Best 'Indian' smartphones of 2013 - Gadgets of the Year

The Indian mobile industry is evolving, and today some Indian manufacturers are giving tough competition to giants like Samsung, LG and Nokia, among others. Three out of five smartphone vendors in IDC’s latest quarterly report are Indian phone makers such as Micromax, Karbonn and Lava. Even though these companies get their phones made in China, their brand identity and ethos remain firmly Indian. Throughout the year, we saw several such Indian phone makers up their game by offering great specs at affordable price tags. We’ve listed three best phones to come from these Indian brands in 2013.

Winner: Micromax Canvas Turbo A250
Micromax has quickly climbed up to the second position in the Indian markets and has earned 17.7 percent market share. The company has even learnt from its past mistake– Canvas 4–and made up for it with a feature-packed Canvas Turbo. It went all out and even roped in the Wolverine star Hugh Jackman as the brand ambassador for their Canvas range of smartphones. Battery life aside, the Canvas Turbo is big improvement coming from the Canvas 4 and it’s easily one of the best MediaTek-based phones in that price range. The A250 is currently selling for Rs 18,499. Read our complete Micromax Canvas Turbo A250 review to know more.

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Canvas Turbo takes the first spot

Here’s a quick look at the key specs of the Micromax Canvas Turbo:

• 5-inch SHARP HD CGS display
• 3G Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth, GPS with A-GPS
• 13-megapxiel rear camera, 5-megapixel front camera
• 16GB internal memory

1st Runner-up: Xolo Opus Q1000
Xolo Opus Q1000 is the latest entrant in the Indian budget smartphone segment and one of the few smartphones to feature Broadcom’s BCM23550 quad-core HSPA+ processor clocked at 1.2GHz, and coupled with 1GB RAM. Priced at Rs 9,999, the dual-SIM (GSM + GSM) smartphone runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Xolo also includes BCM4334 connectivity combo chip and BCM4752 multi-constellation GNSS location chip for a great connectivity experience. It’s easily one of the best phones in the sub-Rs 10,000 category.

Opus Q1000 selling for Rs 9,999

Here’s a quick look at some of its specifications:

• 5-inch FWVGA IPS display with 480 x 854 pixels resolution
• 3G, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth, GPS with A-GPS, GLONAAS
• 4GB onboard storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD card slot

2nd Runner-up: Xolo Play Tegra T1000
Unlike other Indian smartphone makers, Xolo has been looking beyond Mediatek chipset. Yet another example of this is the Play Tegra T1000 powered by a quad-core 1.5GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 with 1GB RAM. This was the first Tegra device in Xolo’s kitty and immediately gave the brand a lift. It runs on Android 4.1.1 and has an Nvidia TegraZone for gaming. The Xolo Play is intended to woo gamers and it seems to make its point. It’s a complete entertainment handset with a full HD display panel and quad-core processor at Rs 13,999. Read our complete Xolo Play Tegra T1000 review.

Play Tegra T1000 powered by a quad-core 1.5GHz Nvidia Tegra 3

Take a quick look at some of its specifications

• 4.7-inch HD IPS display with 1280 x 720 pixels of resolution
• 3G, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth, GPS with A-GPS
• 8-megapixel rear camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera
• 4GB onboard storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD