Micromax In 1 review: stock Android on a budget

Indian smartphone makers haven’t seen as much success in the country’s mobile segment as their Chinese counterparts, but Micromax is quite determined to make a comeback. Last year the company had launched the In series which comprised two phones i.e. Micromax In Note 1 and In 1b, and the latest from the brand comes in the form of the Micromax In 1. Unveiled at a price of Rs 10,499. the phone goes up against the likes of the POCO M3 (review), Redmi Note 10 (review), and others. Let’s find out in the review how good the In 1 really is.

Verdict

Micromax has done well with the In 1 as far as the software is concerned. That said, its rivals can offer comparable, and in some cases, better performance and camera hardware. For a better experience, the Redmi Note 10 that costs just about Rs 1,500 more, is the one to consider. However, the Micromax In 1 is worth a look for its clean, bloatware-free interface.

The lowdown

Micromax is offering a standard budget construction on the In 1, which is in line with the pricing. The polycarbonate build has a smooth, textured finish on the rear, with a huge ‘X’ shape in the middle. You get a physical fingerprint sensor on the top half with a small surface area and a triple-camera system jutting out from the back. The weight of the phone is evenly distributed and its frame is quite grippy. The buttons on the side are quite clicky and you also get an additional dedicated button for the Google Assistant. The USB-C port, headphone jack and speaker grille are present on the bottom of the phone. On the front, there is an FHD+ 6.67-inch panel that has a 20:9 aspect ratio. The bezels surrounding the display are sizeable while the selfie shooter is housed in a punch hole that is also quite big. I quite like the colour calibration on the screen with Micromax claiming an 82 percent NTSC colour gamut coverage. There are separate colour profiles as well for a customised viewing experience, and overall, I came out reasonably impressed. Brightness levels are average at 450nits but it is what you can expect with a budget phone. Outdoor viewing shouldn’t be too much of a problem if the sun isn’t too bright

In the camera department, there is a 48MP primary sensor, a 2MP macro sensor and a 2MP depth camera. Daylight photos are crisp and colourful with a surprisingly good dynamic range for the price. The shutter speeds are slightly slow and the focusing does tend to take its own time, but mostly you get good shots. Macro photography is nothing to write home about, but the shots are decent for a budget phone. Depth detection works well with good background separation being mostly on point. At night the In 1 can capture a respectable amount of detail, but the lag in focusing speeds means that some of the shots come out blurry if your hands move even a little. There is a dedicated Night Mode present on the device that helps a lot in calibrating the exposure. On the front is an 8MP selfie shooter that clicks good photos in daylight conditions but not so much at night. 

The device comes equipped with the MediaTek Helio G80 chipset. The usual day-to-day tasks of app switching, multi-tasking etc happen without breaking a sweat. On the starting variant, you get 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, but there is a version with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage. The graphics load on the device is being handled by the Mali-G52 GPU that can handle low-end titles like Subway Surfer or Candy Crush, but struggles with heavier games. 

Other features on the device include a snappy fingerprint sensor and speaker system that doesn’t sound all that bad. In terms of software, the phone has a full stock Android approach that goes down well with me. There is zero bloatware and the UI doesn’t clog up memory resources unnecessarily. On the battery front, you get a big 5,000mAh battery that lasts for more than a day quite easily. The 18W fast charger can juice up the cell in about 2 hours. 

Final verdict

The Micromax In 1 does many things right for its price of Rs 10,999. The display is good, the performance is decent, and it offers a clean software experience and acceptable photo-taking abilities. Other options in this price range include the POCO M3 with its standout design, and the slightly more expensive Redmi Note 10 that offers better performance and display capabilities. The Micromax In 1 mainly deserves a closer look for its clean stock Android experience.  

Editor’s rating: 3.5 / 5

Pros

• Stock Android
• Decent performance
• Good cameras

Cons

• Slow shutter speeds and focusing
• Graphics performance is average
• Design is boring

The post Micromax In 1 review: stock Android on a budget first appeared on 91mobiles.com.

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