My
team mate wrote the review of the-soon-to-hit-market -Spice Stellar Craze
Mi-355 yesterday; she found the handset to be far-fetched, when compared to
other handsets in the similar price range. We still have the handset with us
and every time we use it, we tend to like it more. And the best way to know how
good the handset actually is, to make it stand in front of a handset that is
priced in the same bracket and comes from a market leader. Yes, I am going to
compare the Spice Mi-355 with Galaxy Y from Samsung, which happen to be the top
notch phone in the low end smartphone segment of the market(arguably, of
course). Let’s hit the road, without delay.
First
of all, the form factor of the handsets: on one hand we have Samsung Galaxy Y,
which has a 3.15 inch screen and has a dimension of 104 x 58 x 11.5 mm, then on
the other hand we have Spice Stellar Mi-355 which has a screen size of 3.5 inch
and has a dimension of 119x64x12 mm. Now, one gets to feel that the size
difference between the two handsets is very small if the dimension is kept as a
matter of concern; that shows that the space has not been utilized in the
handset, whether it has been done intentionally or otherwise, is a matter of
contention. Plus bigger dimension makes the weight heavier. In addition the
Galaxy Y is slimmer too. Galaxy Y wins hands down.
But
hey, screen size is one thing and display is quite another; in the display
segment the Stellar has a TFT-LCD screen with a resolution of 480x320, whereas the Y has a
TFT-LCD screen with a resolution of 320x240, which is far lesser than the
Stellar. Stellar wins in the display battle.
If
we turn our attention towards the camera feature of the handset we find the biggest
difference between the two, the presence of the front camera makes the Spice
Stellar a better phone from the very beginning. And the primary camera of the
Stellar is also far superior than the same of the Y, as the Stellar sports a
5MP camera on the back side of the body with dual LED flash whereas the Galaxy
Y has only 2MP photo snapper, that too without flash support. Stellar,folks.
In
the processor segment both the handsets are almost at the same level as Stellar
houses 800MHz and Galaxy Y sports a 832MHz processor. But the 512MB RAM of the
Stellar (which is almost twice of the same of Galaxy) gives it the cutting
edge.
Storage
specification too is almost the same as both the handsets have memory expansion
capacity of up to 32GB and almost the
same user available memory. In the battery segment the Stellar scores some
points over the Galaxy as it has 1420mAh battery whereas the Galaxy Y only
1200mAh battery.
In
the connectivity segment both the handsets have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB, and 3G
connectivity. Both the mobiles are Android Gingerbread driven handsets. But
with features like prebuilt Facebook app, NetQin antivirus, whatsapp, and Vault
security the Stellar becomes the superior handset.
Final
Words
After
going through the entire article you guys must have understood why was my
fellow blogger so optimistic on Spice Stellar Craze Mi-355. The verdict, ladies
and gentleman, is a thumping YES!
Targeting the customers who look for
cost-effective yet powerful Android devices, Spice has recently launched three
Android smartphones – Mi-425, Mi-355, and Mi-500. While Mi-425 has already
marked its triumph in the indigenous souk, the Mi-355 –Stellar Craze- is
getting ready to hit the market with vigor. Let’s see what is good and what is
bad in this smallest and cheapest dual-SIM Android phone in the series.
Quick Spec - Rundown
·Dual SIM (GSM+GSM)
·Android v2.3 Gingerbread OS
·800MHz Snapdragon Processor
·3.5″ Inch capacitive touchscreen display
·Rear Camera: 5.0 Megapixels - Front camera:
0.3 Megapixels
·Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB
·GPS Navigation
·Preloaded Netqin Anti-Virus
·1420mAh Battery
Spice Stellar Craze Mi-355 hands-on video
Esthetics
The phone radiates elegance with a clean glossy
finish, rectangular profile, and sturdy feel. The phone seems to be optimal to hold in your palm. The device
sports a silver color bezel, which enhances the look and makes it similar to
iPhone. Spice could have bestowed its customers with a bigger screen in the
given real estate; the current 3.5 inch screen leaves a lot of free space on
top and bottom face of the mobile. At the top of the front face, you can see
the proximity sensor and a VGA front camera for video chat. A 3.5mm audio jack
assumes its position on the top along with lock/power key. Volume rocker is given in the left hand side, while a micro USB port is given at the bottom side. The right
hand side is wholly bare.
The interior of the phone looks well designed
with two SIM card slots aligned side by side. Having a hot swappable SD card slot would have added some convenience to users, unfortunately it is not.
