Just when you thought that the domestic market in India was dictated by the Micromax phenomenon, a certain Celkon pops up showing some serious intent to dethrone Micromax. To be a little more specific, we’re talking about the Celkon S1 that was showcased 3 days back by the Hyderabad-based manufacturer. The device not only gives Micromax a run for its money, but according to some, leaves them behind by a fair margin.
Let us see how good the S1 is indeed.
Hardware
| Model | Celkon S1 |
| Display | 5-inch, 1920 x 1080p |
| Processor | 1.5GHz quad-core |
| RAM | 1GB |
| Internal Storage | 16GB |
| OS | Android v4.2 |
| Cameras | 13MP/8MP |
| Battery | 2300mAh |
| Price | 14,999 INR |
Display
Very much like the Micromax Canvas Turbo, the Celkon S1 comes with a 5-inch full HD display. This returns a whopping (well, by 2013 standards at least) 441ppi, more than just good enough for the everyday Joe. While gaming performance can be hampered by a bit due to the high number of pixels to be filled each second, the screen should be a delight for any multimedia buff.
About screen size, we can’t really comment since a matter of personal choice. However, the 5-inch formula seems to have worked for many a manufacturer in the recent months.
Camera and Storage
Imaging on the device is handled by a camera combo of a 13MP rear and a 8MP front, which does sound really impressive. Performance should be at par with other devices that post similar numbers. However, do not have too high expectations with the 8MP front facer, it will perhaps be a 2MP or 3.2MP sensor extrapolated to 8MP via software. That being said, chances of it having AF are really slim as well.
We were happy to learn that the device features 16GB of on-board ROM, 4x the standard 4GB. The device has support for expansion via microSD as well, so all in all it is quite impressive.
Processor and Battery
The S1 comes with the tried and tested MT6589T from MediaTek. The processor goes through processes @1.5GHz throughout its 4 cores, which makes it quite a solid performer. Devices based on the older-gen MT6589 are still well received. You can use this fact as basis to estimate how good a performer the MT6589T is. Of course, not Snapdragon 600 performance, but it is quite a bit better than Snapdragon 400 and the likes. The only thing not very ‘high end’ is 1GB RAM.
The device packs a 2300mAh battery which again is quite impressive. We say so because most other domestic manufacturers including the beloved Micromax ship with mere 2000mAh units. You will be able to extract a day’s usage out of this unit.
Form Factor and Competitors
Design
The device looks sleek, and has resemblance to the recently launched Lava Iris Pro 30.
Competitors
Conclusion
We’re definitely impressed by what we see on paper. It is now up to Celkon to impress us with by providing decent build quality and good software support. If that happens, there’s no reason why the Celkon S1 can’t bring down the dominance of Micromax.
