First impressions: Micromax Canvas Win W092

By Kunal Khullar | Updated on 17-Jun-2014

17-Jun-2014

HIGHLIGHTS

We take a quick look at the most affordable Windows Phone smartphone, the Micromax Canvas Win W092.

Microsoft had announced that Micromax was going to be one of the newest manufacturing partners for Microsoft at the BUILD conference this year and we finally got to see two new handsets from the Indian manufacturer. The new Canvas Win series of smartphones was announced yesterday in India which includes the W121 and W092, the latter of which is now the most affordable Windows Phone OS smartphone in the world. Here, we shall take a closer look at the least expensive Windows Phone till date, the Micromax Canvas Win W092. The W092 is priced at Rs. 6,500 in India.

The W092 comes with a 4-inch IPS display with a resolution of 800×480 pixels, the same as on the Nokia Lumia 520/525. It runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 chipset (quad-core 1.2GHz processor) along with 1GB of RAM. In terms of imaging, you get a 5MP rear camera with autofocus coupled with an LED flash and a VGA front camera. The Micromax Canvas W092 comes with 8GB of onboard memory along with a microSD card slot to expand its storage capacity to 32GB and the phone supports dual SIMs. It runs on the latest Windows Phone 8.1 update; however it will be missing out on almost all the Nokia apps which we have seen on Lumia smartphones. You don't get the Nokia camera apps and the Nokia navigation or music apps. For maps and navigation, users will have to use Microsoft Bing Maps and as far as we know, you cannot even install Nokia Here maps or any other Nokia app on Micromax's Windows Phones.

On the design front, the W092 is really thick with plastic casing for the back. The display quality is just about fine in terms of colors and viewing angles and the pixel density is average for a 4-inch panel. Below the display we have the three capacitive Windows navigation keys. The volume control keys are on the left and the power/lock key is on the right. The Micromax Canvas Win W092 does not offer a dedicated hardware camera button, a feature that is pretty useful on the Nokia Lumia 520/525.

The back panel is highly glossy and has a transparent shell back panel. The panel can be removed to expose the battery, the dual-SIM card slots and the microSD card slot. The back also has the loudspeaker. For Rs.6,500, the W092 is a promising package inspite of its omissions and average build quality.

Who should consider buying the Micromax Canvas Win W092

The Micromax Canvas Win W092 looks to be a good option for those who want a stable and fast smartphone with a simple UI at the cheapest possible price point. It may be a good alternative to the Moto E if you aren't looking specifically for an Android smartphone. However, you will have to wait for our review for a final verdict.