expanded to 32GB via microSD card. On the imaging front, it features a 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 2MP front camera. The device is priced Rs 6999 and here is the detailed review of the phone.

Related Reading: Micromax Canvas Fire 4 Unboxing

Design and Build:

While design wise, the Canvas Fire 4 does not offer anything new, it is pretty decent looking device. It has a curved rear panel with a matte finish. The power and volume keys have a silver finish and are located at the right side. The top houses the 3.5mm audio jack and the micro USB charging slot.

The rear panel houses the 8MP rear camera with dual LED flash and there is again a silver finish around the camera and flash. Two horizontal silver color lines run on top and bottom similar to iPhone. At the center of the rear panel, there is Micromax logo which is backlit and blinks when there is a new notification. The logo also lights up when the phone is charging. The front panel has the 4.5 inch display, front camera and the sensors. The device comes with three capacitive touch buttons, but they are not backlit. The dual front firing speakers are located on the top and bottom.

Display:

The phone comes with a 4.5 inch FWVGA display and this is the weakest aspect of the device. While most of the budget and mid range devices have shifted to qHD and HD display even in low price points, Micromax has used the FWVGA panel on the display. The resolution of the display is 480X 854 pixels and it is clearly evident on the display. The texts and icons looks blurred which is clearly visible and they are not sharp.

But having said that the touch response on the display is pretty decent and the saving grace is the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection on the 4.5 inch panel.

Software and Performance:

The device runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop and is the first device from Micromax which comes with Lollipop out of the box. The UI is mostly stock with very little customization from Micromax. The options available are exactly similar to stock experience and the company has added lots of apps in the device which we feel is kind of unnecessary. These apps includes M!Games, M!Live, and also MAd app along with other apps like Saavn, Myntra, Snapdeal and many more which is unnecessary for an average user.

The notification center is also provides stock Android experience. Powering the device is the 1.3Ghz Mediatek Quad core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. The phone does have good performance and it is responsive without any lags in normal usage. Multitasking was also fine, but the gaming experience was not the best although it might be able to play most of the games. The graphic quality was not the best together with a low resolution display. You can play almost all games, but the low resolution display does not provide great experience.

The phone comes with 8GB internal storage and out of which the user available is 4.94 which is lower that what was offered on Android KitKat devices from Micromax. You can also expand the storage via Micro SD card.

The call quality on the device is pretty decent and we didn’t have any issues with dropped calls or signal strength. Similar to Canvas Fire 2, the Fire 4 also comes with dual firing speakers. The speakers are enhanced with Cirrus Logic Wolfson Stereo DAC audio converter providing better audio output when compared to other devices in this price range. The phone comes with dual SIM card support and has dedicated section to manage the SIM cards.

Camera:

The phone comes with a 8MP rear camera with dual LED flash and a front 2MP camera. The camera interface is exactly the same we found on most Android phones from Micromax powered by the Mediatek processor. The set of features includes normal mode, Panorama, Beauty face,  It can also take photos in HDR and record videos in 1080P (full HD). The camera interface is fairly feature rich and easy to use if you have previously used a Micromax device.

The interface is not very fast in terms of capturing and there is slight delay at times. The 8MP rear camera is able to capture pretty decent photos with detailing, but what was missing is the color reproduction. The photos are not vibrant and they look washed out at times. The macro shots were also pretty decent. The phone is not great with low light imaging, but with adequate artificial lighting it can produce decent shots. The dual LED flash also works well in low light conditions.

The phone can also record videos in 1080P which is again not really the best in the price range. Here are some of the photos taken with the device.

Battery Life:

The device comes with 2000mAh battery which is similar to other devices like Moto E or Lumia 535 and the performance is pretty decent as well. You can get a day of usage from the battery. We tested the battery by using the 3G SIM card and few social apps configured and running in the background along with email accounts. We were able to get a day of battery life with average usage.

Verdict:

Priced at Rs 6999, the Micromax Canvas Fire 4 has a decent design, comes with Android Lollipop and decent performance. The display resolution and quality are not the best aspects of  the device. If you are looking for a budget device with Android Lollipop, Canvas Fire 4 is worth the buy.