Micromax Canvas Nitro

Review in pictures

Low on oomph, high on practicality

• Looks rather plain Jane• The only design highlight is

the rear panel which is fashioned out of plastic but is clad in a matte, leathery finish

• Available in Mystic Blue and Pristine White

• The faux-leather finish aids in grip and keeps smudges at bay

• The rear shell can be pried open to reveal the removable battery, a pair of micro-SIM slots and a microSD card slot

Screen goddess

• The Nitro’s window to the world is its 5-inch display that offers a resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels (~294ppi)

• Fairly capable and displays crisp, vibrant colours• Touch responsiveness and viewing angles are good, though sunlight

legibility isn’t one of its strongest points

Sweet KitKat with hazelnut

• Runs a near-stock build of Android KitKat

• The ‘pause on look away’ feature pauses video playback if you remove your gaze from the screen

• A handy camera widget that lets you shoot stills, videos and selfies

• Tons of bloatware, including Getit, Clean Master, FoneClay, Hike, and Kingsoft Office. A whole suit of Micromax’s own apps is also included, including M! Doodle and miUnlock

• SwiftKey keyboard preloaded• Bunch of trial games hog precious

storage space

A slew of software tweaks on offer• The Smart Alert feature displays

notification icons on the lock screen, letting you jump straight to the corresponding apps

• Colour-coded band changes hue depending upon the most recent notification

• QuickLook is Micromax’s answer to HTC’s BlinkFeed, using a dedicated homescreen to display feeds from news and social netwrks

• You can even map a predefined set of actions to two-finger gestures such as pinch in, pinch out, and two-finger swipes in four directions

A feature-loaded camera

• The Nitro’s 13-meg primary shooter rocks a Largan lens, f/2.4 aperture and a Sony IMX135 CMOS sensor

• Stock camera app offers modes like beauty shot, smile shot, auto scene detection, panorama, burst and HDR

• You also get control over various other settings such as ISO, exposure etc

• You can also shoot by voice or making the ‘V’ gesture using your fingers

Shoots well, but misses the bull’s eye

• Churns out reasonably good shots as long as the lighting is good, though the colours look slightly dull

• Close-ups looks good, but HDR isn’t really its strong point

• Its low light imaging prowess is no great shakes either, since images turn out riddled with noise

Runs at nitro-boosted speeds

• A 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek processor, paired with 2GB of RAM tackles heavy apps and games smoothly

• There’s 8GB of storage, giving you about 5GB to use. You can add up to 32GB more via the microSD card slot

• The lack of USB OTG support is a bummer• Standard connectivity options, including dual-SIM capabilities, 3G (only on

the first SIM slot), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, A-GPS, Wi-Fi hotspot and cast screen

Juicy battery lasts long• The device is fuelled by a

2,500mAh battery• Lasts a full day

comfortably with moderate usage

• Lasted over nine hours in our standard video playback test

• Drains faster when connected to 3G data

• CPU power saving mode available to conserve battery life

At a glance

• 5-inch, 1,280 x 720 pixel IPS display (294ppi)

• 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek processor

• 2GB RAM• 13-megapixel primary camera,

5MP front• 8GB storage (expandable by

another 32GB)• Dual-SIM, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

4.0, A-GPS, Wi-Fi Hotspot, USB 2.0

• Android KitKat 4.4.2 • 2,500mAh battery• FM Radio

-• Utilitarian looks• Average camera• No USB OTG

Pros and cons

+• Smooth

performance• Good battery life• Useful software

tweaks

Rs 12,990

Pricing and verdict

“The Micromax Canvas Nitro is a capable daily driver. It does fail to excite, and may not be able to entice shutterbugs with its camera prowess… but it manages to do well for itself in most other areas. Worth considering, but not before you take a look at others in its range such as the new Moto G and the ASUS Zenfone 5”