XOLO A700

The problem with a lot of budget phones is that one or two essential features are compromised in making a device cheap and eventually, it comes down to which features you are alright with not having the best of. Lava Xolo A700 is a well balanced phone and it tries to delivery a way better experience than it's competitors.nnBuild Quality(5/5):nThe Xolo A700 is a sleek phone! My friends couldn't believe i got it for 9k! The back panel has a matt finish that makes it easy to hold. There are silver strips on the side to give it a slightly posh look and the screen is crystal clear. The IPS qHD display is not bad at all. I used it in glaring sunlight and could still see everything on the screen clearly. The phone is extremely light and the phone fits really well in my hand (though i'm quite a tall guy). The phone used to heat up especially while charging for the first couple of days but now it's fine. The back panel especially is very thin so you would need a cover otherwise you'd feel the battery heating up after serious usage.nnProcessor (4.5/5):nThe Mediatek M6577 processor gives a very smooth experience on the Lava Xolo A700 and there is barely any lag which using the browser, opening and closing tabs and running apps. Movies play smoothly and upto 720p is supportednnRAM (3.5/5):nA700 comes with a 512MB ram which according to me is slightly less than ideal. I would have preferred 768MB or 1GB. The phone becomes slightly sluggish when you are running a few applications at a time. I haven't played any memory intensive applications yet but i imagine there would be a lot of games that won't give you a smooth experience on the A700nnCamera(3/5):nThe camera is one of the concerns i have. Images from the default application are a little grainy, especially indoors. I've been experimenting with other camera applications i came across on the google play store and have gotten better results so far. But i would have expected a better camerannGPS(4.5/5):nI used the GPS with Google Navigation to travel to a farmhouse 30kms outside bangalore yesterday and it was fast and smooth. I got turn by turn directions thanks to google and though the network wasn't that great, i didn't overshoot any turns because of GPS delays.nnMusic(4/5):nHonestly, if you want an android phone for really good music, you have to go for a sony. Anything else will give you good enough at best. Lava Xolo A700 gives a pleasant music experience. The in-built speakers are loud and the music quality is quite good. But it's no Sony!nnHope this helped :)

This review is based on 2 days of usage. May be i'll update this review after some months as well. Bought this from a Croma store after a prolonged net searches and after looking at Iphone 4, Galaxy s2, HTC desire and One series. I was keen to get my hands on LG optimus L9. But out of stock at flipkart as well as at LG dealers. Heard from an LG dealer stocks will arrive only in month of Jan. LG's google nexus 4 can be delivered only during Mid Jan by grabmore.in. I dont think its worth waiting for all these gadgets. Terms like dual core, 1gb ram only add to more confusion. nnMy phone usage type may help some of you to decide. Im not a phone freak. I use my phone for occasional phone calls about 1- 2 hrs everyday. Access internet occasionally. watch movies when traveling, hear music some of the time. nnBrand Lava may not ring a bell to many. Not so popular compared to micromax, karbonn names. So these may be some negatives. So took a chance.nnNow to the XOLO A700: nnVoice call: 4.5/5nPhone's primary purpose is voice calls.Phone has to be held close to the ears( SAR mentioned is 0.67 max).ALso im not talking for hours so its fine with me. nnDisplay 5/5: Display is too good to believe at this price point. comparable to s2, a110, one series. Absolute treat to the eyes. nnVideo: Played one 720p video and it was damn good. Comparable to a full HD video. No lags of display either. I don;t use multitasking so for me ram is not an issue. Watched one 2 hr movie. No issues.nnGame 5/5: tried temple run and it runs fairly well. neat response. forget the quadrant and nina here. for an average user this is fine.nnWeb 4/5: Used wi-fi at my office. fast enough. 3g a little slow than wi-fi but we can live with it. On the whole satisfied with internet access.n nPhotos 3/5: I think this is the only area where phone scores low. photo quality is only average. But i expected this.But this one has a led flash. nnBattery 5/5: Lot of mobile deals get broken here. I think this phone has got oomph of a battery. nnYesterday started with a full charge of phone @7am. I happened to travel for 4 hrs up and 4 hrs down. Watched a 2 hr video, played music for 1 hr, accessed internet for some time, phone calls about 1 hr during travel and after i reached home at 10pm night. Looked at the battery status 25% remaining. What more can you ask for in 10k phone boss? Just go ahead pick this.