User Interface
At the
bottom of the screen four capacitive keys have been given: home, accessing
options, back and Google search key. Long pressing home key opens recently opened
apps to give quick access to frequently used apps. You can pull down the
notification bar from the top and have quick access to notifications; you can
also control Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, screen rotation and much more from your notification
bar! You have five homescreen to make use of. Adding shortcuts, widgets,
folders and wallpapers is so simple; you just need to long press the screen and
add your favorite widgets. Apps can be accessed easily by flipping menu screen
horizontally. At the bottom of the touch screen, you can have access to
alpha-numeric dialer, contacts, messaging, and app drawer.
You
can retrieve separate call logs for Master and Slave SIMs. You have separate
calling buttons for Master and Slave SIMs and call logs, which again can be
separated for each SIM - an exalt for a dual SIM phone.
Touch & Display
As I said earlier,
the screen looks small in the given
front space of the device. Images and text look incredibly crisp on the screen
that has a resolution of 320 x 480 and color depth of 262K. The
default wallpaper that illustrates water droplets on a grey background makes it
even more similar to iPhone, while you can pick any live wallpaper and set on it to
match your moods. Screen visibility on
sunlight is middling, when the brightness is maximized, but the screen looked
as dark as a slate, when the brightness is lowered. Very smooth touch response
is the most virtuous aspect I found in this device. It supports multitouch
gesture, which makes Internet browsing and gallery viewing a pleasure.
Camera
The Stellar Craze Mi-355 comes packed with two cameras,
which, in the given price bracket, is a big achievement. The 5MP back camera comes with dual LED flash and 4x digital zoom. Images clicked in well-lit conditions looked satisfactory. But the power of the dual LED flash not seems to be adequate to
light up objects in poorly lit conditions. It has a number of additional camera features like
exposure adjustment, scene modes, picture size adjustment, picture quality
adjustment, color effects, and anti-banding. As far as the video
recording capability is concerned the video given below will speak vociferously
for it. A VGA front camera has been provided for video chat.
Sample photos
Music
I would not call music the main forte of this
handset, yes, it does not pack a punch like the high end Sony models. But it
does sport a pretty strong speaker that, according to me, is at least three
times stronger than the same of Samsung Galaxy Y ( I used to have the handset
once), which will cost you around thousand bucks more than this mobile. And for
quality of sound, you have the liberty to connect a high definition headset all
the time. By all means, the Stellar Mi-355 passes the acid test in the music
genera.
Connectivity
The phone comes with dual-SIM connectivity.
The Master SIM supports 2G as well as 3G, while the Slave SIM supports only 2G.
Like any other Android phone, Spice Mi-355 also comes with connectivity options
including GPRS, EDGE, 3G, WI-FI and WAP. It supports Bluetooth v2.1 and USB to
transfer data locally. The device has integrated GPS with A-GPS support. Aircel
users may get the additional offer of 100MB data usage free each month for the
period of 12 month with every Stellar device.
Processor/ RAM/Memory
The device comes with an 800MHz Snapdragon processor. For a device in the six thousand range, the processor looks decent. It comes with a dedicated GPU that helps play graphics more smoothly. 140MB phone memory is available for users to download and install apps.
Battery
Specs sheet promises that the 1420mAh
Li-Ion battery gives talktime of 4 hours and standby time of 200 hours. I really
don’t know how to measure these parameters rationally. But certainly I found
this battery performance above standard, as a single full charging lasted me
one and a half day of average use, which included calling, Wi-Fi browing,
music and gaming.
Messaging
The
Android keyboard enables faster typing both in the vertical and horizontal
view. The copy and paste
can be done just by pressing and holding to select words, stay in selection
mode, and copy text for later pasting. After composing the message, you can
easily select Master or Slave SIM to send from.
OS and Apps
The
phones come preloaded with Android Gingerbread version 2.3.6. The USP of the Stellar is the Mobile
Antivirus by NQ Mobiles, which comes preloaded. Recently Spice had a tie up
with NQ Mobile for proving security services its Stellar Series. In addition to
the common Google apps like YouTube, Google Maps, Google Talk and Google
Search, many apps come preloaded such as News & Weather app, Spice
Gang, Whats App etc. Unlike the previous
Android models from Spice, the device is not loaded with bizarre apps that are
rarely used by users. No worry of wasting precious memory. Other features
include anti-theft and Vault- privacy lock for apps like, photos, videos, SMS
and call logs & secret contacts. Users can update the virus/malware
database for a period of six months absolutely free.
In my final words, I would like to draw your
attention towards the high points of the Mi-355. Highly crisp display, front
camera, strong speakers and powerful battery are strong enough propositions for
an Android phone in the Rs. 6500 range. Go, get your Stellar Craze today!
Spice Stellar Craze handset would be
available at Online store www.saholic.com and over 50,000 Spice shops across
the India.
