Micromax Canvas Spark 3 Review

Launching products at low prices to attract customers has become a trend for Android phone manufacturers in India for more than two years now. Till two years ago, it was impossible to even think of a smartphone for less than Rs 5,000, but today there is a competition in the market to launch smartphones in this price segment.

The lower the price, the more likely first-time smartphone buyers will be. With this intention, Micromax is introducing mobile phones keeping in mind the small towns and villages and non-English speaking customers who have probably used only voice and SMS services till now.

New canvas spark 3 The company has kept the price at Rs 4,999. This price can be considered good for those buyers who have never used a computing device before. Today we will review this new smartphone of Micromax and see whether Canvas Spark 3 is really worth buying?

Look and Design

Priced at Rs 5,000, the Canvas Spark 3 looks good. Unlike other low-cost devices, this phone does not look cheap or artificial. The front part of the phone is plain and the camera and earpiece are on the top. Navigation buttons are on screen. There is very little space on the left and right sides of the screen, making the phone very easy to use with one hand.

The phone does not feel heavy at all when held in the hand and its curves help in holding and using it comfortably. There is a metallic band on the edge. There are power and volume buttons on the right side and a micro-USB port is provided at the bottom.

Made of plastic with matte texture, the rear panel is removable and offers good grip. On the rear panel, there is a camera and flash at the top, below which is the Micromax logo. There is a large speaker grill at the bottom. Below the rear cover there are two micro-SIM slots and a microSD slot. To replace the SIM card you will have to take out the battery.

When you buy the Canvas Spark 3, you will get a charger, USB cable, headset, screen protector and a small microfiber cloth for cleaning fingerprints and dust. Considering the price, this package of accessories can be called good.

Specifications

The Spreadtrum processor has been used in Canvas Spark 3. The phone has a quad-core processor running at 1.3 GHz. Mali-400MP2 GPU has been provided for graphics. Two micro-SIMs can be used simultaneously in the phone but it does not support 4G, which makes this phone seem a bit outdated in today’s market.

The phone has 1 GB RAM and 8 GB inbuilt storage. However, only 4.76 GB of space will be available for user use while the rest of the space is already occupied by the files on the device. After a long time, we found such a phone in which we saw less space in all the benchmarking apps and files. You will definitely need a memory card for storage and it is disappointing that the expandable storage is only 32 GB.

The phone has a 5.5 inch screen with 720×1280 pixel resolution which is one of its most special features. The rear camera of the phone is 8 megapixels while the front camera is 5 megapixels. However, only 720 pixel video recording can be done from the rear camera of the phone while only 480 pixel video recording can be done from the front camera.

For connectivity, there are features like Wi-Fi B/G/N and Bluetooth 4.0. The phone lacks an ambient light sensor, so the brightness always has to be adjusted manually. The capacity of the removable battery provided in the phone is 2500 mAh.

Software

The choice of software by Micromax seems a bit strange. The company has provided a very simple multi-language Indus Launcher keeping in mind the first-time Android user, but on the other hand, there are many complex apps and features which can irritate a non-tech-savvy user.

The phone runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop and when you boot up, you see a custom-made home screen with seven large icons for basic functions. There is a second home screen on the left. Every time you exit an app, you will be redirected to the home screen which will require you to go back multiple times to get back to your page and the whole process is quite slow.

The home screen widgets on the phone appear to be separated together. The phone has an iOS-like dock with four oversized icons on the app drawer page, but neither this nor the home screen can be customized.

Language and other basic settings can be easily changed in Indus Launcher settings but the main Android settings icon is hidden. The Google Settings icon also appears with other apps, which is quite confusing. It’s a relief that there is an option to switch to the stock AOSP launcher in Indus Settings.

Launched about two years ago Micromax Unite 2 Like Micromax Canvas Spark 3, local language support has been provided. However, the Canvas Spark 3 smartphone supports only 10 languages instead of 21. You can choose two primary languages and toggle between them quickly.

Micromax has also pre-installed many software, many of which are rarely used. The phone has an Indus App Store and another App Center. Micromax has M Games and M Line storefronts. Apart from this, many common apps and games like Amazon Shopping, OLX, Snapdeal, Hike, Quikr, Scandid, Opera Mini, Gaana, Clean Master, CM Security, CM Locker and M Travel are present. The good thing is that third-party apps can be removed to free up space.

Performance

The phone has many shortcomings. It also takes a few seconds to go from exiting an app to the home screen. Many apps cause problems even when performing basic tasks like swiping through a photo gallery. This can also happen because of the CM Security app which runs in the background all the time. While opening the pre-installed app Snapdeal, we got a warning message about the potential for privacy leaks and financial loss.

The display of the phone is also very low-quality. The dark scenes in the video look fake and the viewing angle is quite bad. The sound quality is decent and can be said to be fine for game and video voices but not for music.

During benchmark tests, the Canvas Spark 3’s hardware delivered decent performance.

The battery life of the phone can be said to be good and in our video loop test the battery lasted for 7 hours and 13 minutes. The screen of the phone consumes the most battery and during normal use the phone’s battery lasts for the whole day.

The results we got from the phone’s camera were better than our expectations. It takes some time to focus and the shutter also has problems, so forget about taking impromptu shots. On the other hand, the camera gives good results in daylight. The colors in the pictures taken from the phone’s camera are fine and the pictures do not look too artificial. The video quality recorded from the phone was a bit poor as expected.

We should keep in mind that the potential market for Canvas Spark 3 is those people who have never used a smartphone or even a computer before. It should also be remembered that today such devices are available in the smartphone market for less than Rs 5,000. The reality is that there are many things in this phone that this phone cannot do. The performance of the phone is also quite weak.

The phone’s software cannot help first-time smartphone users who struggle with English. The Micromax Canvas Spark 3 could have been a little better at this price.

Users who are already used to using an Android phone will find the low-cost Micromax Canvas Spark 3 just fine. All the basic features are provided in the phone and the camera is also fine.

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