Smartron, a Hyderabad based consumer electronics manufacturer announced its first ever smartphone named the t.phone. The newly established startup is backed by the state Ministry of Information and Technology and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar is also an important part of the company.
Smartron earlier launched its hybrid tablet names t.book and now the smartphone is all set to make its debut in the Indian markets. The smartphone is powered by the Tron ecosystem designed by the company which was also unveiled last month during an event in Delhi. We were present at the event and we also spent couple of hours with the phone. Here is what we think about the phone after our initial usage.
Smartron t.phone Specifications
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Smartron t.phone Photo Gallery
Hindi | Smartron tPhone Good, Bad, Should You Consider | Video
Smartron t.phone Physical Overview
Smartron t.phone is touted to be the lightest 5.5 inch smartphone in the market presently, and the reason behind this is the full plastic body. It comes packed in a plastic shell that is given a metal finish. On asking the officials they said the reason to opt the plastic was to provide better network reception, but the reason didn’t buy my opinion. The phone looks good in hand and feels light and easy to use. It has a smooth texture on the body which makes it feel good in hand but doesn’t feel very sturdy. It comes in peppy colours which might be a standout feature as far as the design is concerned.
It has a bar shaped body with edgy corners, but the edges are soft and doesn’t feel uncomfortable. The shape is a lot like the Xperia series phones but with slight changes in the design. One more thing that I was not convinced with is the black borders around the display that give it an bezel less illusion. If you have small hands, then one handed usage might be a tough task for you.
The front top has a mic on the left corner, front camera module which looks unusually big, earpiece in the center, proximity and ambient light sensor on the right. There is nothing at the bottom, as it has the on-screen navigation buttons.
Square shaped camera module and a rectangular dual-LED setup is baked at the top left corner of the back panel, also it has a secondary microphone.
The USB Type-C port is placed next to the loudspeaker mesh at the bottom. The loudspeaker mesh covers more than 60% of the area.
3.5 mm audio jack is present on the top edge.
You will find the volume rocker and power/sleep key on the right and side
And the SIM tray is placed at the left edge.
Smartron t.phone User Interface
Smartron t.phone runs on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with a slight addition on top. The looks of the UI is same as the stock Android but there are some extra options inside the settings menu. The UI was smooth at the time of our hands on but it was looking a bit immature if compared to other competitors in the market. So if you are a stock Android loyalist, then you will find this UI user friendly but if you love some fancy features then you may have to wait for a few updates from the company.
Smartron t.phone Display Overview
It comes with a 5.5 inch Super AMOLED display with full HD resolution. It is a good display panel in terms of crispness and colours, and also the viewing angles are pretty good. It comes with the always on feature that we have seen on Motorola phones, which surely adds some more points to the display department.
Overall, it is a good display for watching videos and playing high definition games.
Price and Availability
Smartron t.phone is priced at Rs. 22,999. The phone will go on sale from the first week of June via Smartron t.store and Gadgets 360, and the registrations are already open. The phone will be available in a wide variety of colors namely Sunrise Orange, Classic Grey, Metallic Pink, Steel Blue.
Comparison and Competition
At this price point, it will compete with the likes of Moto X Style, OnePlus 2, VIVO V3 Max and some other phones in the same price segment.
Conclusion
At INR 22,999, this phone offers a good display, decent camera, Android Marshmallow, and 4 GB RAM with Snapdragon 810, which looks powerful on paper but the chipset is now outdated. As far as my initial thoughts are concerned, I feel the phone falls slight above the price it should come for. It is never easy for a debutant to sell their phone at such high price in India, especially when consumers expect a premium metal body and a standard fingerprint sensor.
