Grudge Match: Micromax Canvas 4 A210 vs Xolo Q1000S

After offering a slew of sub-Rs 15,000 smartphones, looks like desi manufacturers are shifting their focus to a sub-Rs 20,000 category.  Xolo recently announced a slim new Q1000S for Rs 18,999. The price and specs, makes it a direct competitor to Micromax’s latest smartphone, the Canvas 4 A210. We’ve put them in the ring for a showdown. Let’s find out who’s the winner.

Micromax Canvas 4 A210 – Rs 17,399

Canvas 4 has a very good 5-inch display

Over the last year, expectations from Micromax have increased thanks to the success of the Canvas brand and the strategy of giving consumers superior specs at an affordable price. Its latest smartphone, the Canvas 4 , packs a large 5-inch screen, but has settled for a 720p resolution instead of catching on to the hot full HD display trend. The device also feels too bulky in the hand, but it definitely feels more polished than Micromax’s previous efforts. You can read our complete review of the Canvas 4 here . One highlight is bevy of software features in the Canvas 4. In burst mode, the camera shoots 99 pictures in 15 seconds, there’s video pinning and simultaneous video playback as well as auto-pausing of video. Micromax has also baked in a number of other gesture-based features like blow to unlock and auto-answer.

Xolo Q1000S – Rs 18,999

The Xolo Q1000S is quite slim at 6.98mm

The successor to the Q1000, this is one of the slimmest smartphones in the market with a thickness of just 6.98 mm. The Q1000S comes with a 5-inch IPS display featuring a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, just like the Canvas 4. It is also equipped with a 13 megapixel shooter on the back, again like the Micromax phone. It includes a BSI 2 sensor, a successor to the original Backside Illuminated sensor. The rear camera is capable of recording full HD 1080p videos and has its own image stabilisation technology that should allow for decent photography even with a shaky hand. We haven’t got our hands on the device yet, but on paper the Q1000S looks promising.

Take a look at the comparison table below:

Our comparison table

Verdict:
Going purely by the specs on paper, the Xolo Q1000S emerges as the winner by a really small margin. It is one of the slimmest smartphones currently available in the market, and nearly 2mm sleeker than the Canvas 4. Both Canvas 4 and Xolo Q1000S come with 5-inch displays, sporting 720 x 1280 pixels of resolution. But the former is guarded by a Corning Gorilla glass while the latter by Asahi Dragontail glass. The Q1000S is powered by the faster Mediatek MT6589T, an over-clocked version of the MT6589 which beats inside the Canvas 4. The Xolo phone also offers a much bigger capacity battery. While both come with 16GB internal memory, it is disappointing to see that Xolo has given microSD card slot a skip. While the Xolo Q100s is launched at an MRP of Rs 18,999, the market operating price invariably drops afetr launch. So looks like the Micromax Canvas 4 finally has some real competition.