Thursday 2 July 2015

Micromax Canvas Sliver 5: World’s thinnest smartphone

Micromax, India’s 3rd largest mobile selling company, is in news for launching a smartphone with a tagline “World’s thinnest smartphone”. Micromax Canvas Sliver 5, with 5.1mm thickness, boasts of being the thinnest smartphone in the world. Fascinated by the Micromax claim, we at Brands Dialogue decided to review the device to examine its strengths and weaknesses, if at all.


Design
Canvas Sliver 5 is indeed 5.1mm thick, if we ignore the camera bump on the rear side. In general, the device measures 141.9 x 68.1 x 5.1 mm and weighs just 97g which makes this device not only the thinnest in the world, but probably also among the lightest smartphones ever made, undoubtedly the USP for the company. Needless to say that the device is quite comfortable to hold and carry, if you do not mind the little bumpy bit at the back. In addition, there is a double layer of bright aluminium coating that gives classy look to the smartphone. There are volume rocker buttons on left and power button on right side of the smartphone. The top of the device is clean and on the bottom there is 3.5mm audio jack and micro USB charging port.
Display
Micromax has equipped Canvas Sliver 5 with 4.8 inch HD AMOLED capacitive touch display screen with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels (~306 ppi pixel density), which is pretty much standard now a days. The colours appear to be vibrant and the viewing angles are good. The smartphone is built with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, which makes it relatively scratch free, and it has the propensity to collect smudges. However, this too is becoming pretty much common these days. 
Performance
Canvas Sliver 5 is built with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chipset and has a 1.2GHz quad core processor paired with 2GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which are fairly decent. However, the surprise element is that there is no option of MicroSD card, which could prove to be a setback for the device, especially considering that in actual the internal memory is lesser than the indicated one. However, Micromax Sliver is dubbed with the latest Android 5.0.2 Lollipop operating system (OS) and has some pre-loaded apps like Chaatz, clean master, Hotstar, Quikr, Snapdragon etc which can be uninstalled if not needed. 
Battery and Camera
Canvas Sliver 5 comes with fairly decent cameras. It has 8MP rear camera (3264x2448 pixels) with Sony IMX219 and is packed with CMOS Sensor, which apparently helps in preserving battery life. It comes with dedicated professional mode which helps in shooting continuous shots while playing with ISO and white balance etc. It also has 5MP front camera for selfies and this also has access to the professional mode features. On the battery front, Sliver 5 comes with 2000 mAh lithium polymer battery which gives up to 345h of standby time and 8h of talk time, which is also fairly decent. The smartphone comes with SIM 4G LTE connectivity and takes Nano SIM Card into it. In addition, there are other standard features such as Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS for the users.


Conclusion
Micromax has undoubtedly done a great job in pulling out a device with distinctive design, good specifications and an industry first, the thinnest smartphone in the world, with a price tag of around INR18,000 in the Indian market. It’s slimness and light weight are sure attractions for the customers. However, absence of external storage option is a drawback. Moreover, with the brand history of manufacturing low cost phones, Canvas Sliver 5 may be viewed as being a bit highly priced.

5 comments :

  1. Without a doubt this device is beautiful..However, for people like me whose priority is superior performance this device would be a disappointment for the price.. At a relatively lower cost one plus one is a better option..And, no way this flagship model can be compared with iPhone6

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  2. I agree sumit, companies need to realize we are not looking for the slimmest phone but infact the best phone. even if it comes at a higher price point.

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  3. The look is really very sexy and attractive but the price is little higher considering the factor that it is devoid of external storage options. We hope Micromax would soon minimize the price and again become the trend setter of manufacturing low cost phones.

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  4. Indeed a nice smartphone from the house of Micromax..

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  5. We girls always go on the looks and weight of the phone. So for me this phone is definitely my choice. But the hitch is its price, which I feel is much more than the prices big brands like Samsung or HTC, etc quote for same features.

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