The Micromax Canvas 4 is up for pre-order. Micromax has sent out press invites stating that the smartphone will be unveiled on July 8
Micromax is all set to unveil the Canvas 4 on July 8. Invites have already been sent out to the media for the launch event and the smartphone is up for pre-order on the company’s official website. The pre-booking amount to be paid is Rs. 5,000. Micromax’s official website reads, “Lucky 10 get to attend the exclusive Canvas 4 unveiling & get their handsets at the launch.”
There is still no official information about the specifications of the Canvas 4 on the official website nor any word about its price. So we are going to go ahead and speculate what the specifications and tentative launch price of the smartphone will be. To start with, the Canvas 4 will have the same 5-inch 720p display, which was there in the Canvas HD. Yes, some information does suggest that the smartphone will have a 1080p HD display but we highly doubt that. Its form factor is also rumoured to be quite similar to the Canvas HD, although we do think it might go slimmer.
Under the hood, the same 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589 SoC will power the Canvas 4. Yes, there are rumours that the CPU will be overclocked, but we doubt it. We do however think that the RAM will be upgraded to 2GB, which will make the smartphone a lot smoother and snappier. The built-in storage should be 16GB, expandable via a microSD card. The battery, and this is a tricky estimation, we think will still remain at 2000mAh and probably be the Canvas 4’s biggest weakness. Yes, there is a chance that the battery capacity might be bigger, but we doubt it, as Micromax would like to maintain the device at a certain price point. The rear-facing camera will be a whopping 13MP but its quality will be questionable until we get the device in our hands for a bit of testing. The phone will run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
Up until now, the UI of all budget Micromax Android smartphones has been close to stock Android and this has been a good thing as it ensures that the devices run smoothly and there is no unnecessary consumption of memory. In the case of the Canvas 4 however, we think that Micromax will add its own UI to the device. The company has sort of confirmed this when they showed a screen shot of the smartphone in a teaser campaign with a different lock screen.
One of the biggest USPs of Samsung smartphones is that they come with a bunch of features such as smart stay, smart pause, ability to run multiple apps in the same window, so on and so forth. We have also seen budget Android smartphones such as the Lava Iris 504Q show off gesture capabilities to click pictures, cycle through the camera and more. Micromax may take this to the next level by adding some gesture, motion or other gimmicky features on the device. Blow to unlock perhaps?
Coming to the most critical point – pricing. Micromax is a budget smartphone maker and has made a name for itself in this regard. So, we will expect the price point of the smartphone to be very attractive. The Canvas HD is targeted at the sub-Rs. 15,000 budget and we think it will remain there for some time to come. The Canvas 4 on the other hand will have a sub-Rs. 20,000 price point, and we estimate an asking price of Rs. 19,000. Yes, even though Micromax has an attractive portfolio of budget smartphones in the market, it will try to push and make a name for itself in the sub-Rs. 20,000 price bracket.
Till now, this bracket has been dominated by the likes of Samsung, LG, Sony, HTC Nokia and more. Put simply, all the big names in the smartphone business. It will be great to see an Indian smartphone brand break this barrier and take on the big guns. We only hope the product is as good as its predecessor, the Canvas HD, which kicked off the budget quad-core smartphone category in the country.
