Micromax Canvas 2.2 A114 Unboxing
Micromax is experimenting with the Canvas Series, and the latest product out of their labs is the Canvas 2.2 A114. Forget the comical name for a second, and you'd notice that the Canvas A114 is an upgrade to the popular Canvas 2 Plus A110Q. The Canvas 2.2 brings in a 5-inch qHD IPS display, 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582M processor, 1GB RAM and runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. The design and build of the device is quite different from what you have seen before from Micromax, and with a price of about Rs. 11,500 its surely here to kill the competition. Here's our unboxing and hands-on with the new Micromax Canvas 2.2 A114.
In The Box
First thing you notice is how small the box is, its about half the size in height compared to the one in which we got the Canvas 2 Plus A110Q. But even then you get all the accessories you expect in the box, including:
- USB Wall Charger
- Micro USB to USB Data Cable
- Wired Headset
- 2000mAh battery
You also get the usual documentation including warranty statement, SAR notification as well as user manual. The wired headset looks exactly the same as the one that came with the Canvas 2 Plus A110Q and we didn't like it back then. However, the build quality of the micro USB data-cable is better this time around, but its still a bit short.
Build
The build of the Canvas 2.2 A114 seems excellent at first glance, on the left you have volume rocker which is quite sturdy and offers good feedback. There's a sort of a triple tone finish going on here, at the top which also covers the sides of the front panel you have a dark copper trim, then in the middle there's a dark grey matte band which runs along the entire sides followed by the glossy black back cover.
On the right you have the power lock/unlock button which too is made of the same material as the matte trim, is quite sturdy and at the bottom you have a space to open the back cover. At the top there's the 3.5mm headphone jack which is its best place to be and the micro USB port right next to it. The bottom of the phone just has the microphone pin hole.
The front of the device is covered in a glass/plastic shell which houses the 5-inch qHD display in between. At the top you have the 2MP front-facing camera, proximity & light sensors accompanied by the main earpiece which also has a built-in notification LED. The display looks sharp and vibrant, but we'll get into that later. Moving to the back you have an ultra glossy back cover and to say it attracts fingerprints would be the understatement of the year. You also have the 8MP Auto Focus primary camera right there alongwith the LED flash, Micromax branding and at the bottom the loud speaker.
On opening the backcover you are greeted to two full-size SIM card slots with a micro SD card slot in between.
First Impressions
The Build of the Micromax Canvas 2.2 A114 seems excellent, the display too at first glance looks sharp, vibrant with good color reproduction. The touch response too is quite good. The Canvas 2.2 A114 performed quite well after first boot, and there was no lag while moving through the different interfaces but that's what we expect from quad-core devices. The backcover is a bit of a letdown, if you have read my previous reviews you would know my hate for glossy backcovers and the one on the Canvas A114 is just a fingerprint magnet.
The main competition for the Canvas 2.2 A114 is the Galaxy Core, Xperia M and to some extent the Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2. But the Canvas A114 has a quad-core processor with a 5-inch qHD display and that's where it can easily beat the competition, if it can perform as well as its predecessor the Canvas 2 Plus A110Q.
