Micromax Canvas 6 is the new flagship series from the company that is seeking to reinvent itself. “Nuts. Guts. Glory,” is their new tagline, and the Canvas 6 is their first smartphone to offer 32 GB storage space, a metal unibody design and a fingerprint scanner. The device is priced at Rs 13,499 and can be seen as a potential competitor to LeEco Le 1s, Redmi Note 3 and Moto G3.
Canvas 6 is Micromax’s first metal unibody designed smartphone. I don’t think the overall design is anything new, although the gold and black look is an improvement on the Canvas 6 Pro. All metal smartphones at this price-point have become quite the rage, and it’s good to see Micromax join the trend. Overall the build quality is nice, and those with bigger hands might find the Micromax Canvas 6 better suited to their needs.
What is good?
Micromax has done a good job on the display of this phone. Like this Canvas 6 Pro, this one too comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD display, and should appeal to those who like big-screened devices with good resolution. The display is sharp and crisp, and it works well even in bright sunlight. The smartphone accepts only nano-SIMs and has a hybrid slot. It comes with 32 GB storage space with support for micro-SD slot, which will appeal to users. In terms of call quality and 3G connectivity, this device didn’t give me any trouble.
Micromax has finally got rid of things like ‘Trending’ apps in the new Canvas 6. While the smartphone does come with a lot of pre-loaded apps, a number of unnecessary widgets are gone, which is good. In terms of general performance, the Canvas 6 doesn’t really set the benchmarks on fire. However, it is capable of handling your daily web browsing needs, social media activities etc well.
Canvas 6 also comes with Around service, which a lot of people might appreciate given that it aggregates food, hotel, flight ticket bookings, cab, etc all in one place. The advantage in the cab feature is that it has numbers for offline cabs as well so in case you can’t get an OLA or Uber, you can try a direct number. It might work better in smaller towns like say Lucknow, where I have had trouble getting an OLA in the past, and rely on direct numbers.
On the camera front, the positive bit is that it takes shots quickly. The camera also works well in ample light, but details are missing in the pictures though, especially the ones taken inside a room. The fingerprint scanner is fast, when it works. This phone doesn’t seem to like my right hand and prefers the left. When I used my right hand to set it up it wasn’t detecting the scan at all, but with the left it works fine. Time to change my finger, I guess.
What is not so good?
There is a lag on this smartphone, and it’s not the best for high-end gaming. It heats quite easily and has crossed 50 Celsius for me with just a long session of Facebook browsing or even a two-minute call. It also means the battery drain is faster, and I find the levels dipping very quickly. This phone goes from 10% to 1% in a matter of seconds at times.
Micromax needs to update software to fix the overheating, something they have done in the past with phones in the YU series. The selfie camera results are nothing exceptional, and even the rear camera lacks detail in final pictures. The pictures are bit dull, especially with colours like blue and it can’t handle reds.
Should you buy?
Micromax Canvas 6 is a decent phone if you are looking for a device for just general browsing, and aren’t too much into gaming. The company is also focusing on services like Around, which will hopefully improve over time given the focus Micromax brass has been putting on it. After all, no other Indian smartphone maker is working on offering anything similar. But given the competition in this price band, Micromax will have to fix its overheating and lag issues soon to stay ahead of the race.
SPECIFICATIONS
* Display: 5.5-inch full HD display
* Processor: MediaTek Helio X10 octa-core processor
* Memory & storage: 3 GB RAM, 32 GB storage space (expandable)
* Camera: 13 MP rear camera; 8 MP front camera
* Operating system: Android 5.1 Lollipop
* Battery: 3000 mAh battery
** Estimated street price: Rs 13,499
