Micromax vs Intex: Will you prefer battery capacity or advanced OS?

Micromax has been a rather consistent player, operating in low-cost phone segment within the Indian Market. Intex, on the other hand, is a relatively new addition to the smartphone market, but has made its mark by being the first to release a Firefox OS smartphone. Therefore, we have chosen two handsets from these companies namely Micromax Canvas Nitro A311 and Intex Aqua Xtreme for this comparative review. 

BUILD: Micromax’s Canvas Nitro measures 141.3x71.9x8.9mm and weighs 154g, whereas Intex’s Xtreme is 144x69.7x7mm and weighs about 120g, indicating that Intex’s Xtreme is relatively sleeker looking and lighter weight device than Micromax’s Nitro. Furthermore, Canvas Nitro is available in two different colors, pristine white and mystic blue, whereas Xtreme offers three options i.e. gray, black and red. Both the models have rectangular bar shaped plastic body with rounded edges. 

DISPLAY: Micromax Canvas A311 has a screen size of 5.0’’ with an IPS LCD capacitive screen and oleophobic protection. Intex Aqua too has a display screen size of 5.0’’ with an IPS LCD capacitive display, but it comes with Dragonglass Trail protection, which is similar to Corning Inc’s Gorilla Glass. Both models have an HD resolution of 1280x720 pixels with a pixel density of 294 ppi. Therefore, on the display front, both the models run neck to neck.

PROCESSOR & OS: Both the devices are powered by Octa-Core, MediaTek MT6592 central processing unit clocking in 1.7GHz of processing power, have 2GB RAM and 16GB internal memory that is expandable to 32GB through an external SD. They also run on Android OS, though while Micromax’s Nitro A311 runs on v4.4.2 (KitKat), Intex’s Xtreme runs on a more advanced version v5.0 (Lollipop). Since android updates usually take really long to come to android phones, it is better to opt for a device that comes with v5.0. Therefore, Intex Xtreme acquires a leg up over Micromax’s Nitro on the OS front. 

CAMERA & BATTERY: Both the devices have similar cameras, i.e. 13MP primary cameras and 5MP secondary cameras and provide auto-focus, geo-tagging, LED flash. However, Micromax’s Canvas Nitro does pack in a few additional features like CMOS image sensor, digital image stabilization that provide Micromax’s Nitro a slight leg up over Intex’s Xtreme. Battery-wise, Micromax has a 2500mAh Li-PO battery giving up to 10hrs of talk-time on 3G, where as Intex comes with battery capacity of 2000mAh with a talk time of 7hrs on 3G. The battery capacity often plays a crucial role in determining the customer choice. 

OTHER FEATURES & PRICE: In terms of connectivity, both the models have 2G/3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity, GPRS and USB, which are more of less standard. Both the devices are available on several India-specific e-commerce websites with slight price variations. Just to give an indication, we noted that Intex Aqua Xtreme costs around INR11,000 and Micromax Canvas Nitro A311 around INR10,000.

BOTTOM LINE: Both the devices are comparable on most indicators. However, Intex’s Nitro has an advantage on account of more advanced operating system (OS) and additional camera features, besides being a sleeker looking and lighter weight device. On the other hand, Micromax offers the advantage of higher battery capacity. Considering that design is a matter of personal preference, in this case, customers will have to make a choice between a more advanced OS and battery capacity.