One major gripe any Android user will have is the poor battery life. There have been attempts to set this right. One way - and the easiest one - is to pack in a huge battery. The Smartron t.Phone P (no, I have no idea why they named it that way) has done just that. In fact, it’s the phone’s USP.
The phone packs in a 5000 mAh battery. And it shows, both in the size of the phone and the performance. In the testing phase, we could get over two full days, which is great for an Android. There is one more feature - the phone supports reverse charging, which means we can charge any other device utilising this phone’s battery.
The one issue with such a big battery is that it take 3-4 hours to charge the phone, and there is no quick charge. The phone looks bulky (dimensions: 148.3 x 72.2 x 8.9 (in mm), and has a 5.2 inch screen, and weighs 160 grams, but the device is comfortable to hold and for one-handed operations.
The phone comes with a 3 GB LPDDR3 RAM and 32 GB internal memory, which can be extended up to 128 GB with a memory card. Apart from this Smartron also offers a 1000 GB cloud storage. The Smartron t.Phone P is powered by a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 435 Octa Core Processor. Though this is a dual SIM phone, it has a hybrid slot, which means we can either have two (Nano) SIMs or one SIM and a micro-SD card.
One surprise in an entry-level phone is the presence of a fingerprint scanner, which is placed at the back at a conveniently accessible place - well away from the camera and other sensors, so that we don’t have to worry about accidentally smudging the camera lens.
The main camera is of 13 MP with ƒ/2.2 aperture and comes with Panorama, Beautify, Multi-exposure and Time Lapse modes in the automatic mode. There are all the usual features like HDR (yes, it is a standard feature in entry level phones) and LED flash. There is also a manual mode where we can adjust the ISO, white balance, focus and exposure. Both the modes allow users to apply filters. The app also allows watermarking photos. The watermarking also gives the option to give a title and a sub-title. The only gripe about the watermarking option is that the default typing is in capitals and we have to select lower case for every letter. The settings allow the option to use the volume buttons as shutter or to zoom.
The 5 MP front camera also has a ƒ/2.2 aperture and has options for beautify (again a standard in all mobiles) and wide-selfie.Both the cameras do a fairly decent job for an entry level phone. The cameras take a few seconds to focus and it is better to wait till the focus is complete. One good thing is that the camera allows us to tap on the screen to take pictures, which makes it easier to tap on the area to be focussed, and the picture is also taken. The pictures are just okay and the camera does not do well in low light. The rear camera video recording has QVGA, VGA, 480P, 720P and 1080P and the front camera has the maximum of 720p.
The Smartron t.Phone P is almost stock Android, but comes pre-installed with a few Smartron apps like t-cloud (cloud storage), t-care (customer care - a rather nice feature that allows to chat, call or email customer care), FM radio (requires headset to be inserted that acts as an antenna, but not included in the pack) and the Smartron store called t-store.
One nice surprise is that it comes pre-installed with a few Microsoft apps like Excel, PowerPoint, Word, OneNote and Skype - all helpfully put in a folder. There is no button to access the app drawer. It requires a swipe up (like in the Google Pixel) to access the app drawer. The phone supports VoLTE, ViLTE, GSM, GPRS, UMTS and LTE networks. The micro-USB slot also supports OTG (which allows us to connect pen drives to the phone). The phone, with a huge 5000 mAh battery and a fingerprint sensor, is a great deal for the price (Rs 7,999).
Pros: 5000 mAh battery that lasts over two days, 3GB RAM and 32 GB internal memory, compact design comfortable for single-handed use, fingerprint sensor, almost stock Android
Cons: Camera quality, slightly on the heavier side due to the huge battery.