Micromax launched theDual 5 at Rs 24,999 last week for India After using the Dual 5 for the last two weeks and testing out the different features of the smartphone, read on for our review of the device.
Specifications of Micromax Dual 5:
Display: 5.5 FHD AMOLED screen with 2.5D curved glass and Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor and Adreno 510 GPU
RAM: 4GB DDR3 RAM
ROM: 128 GB
Battery: 3200mAh with QuickCharge 3.0
SIM: Hybrid dual SIM slot
Camera: Dual 13 megapixel rear camera and 13-megapixel front camera with soft flash
Fingerprint sensor: Yes
Addition: Chip level security and IR blaster
Hits:
Micromax Dual 5, looks like most of the smartphones available in the market nowadays but once you lift it your perception will change. It is quite light in your hand and you comes with just the right curves and dual tone colour of the metal body at the corners and edges. It looks neat and clean.
The X factor of Dual 5 is its 13-megapixel dual rear camera setup which captures the scene simultaneously. One camera has a traditional RGB sensor which takes colour photos and the other one captures pictures in in black and white. This combination helps in capturing details of the picture without affecting colour reproduction.
The blur or bokeh effect in pictures can be achieved by using its two Sensors to capture proper depth-of-field information. Furthermore, video recording at 4K is possible, along with 3 tiers of slow-motion video recording as well, letting you choose between 60fps, 90fps and 120fps. The front camera also clicks decent shots and has support from a flash.
We did check out the camera in different scenarios and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that this is probably the best smartphone camera from the Micromax range so far. Ever. Pictures in good lighting condition, as well as low lighting, had an amazing level of clarity and colour reproduction, except for a few shots that were taken in low light where noise was visible.
Over the two weeks period, the device gave us no major cause for complaint, performing satisfactorily on most key parameters. In our usage, the Dual 5 had no issues playing games such as Need for Speed: Most Wanted as well as playing a 4k video. It did tend to get a bit hot when you play games for more than half an hour but nothing alarming. Its display is quite bright and viewing at different angels was not a problem.
Unlike most of the smartphones available in the market where security is at the software level, which can be hacked, Dual 5 boasts of a dedicated hardware security feature along with the software security features, which the company claims makes the dual 5 un-hackable. Not only is this a relatively unique feature on the phone giving you some bragging rights, but it could also appeal to a lot of you spooked by news of phone hacking all the time. So what exactly has Micromax done with the Dual 5? Usually, fingerprint Password imaging and other passwords are stored at a software level but in Dual 5 all the user credentials and security passwords are encrypted and saved in the dedicated security hardware chip.
It has an independent high-grade security chip, which offers hardware-level security. As per the company, it is military grade and unbreakable. It has passed the CC EAL5 + security certification, which is the highest standards of ordinary civilian security level certification.
The phone also comes with a safe switch, ensuring that no one else can unlock your phone or shut it down without a password. In fact, any attempt to pull out the SIM card without unlocking the phone leads to capturing the picture of the suspected intruder.
Dual 5 also comes with a physical Smart key on the left side. It can be configured to perform different functions like firing up the camera or Whatsapp when the phone is locked and separate function like going to Facebook when it is unlocked.
Another important feature of the Dual 5 is Secure Vault, which lets the user setup different accounts for services like Facebook and WhatsApp, Images and secures them with different fingerprints. They can be accessed by the user’s fingerprint only and no one else will be able to see them. Apps secured this way don’t show up in the list of installed apps. All the user needs to do is create it with another finger which will only open it.
Coming to the battery life, the Dual 5’s 3,200mAh battery lasted us a full day on a single charge under heavy usage.
Misses:
The User Interface is smooth but needs updates badly to take care of glaring grammatical mistakes and issues with selection of different menus inside the camera app.
Another thing that Micromax needs to address at the earliest is Android update as the Dual 5 runs on Android Marshmallow. It the market you will find a lot of comparable smartphones run on Android N. It is upsetting, to say the least especially when the company has come out with a flagship smartphone after such a long time.
Another issue with the camera App is post processing one cannot change the focus in a picture if one has used dual camera setup to get the bokeh effect.
In spite of having an IR blaster, Dual 5 doesn’t come with a pre-installed remote control app.