Zen Mobiles another Indian smartphone OEM which might not have been much into news but they are quite active in this smartphone business since 2006. Recently they launched their flagship device for ₹11,999 which has been branded under the Ultrafone series as the Zen Mobiles Ultrafone 701 HD. It might seem to be a lot similar to the popular Micromax Canvas HD with almost the same specifications and 3k less price. But there has to be some difference, else it will just die. Let’s get into some details and find out which makes it better than others. Thanks to Zen Mobiles for the review unit.
Box Contents:
We all agree with this that it matters a lot how the device is packed. Not only it offers security to the product, its worth for a good customer feedback. Starting with the retail package for which we did an unboxing video as soon we got the device in hand. The video can be seen below:
The retail packaging was good and had a lot of things too. Sliding up the box we saw the handset with a screen protector already installed with a black back panel. Unboxing it further, we saw noise cancellation earbuds, the 2000mAh battery, power adapter, Micro USB cable, white back panel and a black flip cover. Along with these the box contained a warranty card, list of service centers and a user manual.
Design:
Unlike any other competing budget smartphone in this category we found the Ultrafone 701HD to have a better build and finish giving a posh feel. Unlike others in the budget range this has a matte finish on the black back panel comparing to the just glossy plastic. To make this clear it gives a feel of something expensive but not too much.
It comes in two back panel color options : white and black. The black one has that awesome feel but unfortunately it doesn’t remain with the white one though it is pretty decent too. At the back we have the 8MP auto-focus BSI sensor camera with LED flash with the speaker grill at the bottom with Zen Mobiles and Ultrafone branding in the center.
Ultrafone 701 HD flaunts the 5inch 720p HD display on the front with 3 capacitive touch buttons, microphone and highest among all 3.2MP front-facing camera. The left and the right edge houses the volume rocker and power/standby key as usually seen on galaxy devices. The top has the microUSB port and the standard 3.5mm audio jack.
Removing the back panel, there were two mini sim card slots with SIM 1 supporting both 3G and EDGE where as SIM 2 only supports EDGE. Along with these, there is a microSD card slot towards the right side.
701HD is even good to hold. Thanks to the plastic matte finish and the curved edges but it feels a bit heavy in hands, definitely heavier than anyone of the same category.
Overall we found the build and the design to be wannabe ergonomic, quite decent though. We think its the best Zen Mobiles could do at this pocket-friendly budget.
Hardware:
This Zen Mobile Ultrafone 701 HD packs a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM and 4GB internal memory. Exactly, the same as others and yes running on the same chipset MediaTek MT 6589. All the budget smartphones are using this MediaTek chipset to cost reduction without compromising performance but it still varies form device to device.
As per our week with the Ultrafone 701HD we never found ourselves struggling for the basic needs. However the traditional MediaTek problems faced on Canvas HD too reside here but they are limited to gaming only nothing else.
1GB RAM might be a problem for some heavy smartphone users but if they are heavy smartphone users they won’t consider this as an option. The 4GB internal memory space is very less to be honest. Out of 4GB only 1.79GB is available for user needs which gets occupied on just few multimedia content and games on it. Thankfully we have the microSD card slot which supports expansion upto 32GB storage.
The massive 2000mAh is amazing. We literally had to wait for 2-3 hours for the last 2-3% to end up once. Overall the 2000mAh battery gives brilliant results and that’s what is needed the most.
Last but not the least, the 5inch IPS display which is the same alike other 720p HD displays seen other than the brightness and colors. This display looks a little more brighter than we saw on the Micromax Canvas HD. Even the color tones and richness can be observed better here. It has decent black levels with not so good viewing angles and is sufficient for watching videos, viewing images or reading text at ease. There is nothing more you can expect from a 12k device.
Performance:
We ran some famous benchmarking tools on the device and here are the results showcased in a gallery:
Camera:
Ultrafone 701 HD features a 8MP auto focus BSI sensor rear camera with LED flash and a 3.2 MP front facing camera which is the highest among all till date. BSI stands for Back-Illuminated Sensor which actually is used for low-light imaging. Getting this in a budget smartphone already sounds good and it gets even better when you use it.
The camera is pretty impressive. It works up to the par reducing noise and build in Android 4.2 shooting modes. Yes, photosphere works! We took this macro-shot and were surprised by the details. Look at the image below:
There are some more low-light and day-light images attached in the gallery which you can check from the link
Software:
This is the first smartphone in this category running on the latest version of Android that is the v4.2 Jelly Bean. The Android operating system has been kept nearest to stock with just few apps bundles to provide a good out-of-the box experience to its consumers.
Zen Mobiles have a separate app store like Micromax and others which keeps a collection of the trending and featured applications on the Play Store. It just provides a route to the play store linking their apps.
The best part is Ultrafone 701 HD will get system software updates and upgrades via OTA. Zen Mobiles have developed their own update center which is an application pre-installed to provide OTA updates. 701HD is the first smartphone from Zen to get this OTA facility.
The bundled applications include whatsapp, google apps like gmail, maps, hangouts, chrome browser, play music, play movies etc. along with Facebook, twitter, Times Of India Android app and the popular Hindi music streaming service Saavn.
The Verdict:
We think Zen Mobiles just nailed it. Ultrafone 701HD provides one the best android experience at just 11,999, in fact the best if we consider the price. The rubbery matte finish build, impressive camera, long lasting battery running on latest Android version 4.2 with a scope of future updates, what else does anyone want?
Yes, the after sales service. If you read the box contents section again, Zen Mobiles provide a booklet which has all the details about the service centers and partners who will provide consumers the after sales service. Don’t expect too much from the after-sales part as the company is still growing and partnering to get its customers the best they can. We think the after services will be like other budget after sales so it will not be a deal breaker.
With so much potential Zen mobiles just need the recognition in the market to develop a reputation which has the capability to lead the market. We suggest to consider this as an option if you are looking for a similar device and also do shout about them so that others who have not heard about Zen Mobiles get to know about their products.
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