Micromax has named this device on a famous Dutch painter who had a far-reaching influence on 20th century art, but we do not expect such a far-reaching influence on the mobile phone design in 21st century, but having said that it certainly a trump card up its sleeve.
With the X450 Van Gogh, Micromax supplies an integrated Bluetooth handsfree kit, which not just sits at the back of the phone, it also charges using the phones battery, eliminating the need for a second charger to charge the Bluetooth handsfree. It also eliminates the possibility of losing this kit as you will always be able to carry it without it being one more thing to carry.
The rest of the phone is a standard dual SIM bar phone from Micromax, no revolutionary features, glitz or glam. To add to the beauty, Micromax supplies two backcover – black and yellow in colour with a mat feel finish.
Design wise, the phone is regular bar phone with multitap keypad with well place keys that give decent feedback. The 2.6 inch screen is a standard fare with 262 colour QVGA (320X240) resolution. The Bluetooth cradle for the handsfree kit adds bulk to the device and also aids the grip of the phone without adding much weight.
The back of the phone has good looking curves which look attractive in both black and yellow. The Bluetooth kit has a glossy finish to its back that breaks the mat finish monotony of the back cover, making the handset look more modern. The glossy finish is carried in the front as well. The camera is on the back top left corner.
Apart from the front keypad, the phone is devoid of any other physical keys – there is neither volume rocker nor a camera button.
Bluetooth Kit
The Bluetooth kit is the main attraction of this phone which differentiates it from others. The kit sits bang in the middle of the upper back side of the phone. You will need to use your nails to pluck out the Bluetooth kit from its cradle.
The pairing is easy and, the good thing is that, can be done with any other phone. Once you the kit runs out of charge, all you need to do is to put it back in the cradle and it will charge itself. And while you have put this in the cradle, it continues to work, so you just need to take it out when you get a call. The battery backup of the kit is decent with 4-5 hours of talk time.
Other features
The phone is a dual SIM phone with 8GB expandable memory through microSD card, a 2.0 Megapixel camera, 3.5 mm Audio Jack and a pre-installed Opera Mini browser. It supports GPRS and application downloads.
The 2.4 inch screen is not really very high Resolution but good enough for a product in this price bracket. The user interface has nothing special to talk about but using it is simple. There is a customisable go to option, which directly takes you to frequently used functions in the menu, taking away the pain of navigation. Other regular features like FM, calculator, calendar etc are all there.
Performance
The phone’s performance is as expected from this range of products. There were no network issues whatsoever, in-fact the GPRS reception is better than what I normally get on my other phones.
The supplied wired in-ear handset feels much better built than the rest of the phone, and the sound clarity matches the built quality. The external stereo speakers are also loud and clear.
The radio reception had no issues either. Media player which plays both audio and video is a well sorted one with easy navigation and playback.
The 2.0 mega pixel camera unit is nothing much to talk about; it’s good only for occasional snaps when you do not any other option. The file support also has nothing to complain about. The battery backup is good for two days low to medium level use with the phone’s 1000mAH unit.
Verdict
I would give ten on ten to Micromax for this new concept — placing the Bluetooth into a cradle at the back of the phone that makes it handy to use as and when one needs it.
However the rest of the phone is a very standard piece of hardware. Also, the quality of the handsfree should have been slightly higher as right now there are times when there are too many interferences, the voice starts to echo though it is not always there it is an annoyance nonetheless.
The phone has a price tag of Rs 3,999 (MRP) but may be available for around Rs 3,400-3,500, which is definitely attractive.