Indians love Chinese products because they're value for money products. Chinese smartphone companies have seen a meteoric rise in the last two years, especially brands such as Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Lenovo, Coolpad are now looking for a top spot in the market. But yeah, these brands offer some insane specifications at cutthroat prices, and of course, they justify the price tag.
But at the same scene, Indian vendors are being ignored by the consumers, just because in a myth that 'they lack innovation.' If you look at Micromax five years ago, it was the top brand in the country, but slowly it vanished from the list.
Aiming to set some new standards in the market, Smartron, an Indian brand last year forayed into the smartphone market. Smartron is not a smartphone company, instead, it calls itself an IoT company. In May 2017, Smartron launched a new smartphone, namely, the Smartron srt.phone (First Impressions), which is probably the most underrated budget smartphone of 2017.
I have used almost every budget smartphone released in 2017, and every smartphone disappointed me at least in one aspect. Am not saying that Smartron srt.phone is the best budget smartphone, but it just didn’t get enough attention from the customers.
Talking about the specifications, the Smartron srt.phone has a 5.5-inch Full HD display and is entirely built of plastic. At the heart of the phone, the smartphone has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 SoC, paired with 3GB/4GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB of internal storage. The phone has a 13MP rear camera, paired with a 5MP front-facing camera. The phone runs clean stock Android 7.0 Nougat and is backed by a 3000mAh battery.
What I Liked in the Smartron srt.phone?
The first thing that hits your eye is the smartphone design. Even though the device is completely made out of plastic, it feels very solid in hands, but at the same time, the plastic body feels cheap when compared to metal body smartphones. Also, the design of the smartphone is unique with the sides chamfered all around, gives good grip of the smartphone.
Next up is the performance of the smartphone. The Smartphone srt.phone is a no brainier- it performs every task with ease. The Snapdragon 652 chipset is optimized perfectly, and the RAM management is excellent as well. Graphics intensive games such as Asphalt 8, Mortal Combat 5 ran without any issues, and day-to-day performance is good as well.
Connectivity options in the smartphone include 4G LTE, VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, and USB Type-C port. As you can see, it has all the connectivity options including the USB Type-C port. Also, the NFC chip works well in connecting to Bluetooth headphones or speakers.
The software side of things, Smartron is delivering timely software updates to the device, and the interface is close to stock Android with some Smartron apps installed. The device recently an update with September 2017 security patches.
Lastly, the battery life. The Smartron srt.phone has a 3000mAh battery inside, but the battery performance is impeccable. It lasts through a single day with ease even with heavy usage. It offered me a screen-on time of more than five hours every day. Credit goes to Smartron here for optimizing the software perfectly.
What I Disliked in the Smartron srt.phone?
Like every other budget smartphone, the Smartron srt.phone also disappoints in some aspects, especially in the camera department. The 13MP rear camera is probably the worst camera I have seen in any budget smartphone. The camera focuses the subject very quickly, thanks to the f/2.0 aperture, but the end image will not appeal you.
Images captured with the rear camera came out oversaturated and the low-light images lacked details. The 5MP front-facing is no different as it oversaturates the images in bright light conditions, and the low-light images come out with a lot of noise.
Another downside is that the device doesn't offer a microSD card, meaning you've to choose between the 32GB or 64GB storage option.
Smartron srt.phone is the Most Underrated Budget Smartphone of 2017
Well, the Smartron srt.phone ticks every box, except the camera, which has become a major part in smartphones releasing these days. The srt.phone has its own advantages in the form of excellent performance & battery life, timely software updates, and sturdy design. But there are some downsides in the form of the plastic body, underwhelming cameras, and non-expandable storage.
Coming to the price, the srt.phone was originally launched for Rs. 12,999 for the 3GB RAM variant, and Rs. 13,999 for the 4GB RAM variant. However, the 3GB RAM version is now available for just Rs. 10,999, and the 4GB RAM variant at Rs. 11,999. Sometimes, the price even drops to Rs. 8,999 for the 3GB RAM variant and Rs. 9,999 for the 4GB RAM version.
If the camera is not your preference, you can consider purchasing the Smartron srt.phone even today.
