Follow up after 4 years

So about 4 years ago I wrote a post about how Micromax wasn't ready for leading the Indian smartphone without the slightest intention of following it up. Heck, I had forgotten I even had this blog. But here we are, 4 years later, with my initial rant turning out to be a decently accurate prediction.

I still remember when the Micromax Canvas 3 was released. It had created a tremendous buzz in the market for being the cheapest smartphone offering 720p display. Although the quality of everything on the device was mediocre at best, it had still done its job of putting the company 2nd only to behemoth Samsung in terms of market share. Since then, Micromax released upgrades to canvas series. It may also have released a number of devices since, but nobody took much notice of it.

There are two ways people encounter something new; one is if the product is where people are, i.e. online or product is so great that people eventually notice it anyways. Every single brand that has a good market share today went with the first one. I don't think anyone can remember the last time they saw an ad of Micromax or Karbonn or Lava online. Whereas it is highly likely that you have already heard about the device that is rumoured to be maybe possibly released by Apple, Samsung, Xiomi or the lot a year later. Reason? Everywhere you go online, Amazon, Flipkart, FB, YT, these companies have banners, pop up ads, sponsored videos and other marketing gimmicks. And as annoying as it is to have an ad pop up while you enjoy cold-blooded destruction of a chef by Gordon Ramsay, it does the trick.

And even if they wanted to go the second way, they didn't do a very good job of it. The most specked out phone you can buy from Micromax today is Micromax Infinity N12 (there is nothing infinity or 12 about it!) which has below par specs by 2019 standards. Back when these companies were doing well, instead of investing heavily in R&D they decided to keep their model of importing generic phones from China and rebranding them as their own. As the stock of outdated phones grew and now market leaders Xiomi etc stepped in with, surprise surprise, Chinese phones which were not only better but significantly well marketed, the so-called Indian phone companies fell out of favour.

Today, nobody in their right mind would recommend devices from the Indian mobile companies. They don't even have the USP of being Indian since Samsung and Xiomi already have set up manufacturing plants in India. So how these companies survive over the next few years will be interesting to see. 

Why Micromax is not ready to lead the Indian smartphone Market?

Its been a while since Micromax has been around in the smartphone markets. Micromax's strategy has been to cut the corners wherever possible, use inexpensive but comparable alternatives to premium components and make the device look powerful on paper. This strategy has worked to some extent in the markets, however I feel that Micromax is still not ready to lead the smartphone market in the country and here are the reasons why...  

          Build quality : 

The silver band breaks into chips because of wear and tear.

Price cutting starts from the outer shell of the phone. The body is primarily made of plastic. In some of the recent models a strip of aluminium like material runs along the sides of the phone which reminds me of the iphone. But surprise, surprise its not aluminium but a brittle material of which small portions chip off as the device faces some wear. Also the plastic panel at the back attracts a lot of dirt and looses its original colour over time. The power/lock button too feels a bit loosened after a while.

          Camera :

This according to me is a deal breaker. Most of the Micromax devices which cost more than 7-8 Thousand rupees have a camera of 5 mega-pixels or higher. One would expect to get decent captures out of it but its not the case. The camera greatly disappoints in terms of colour reproduction, contrast, exposure and white balance, both in low light as well as well lit conditions. Photos of landscapes look gloomy and colours, specially green look washed out which steals all the fun from shooting.  Auto focus works good but when it comes to focusing on objects at about 6 inches or closer, auto as well as manual focusing fails.

          Sensors :

One of the places where Micromax has spent less is the sensor section. Magnetometer or compass is absent from many of the devices. This results in the arrow in Google maps always pointing in upward direction no matter which direction you are moving in or facing. There is another very important shortcoming because of the lack of compass. As being an amateur astronomer I often use sky maps which aligns itself according to the direction at which I am pointing my device giving me the name of the celestial body immediately. In canvas devices however this feature cannot be used.   

          Heating :

Now this doesn't happen very often, but I have noticed this a couple of times. I don't know what causes this but a few of such heat-ups can damage the battery of the device rendering it useless for a use of more than 2 hours.

          Updates :

Still waiting for the update for my canvas hd.

With a really attractive specifications sheet you would expect the devices to get latest software updates. But Micromax has failed to update my canvas 3 beyond 4.2. Same with canvas 4 and other devices.

          Alternatives :

Moto G priced at 13000 INR

Moto E pricedat 7000 INR

Despite being insanely cheaper than its counterparts, Micromax hasn't been a real competitor to Samsung or other brands. Granted the devices of such brands are expensive but a considerable amount of population prefers buying a phone of a tested brand with lower end specs than a phone with gimmicky specs of Micromax. And with Motorola entering the lower tier market with Moto G and then Moto E, the competition has only became tougher. Both the Moto devices have lower end specs, but they ensure and update beyond Kit-Kat and ship with the trust of The Motorola Brand.

Finally, the Micromax isnt all bad. Their products can satisfy the needs of an average joe. But they still lack the vision and the balance between quality and price to be a contender for the top spot. 

Why are you doing this, Apple?

While recently going through tech news i came across articles reporting a Chinese firm manufacturing iPhone 5S. What would be your reaction? Exactly!! "Why are you doing this Apple?"
Apple was left with less than expected sales of iPhone 5 which definitely must have created concerns in Apple's HQ. Apple is rumored to give a hardware fix to the sapphire lens which was creating violet glare in direct lit pics. An upgrade to a faster A6X CPU is also a possibility. The processor which currently features only in iPad 4, a product which left the tech world startled when it was introduced just 7 months after the introduction of iPad 3 (Retina Display). While Apple is clearly trying to stay in the competition with the leading smartphone and tablet manufactures as well as arch rival Android, frequently introducing new versions of products with minor hardware changes is not really the style of Jobs' Apple Inc.
Consumers on the other hand are also voicing their concerns as chances of their newly bought premium Apple gadget getting outdated within months is high.
But who knows whats 'Cook'ing inside Apple...

What are your thoughts about rumored iPhone 5S?
Please leave a comment below...