By Rishab Narang
Micromax Canvas 4 Micromax Canvas 4 was launched with much fanfare last week in India. With a pricetag of Rs. 17,990 and some amazing features, Canvas 4 was said to be a competitor of two leading smartphones--Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One. Though these two--Galaxy S4 and HTC One are priced at around Rs.40,000 in India.
5 Unique Features of Canvas 4
Blow to unlock
Micromax has brought forward a whole new way to unlock smartphones with its Canvas 4. Now, you can just blow on your Canvas 4 to unlock it, without ever swiping your fingers on the screen.
Vertical panorama shots
While panorama shots are usually taken horizontally, Micromax gives a different approach to this feature. In Canvas 4, you can move your device from top to bottom, instead of left to right, to take a panorama shot of tall objects in a single frame.
Video preview
Micromax Canvas 4 allows you to check out a short preview of a video even while you are watching a separate video.
Touch-enabled flip cover
Among the accessories of Canvas 4 is the flip cover that features Surface Touch technology. This technology allows you to use the screen of the phone even when it is covered by the cover.
M!Power
M!Power is a Micromax service, wherein the company will back up all the data in your Canvas 4, including contacts, SMSs, photos, documents and videos. Under this service, you will also get a temporary phone for a period of seven days if your handset is stolen and get your sim card blocked with one call.
This service is not limited to just the phone, but also extends to your wallet. In case you lose your wallet, you can ask Micromax to block credit, debit and prepaid cards. The company will even get you a replacement PAN card and driving licence if you opt for M!Power.
Micromax Canvas 4: Front, Side and Back View
Just below the display, there are capacitive touch keys for Menu, Home and Back navigation functions. The sensor array and the 5-megapixel front camera are located above the display just adjacent to the chrome grill earpiece. The edges of the phone are bevelled when they meet the aluminium frame.
The Power/ Screen lock key is located at the right hand side, towards the top, while the Volume rocker sits at the left hand side. Both these keys sport a metallic finish and offer good tactile feedback.
Interestingly, the Canvas 4's aluminium frame also features small bands at the left, and at the top and bottom edges, similar to the ones we've seen on the iPhone 5 and HTC One. As per the company the frame also acts as an antenna, just like it does in the iPhone.
The 3.5mm headset jack sits at the top of the phone, while the micro-USB port is located at the bottom.
The back comprises of a removable cover made of plastic that sports a mild texture in a somewhat matte finish. It features the Micromax branding, a small speaker outlet, the phone's 13-megapixel rear camera lens and a round LED flash.
The cover hides the battery compartment, two SIM card slots and a microSD card slot.
Coming to the Canvas 4's software, we'd like to point out that it runs Android 4.2.1, the latest iteration of the operating system, with some of its own UI modifications on top. The first thing that we noticed while using the handset is that there was no visible lag, at least with the set of preinstalled applications.
The Canvas 4 also boasts of some extra bells and whistles including a 'blow to unlock' feature - yes, that's what it's called. You can just blow some air on the phone's screen to unlock it. Just like some of Samsung's latest Galaxy smartphones, the phone features a pop-up video player, that lets users watch a video while doing some other task on a floating window, auto-pause videos when you're not looking at the phone's screen, answer phone automatically when you bring it your ear, flip to silent and preview other videos in the gallery while playing one, among other features. It also brings some new camera tricks such as multi-dimension Panorama and a photo solid mode for increased precision.
Micromax has also pre-installed a security software called M! Security, offering back-up, anti-theft tracker, and anti-virus features. Other bundled apps include Fone Clay to download themes, Hike instant messenger, Opera Mini, Spuul to watch movies, Kingsoft office suite, and Micromax' music and app download services.
Overall, the phone delivers a good package, incorporating a balanced set of software and hardware features, though features like blow air to unlock, appear to be gimmicky. Those hoping for a significant upgrade over the Canvas HD in terms of specs would obviously be disappointed, but Micromax has tried to pack in other things.
The Power/ Screen lock key is located at the right hand side, towards the top, while the Volume rocker sits at the left hand side. Both these keys sport a metallic finish and offer good tactile feedback.
Interestingly, the Canvas 4's aluminium frame also features small bands at the left, and at the top and bottom edges, similar to the ones we've seen on the iPhone 5 and HTC One. As per the company the frame also acts as an antenna, just like it does in the iPhone.
The 3.5mm headset jack sits at the top of the phone, while the micro-USB port is located at the bottom.
The back comprises of a removable cover made of plastic that sports a mild texture in a somewhat matte finish. It features the Micromax branding, a small speaker outlet, the phone's 13-megapixel rear camera lens and a round LED flash.
The cover hides the battery compartment, two SIM card slots and a microSD card slot.
Coming to the Canvas 4's software, we'd like to point out that it runs Android 4.2.1, the latest iteration of the operating system, with some of its own UI modifications on top. The first thing that we noticed while using the handset is that there was no visible lag, at least with the set of preinstalled applications.
The Canvas 4 also boasts of some extra bells and whistles including a 'blow to unlock' feature - yes, that's what it's called. You can just blow some air on the phone's screen to unlock it. Just like some of Samsung's latest Galaxy smartphones, the phone features a pop-up video player, that lets users watch a video while doing some other task on a floating window, auto-pause videos when you're not looking at the phone's screen, answer phone automatically when you bring it your ear, flip to silent and preview other videos in the gallery while playing one, among other features. It also brings some new camera tricks such as multi-dimension Panorama and a photo solid mode for increased precision.
Micromax has also pre-installed a security software called M! Security, offering back-up, anti-theft tracker, and anti-virus features. Other bundled apps include Fone Clay to download themes, Hike instant messenger, Opera Mini, Spuul to watch movies, Kingsoft office suite, and Micromax' music and app download services.
Overall, the phone delivers a good package, incorporating a balanced set of software and hardware features, though features like blow air to unlock, appear to be gimmicky. Those hoping for a significant upgrade over the Canvas HD in terms of specs would obviously be disappointed, but Micromax has tried to pack in other things.
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