Indian manufacturer Micromax has had a quiet couple of quarters, unusually so for the brand. Over the better part of the past year, the company’s market share and brand value has taken a hit with the influx of Chinese brands looking to dominate Micromax’s budget territory.
The Dual 5 then represents not only a comeback device of sorts, but also a concerted effort to reposition the brand as a solid contender in the mid-range. Can the Dual 5 duel the competition and bring Micromax back into the game?
Pros:
- Good images in well-lit conditions
- Plenty of storage on tap
- Sensible security features
- Bright display
- Fast charging
Cons:
- Generic design
- Slow image processing, grainy low-light images
- Dated OS
What’s Good?
The Dual 5 gets its name from the distinctive dual camera setup on the rear. Both cameras are 13MP f/1.8 shooters and much like the Huawei P9, one camera module captures monochrome image data while the second captures RGB data, combining both to create a sharper final image.
And for most part, the camera doesn't disappoint with fast focusing and excellent detail and colour reproduction when shooting in well-lit conditions. Shooting in low light and indoor lighting didn't fare as well, with noise creeping in and details getting lost… and while the bokeh effect benefits from the dual camera setup, the slow image processing might irk some folks.
Powering the Dual 5 is Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 652 processor with 4GB of memory and a sweet 128GB of storage, which is practically unheard of at this price. The 5.5-inch full-HD SuperAMOLED display is bright and punchy and works well even in bright outdoor conditions.
Running the Dual 5 through its paces, it impressed with its overall performance and I didn't face any lags or stutters in my week’s worth of use. The 652 is a bread-and-butter-midranger for Qualcomm and is plenty capable, but it’s not in the same league as the 82x series you get in the marginally more expensive OnePlus 3 or the now ageing Mi5.
Should you be the kind who’s likely to lose your Rs 24,999 phone, Micromax has got your back with a host of interesting India-oriented security features on the Dual 5. To begin with, all your authentication data (biometrics, passwords) are stored on a dedicated hardware (security chip) which is EAL 5+ military-grade certified.
On a more practical front, you get features such as SafeSwitch, so that no one can shut your phone down without a password, and any attempt to pull out the SIM card without unlocking the phone leads to a picture of the perp being sent to an account of your choice.
Or the SecureVault feature, which is a secure second space that you can unlock with a different fingerprint if you want to keep some files, photos/videos, contacts, call/SMS records or even a second instance of an app like Whatsapp secured and hidden from plain sight if someone else is using your phone.
A full charge of the 3200mAh battery lasts a full day of moderate use and with Quick Charge 3.0 support, you get from zero to about 40 percent in about 20 minutes and about an hour to fully top the battery up.
What’s Bad?
The Dual 5 is Micromax’s costliest phone yet and plays in an altogether unfamiliar segment for the brand, so while the all-metal body, 2.5D curved edge glass and the chamfered edges help with the premium image, they’re only about par for the course and the phone is rather generic looking.
The configurable ‘Smart Key’ is a nice touch, but the lack of backlighting on the capacitive Android navigation buttons is a bummer at this price point.
The user interface and widgets in Micromax’s own skin are clean and uncluttered, but launching a 25,000 flagship without Android Nougat is a certain miss from Micromax for its costliest flagship.
It’s not as if Micromax is known for quick updates, so not having Android 7.0 out of the box is disappointing. Also missed is optical image stabilisation on the cameras – something you’d tend to expect at this price point.
Why Buy It?
Apart from making a decent device in the Dual 5, Micromax has underscored its intentions by offering a one-year replacement promise (in case the phone is irreparable) and a 24-hour turnaround time in metro and tier 1 cities (with complimentary pick-up and drop!) – service quality levels that I haven’t heard of in this segment.
If you can look past the misses, Micromax has delivered a good overall offering… but this is a segment where folks don't look past the misses, and the fierce competition might take the wind out of the Dual 5’s sails at this rate.
(Tushar Kanwar is a technology columnist and commentator and has been contributing for the past 15 years to India’s leading newspapers and magazines. He can be reached on Twitter @2shar.)
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