Look and design
The 2.5D curved arc display gives Micromax Canvas 5 a distinct identity. The front panel is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to protect it from scratches. There is nothing special in the look of the handset that will draw your attention to it. Due to the metal frame, it feels good when held in hands. The 3.5mm headphone socket is on the top and the micro-USB port is at the bottom.
Its back part is made of textured plastic cover which can be removed. By removing it, users will be able to insert SIM card and microSD card. However, the battery is completely sealed. The back cover looks very cheap. There is a 13 megapixel primary camera with LED flash on the rear panel itself.
The display is 5.2 inches and is a full-HD IPS panel. It works well in all lighting conditions. The touch response of the display is also good and works fine in most light conditions except direct sunlight. The notification LED, 5 megapixel camera and LED flash are provided above the screen. In a way, it can be said that this is a selfie-centric handset.
Overall, the build of the phone is good. Apart from the back cover, it is very slim and weighs 143 grams. It can be said that the design is very effective.
Specifications and software
The main specifications of the Canvas 5 are not surprising. It has a 1.3 GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6753 chipset, 3 GB of RAM, 16 GB of inbuilt storage, Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio, GPS and USB OTG. There is also support for microSD card (up to 32 GB). It is a dual SIM device.
The phone runs on the stock version of Android Lollipop 5.1. It has a single-layer home screen, which means you will not find an app drawer. Micromax has made changes to the icons of its default apps in this handset. You may face some difficulty in using it.
In this handset too, the phone manufacturer has provided many pre-installed apps, some of which cannot be removed. Micromax has also included smart wake gesture in the handset which can be controlled from the Settings app.
Performance
Canvas 5 handles daily tasks with ease. There is no problem in using common apps and multitasking. Intensive 3D games like Dead Trigger can also be played easily. The phone gets a little warm around the Micromax logo, but there is nothing to worry about. Call quality is quite good.
The phone took a little longer to fully charge. Benchmark test scores were average. But in normal use, you will never have any trouble with this handset.
The Canvas 5 played full-HD videos with ease. The crisp display made the video viewing experience great. The mono rear speaker produces decent sound, but it does sound a bit muffled. The headset that comes with the handset feels cheap, but the performance is good. The audio quality is very average, so don’t expect much.
The 13-megapixel primary camera surprised us with its performance, especially in daytime macros and landscapes. It takes a little time to focus, which leads to blurred images in burst mode. Landscape images lack detail, but the quality is not bad. The camera is not effective in low light.
Users will be able to record videos of 1080 pixel resolution with the rear and front cameras. The output is good, but due to lack of video stabilization, it becomes a bit shaky.
The front camera comes with a fixed focus lens, but it is good for taking selfies.
The 2900mAh battery lasted 7 hours and 12 minutes in our video loop test, which is pretty average. With normal use, the phone’s battery lasted for a day. We noticed that the battery level drops faster when we use the camera.
Our verdict
Micromax Canvas 5 is priced at Rs 11,999. The company has assured that this handset will get an update of Android 6.0 Lollipop in the future. If seen, this handset makes a strong claim in the price range of Rs 15,000. Display quality, build, camera performance in daylight and app performance are the biggest features of this phone. We are not satisfied with the battery performance, time taken to charge the handset and camera performance in low light.
In this price range, the Canvas 5 is naturally compared to the Xiaomi Mi 4i. Considering the battery life, we would recommend the Xiaomi Mi 4i.