XOLO Q1000S Review

XOLO has just recently updated its product portfolio with a new flagship called the Q1000S, a follow up to the fairly popular Q1000. The Q1000S sits higher up in the price segment and faces stiff competition from the Canvas 4 by Micromax. Both handsets are similar in terms of specifications and features so it will ultimately boil down to the price and personal brand preference. Let’s see if the Canvas 4 can hold its own against the XOLO’s latest offering.

Design and Build
The Q1000 was a bit of a chunky monkey and felt rather cumbersome in your hand but all that’s sorted out with the new S variant. The new handset measures just 6.9mm and is lighter as well at 158gm. XOLO has ditched the plastic back for a metal one and in doing so has made the battery non-removable. We don’t really care though as the new design looks really slick and since the 5-inch display is more vertical (like the iPhone 5) than horizontal (Galaxy Note), it’s easier to grip as well. We also have added protection in the form of Asahi’s Drangontrail Glass. We found the button placement really awkward; however, as the power button is on the left just below the volume rocker it makes it really inconvenient.

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Slimmer and lighter than its predecessor

The headphone and microUSB port is placed on the top and on the right side we have a full-sized SIM slot. Quite surprisingly, there’s no storage expansion capabilities on the Q1000S which means the onboard 16GB will have to suffice. Around the back, we have a 13MP shooter and a single LED flash. Overall, the Q1000S is definitely a striking phone and a big upgrade in terms of chassis design compared to its predecessor.  The phone comes bundled with an extra screen guard, charger and earphones. There’s already a factory fitted screen guard on the phone. Overall, the build of the Q1000S is very good however, the finish of the paint job and attention to detail could have been better as it lacks a premium feel.

A metal back is a welcome change

Features
The Q1000S boasts of a 5-inch HD IPS display which is sharp and produces very good colours. As a bonus, you also get good viewing angles and the sun light legibility is average, not great. The sensitivity of the display is spot on as well and we rarely had any issues with inputs not being registered.

Stock Jelly Bean UI

The handset comes bundled with a stock version of Jelly Bean 4.2.1 with very little interference from XOLO. In fact, they haven’t even bothered with toggle switches in the notification bar this time. What you’re left with is a smooth Nexus-like experience which is great. Apart from the standard suite of Google apps, we also have some XOLO exclusives like XOLO Care, XOLO Power and XOLO Secure.
The Q1000S is powered by the faster MediaTek MT6589T SoC which is priced at 1.5GHz. The slight speed bump shows up in benchmarks but in the real world, you’ll barely notice any difference when compared to the Canvas 4. There’s 1GB of RAM as well, which makes loading of apps and switching between them pretty quick and seamless.

Media
Audio is handled by the stock music player which has limited functionality. Audio quality is once again average with a good pair of IEMs. The loudspeaker has a fairly high volume level and is audible even in noisy environments.

The stock music player

Video playback too is handled well by the stock player and 1080p files playback just fine. Supported video codecs include MKV, AVI, MOV and MP4.

Connectivity
The XOLO Q1000S is a dual-band GSM and single-band 3G handset that features connectivity options like Wi-Fi, A-GPS and Bluetooth 4.0. NFC and GLONASS are not present. We found the call quality to be below average as the max volume of the earpiece is not high enough for you to have a conversation comfortably in a noisy place. The sound from the earpiece also feels very tinny and unnatural, much like our experience with the Xperia Z Ultra. 

The dialer and messaging app

Camera
The 13MP boasts of a BSI 2 sensor, which is also featured on the front facing 5MP shooter. The sensor isn’t great for low-light shots but get the lighting right and this thing will wow you. With good ambient lighting, you can get very good macros with very little noise. The detail level is not as good as the Galaxy S4’s 13MP sensor but is pretty good nonetheless. The standard shooting modes are present like panorama, smile detection, etc.

Not very impressive lo-light performance

With good lighting, the 13MP cam is pretty good

Video recording maxes out at 1080p. Video captured is good but indoor footage is noisy and not very clear. The frame rate is pretty steady; however, with little jitter given sufficient lighting.

Battery Life
The 2500mAh battery manages to put on a good show as it easily sailed through our 8-hour loop of calls, music, video and YouTube streaming. In the end, we were left with 43 percent battery. The Q1000S will easily last you a whole day of usage with 3G which is not bad. 

Verdict and Price in India
The XOLO Q1000S is a bit of an expensive proposition at Rs 18,999 and just like the Canvas 4, needs to drop a couple of thousand in price in order to be recommendable. At Rs 19,000, Lenovo’s latest P780 looks like the phone to beat. Between the Canvas 4 and the Q1000S, we’d tip our favour towards the XOLO due to its sexier design and better build. You’ll feel the pinch of the lack of a microSD card slot so if that plays an important role in your buying decision then the Canvas 4 is always an option. At this price point however, we’d recommend neither of them as Lenovo seems to have quite an unbeatable offering which we’re itching to get our hands on.