iQOO, for those of you who don’t know, is a subsidiary of Chinese manufacturer Vivo, whose Parent company, in-turn is BBK Electronics. The first smartphone that iQOO launched here in India was the iQOO 3 , which quite surprisingly launched at a good price, considering what it came packed with. It was launched at 37K INR. But in a year’s time, the price’s has dropped significantly. It currently retails at 25K on Flipkart . iQOO 3 Shot on iPhone 5s (Blogger compression killed it -_-) Having got it on Flipkart, I’ve been using the iQOO 3 for about two weeks now and here’s my review of the same. Performance The iQOO 3’s got 2020’s flagship SoC, Snapdragon 865 . And just like any other flagship chip, this too performs exceptionally well. Day-to-day tasks are child’s play and graphically intensive tasks too are handled really well. For me, who previously used the Redmi 7, with the Snapdragon 632, this feels so much faster. What betters the experience is the 8 Gigabytes of DDR5 RAM...
There were several brands very popular for their 'sentimental' marketing here in India. Some of them were Lava, Micromax, Karbonn etc. But what really did they do? Just import a readymade cheap smartphone from China and then sell it here as an "Indian Brand". The sentiments of the consumers were taken advantage of, in an inappropriate manner. Now, Micromax, one of the leading smartphone brands then, is claiming a comeback in the smartphone industry, through a sub-brand "IN" with a tagline "IN for India". Will they be able to catch up, with tight competition from Chinese smartphone brands?
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| Image Courtesy: Zee Business |
Know it here:
Micromax hinted it's comeback through a tweet in which the Co-Founder, Rahul Sharma, said, "We'll meet soon". And then, Micromax Twitter handle posted a video featuring the Co-Founder again, this time, talking about the past and about how Chinese brands came to the Indian Smartphone market and dominated it. The whole video was made in a sentimental manner. They also sent an invite to popular tech reviewers with a tagline "Aao Kare Cheeni Kum", which in English means "Boycott China",that too sarcastically by sending a tea glass as well (Cheeni in Hindi means Sugar) which is surely not the way of promoting one's self brand.
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| Image Courtesy: Prabhat Khabar |
Finally, after all the "sentimental" stuff, the true 'product' is unveiled. Micromax launched their 'IN' (A sub-brand only for India, again 'sentimental'). 2 mobiles were launched: IN Note 1 and IN 1B. I guess there was surely no need of the "B" in the IN 1B.
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| Image Courtesy: India Today |
Anywhichways, here's all about the 2 'Made IN India and Made for India' smartphones:
IN Note 1 :
- Firstly, the heart of the smartphone: MediaTek Helio G85. We've seen the G85 on a couple of budget phones by Chinese brands, like Xiaomi and realme (It's not Realme). It performs really well when it comes to day-to-day tasks and does quite well with Graphically-intensive tasks like gaming as well (G in the G85 - "Gaming"). But this being built on a 12NM fabrication process, surely is not that efficient.
- The Cameras: The Note 1 has a "Quad Camera setup"(3 of which are really bad). A 48-Megapixel Primary, a "FIVE" Megapixel Ultrawide, a "TWO!" Megapixel Macro and Dept Sensors. The 3 extra cameras are just to make up numbers :(
And oh, the selfie camera. It's a 16 Megapixel one. - The Display: Here is a 6.67 inch, IPS LCD Screen combined with a 60Hz Refresh Rate and peak brightness of 450 Nits. The resolution is 1080 x 2400 . Good!
- Battery: 5000 mAh with support for 18W fast charging.
- Software: Here's where the IN smartphones shine (as of now). The IN Note one has Stock Android and Micromax has also promised updates for upto 2 years, not great, but yes, it's good.
- Finally, Pricing: The IN Note 1 costs 10,999 INR for the 4GB RAM and 64GB Storage variant.
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| Image Courtesy: Money Control |
IN 1B:
- The IN 1 B is powered by MediaTek's Entry-Level 'Gaming' processor, Helio G35. Quite good and again, a 12NM chip, making it less efficient.
- Cameras: A Dual Camera Setup: A 13 Megapixel Primary and a 2 Megapixel Dept.
- Display: 720 x 1600 IPS LCD Display and a 60Hz Refresh Rate
- Battery: 5000mAh with 10W charging.
- Software: The Software experience on the 1B is same as that of the Note 1B, Clean and Snappy Stock Android.
- Price: An entry level phone with entry level pricing: 6999 INR for the 2GB RAM and 32GB of storage.
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Image Courtesy: India Today |
As of now, both of them aren't on sale. The first flash sale is going to be on the 26th of November.
Hope you liked it :)
And also, let me know your thoughts on the IN brand and its smartphones.
NOTE: I'm surely not against Indian Brands manufacturing their phones locally, but what I feel is that degrading/stating cons of other brands for the sake of promoting one's self isn't right. If one wants to promote his/her brand, the pros of his/her brand's product must be stated.
NOTE: I'm surely not against Indian Brands manufacturing their phones locally, but what I feel is that degrading/stating cons of other brands for the sake of promoting one's self isn't right. If one wants to promote his/her brand, the pros of his/her brand's product must be stated.
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