The makers of Teewe streaming dongle, a Bengaluru-based startup had introduced Creo, the brand that got into the market with their first smartphone, the Creo Mark 1. The company has concentrated on one main factor, to keep the device updated with regular Software updates, which is being given a blind eye by most of the smartphone manufacturers as the race has been about the best hardware. Creo is betting on decent specifications with regular software updates to cash in on the smartphone market with their latest smartphone.
With many local Indian smartphone manufacturers not being able to live up to the standards and expectations of the users in high-end products, I was at first skeptical on how well CREO has managed to make the Mark 1 to take on the competition, in the price segment where the Chinese brands have launched even their flagships. The likes of OnePlus 2, Xiaomi Mi 5, ASUS ZenFone 2 Deluxe, and Moto X Play are a few of them.
Does the software updates, timely new feature additions to the CREO Mark 1 make it a better choice than the others, or did Creo commit enough mistakes? Let’s find out in the review.
Design:
The first thing that comes to the mind at first glance is the huge size of the device with a large open area at the bottom and top of the display and not so thin bezels on the sides as well. The feel of holding a huge device continues when you hold the device in your hand, which feels bulky and certainly very heavy at 190 grams.
It is certainly a lot different from the light and thin smartphones which are crowding the market. The device looks beautiful in spite of the large size and heavy body, the rounded borders and the glass finish on the back with the Creo branding in the middle gives it a premium look, but it is a fingerprint magnet which certainly takes away the charm and need constant cleaning to keep the elegant look alive.
It is surrounded by a gun-metal finish on the sides, which looks premium and feels good to hold on to. The right side accommodates the Volume rockers and Power button, which don’t have any difference except for the power button that has a little horizontal slit to help you recognize it with the touch.
The bottom of the device sports a micro USB port with a speaker grill on either side. Creo is also giving you an option to customize your device with your name engraved on the side with a laser, this was earlier seen in iPad. But if you want to sell you device in the future, if you engrave your name you will need to search for a person with a similar name to purchase your device. But then, you could flaunt that engraving till the time you had the phone, right?
Display:
The Mark 1 comes with a 5.5-inch Quad HD display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels wit an impressive 534ppi which is quite good and can be seen practically as well. The color reproduction and viewing angles are great and the visibility under direct sunlight is pretty good. You get the option of double tap to wake and a few options to tinker around with and change the way display puts out the content. With a Quad HD display, we can say that it will need lots of battery power to stay alive. The touch response is pretty accurate and I never felt any problem while typing, or even with multiple tapping while gaming.
Software:
Creo Mark 1 runs on Fuel OS based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS. This is the most important aspect of the phone as Creo is marketing the device with the tagline “A new phone every month” which beings set of new features every month with the software update.
You can check out the Complete list of features in Fuel OS in Creo Mark 1 explained in detail. To give you a summary of the features it comes with Echo which is an inbuilt answering machine. Another feature is the Sense which lets you search anything like your apps, contacts or the internet. Dual Max is another feature which forwards the call to another SIM if one SIM is not reachable. There are many Multiple Smart Gestures features available in the Creo Mark 1. Clean Inbox is another very useful feature which sorts out the spam messages and puts them in separate folders which can be accessed if needed. Retrieve your Phone helps in tracking your lost phone by locating it as well as the SIM number of the person using it.
On the whole, the Fuel OS is a pretty useful and interesting initiative by Creo to give more importance to the OS aspect along with keeping the Hardware in check.
Performance:
The smartphone is powered by a 64-bit octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 clocked at 2GHz coupled with PowerVR G6200 GPU. It comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB onboard storage. With these specs the device performs well under normal usage conditions like calls, messages, occasional gaming with WiFi or 4G always turned on. Multitasking was not bad either between regular browsing and other social networking Apps.
One thing which was a let down was gaming performance, it might be due to the Quad HD display and the high resolution being the problem. Heavy and high-end games were not as smooth as expected. If you are not a person looking to do some high-end gaming on the device, the Creo Mark 1 will be good enough for you. The device heats up a bit on watching high resolution videos and playing games in both indoor and out door conditions and thanks to the Glass back you will get to know abt it.
Camera:
The Mark 1 sports a 21MP rear camera with SONY Exmor IMX230 sensor and dual-tone LED flash and is capable of recording 4K video at 30 fps and can record Full HD slow-motion videos at 120fps. The front camera is an 8MP shooter which records videos at 120p videos in FHD resolution. The first thing you notice when using the camera is the sluggish nature of the App, it takes time to focus and click a photo and then be ready for the next which is not expected from a device in this price range. Focus is pretty good and color reproduction under natural light decent.
Samples to be added here soon.
Focus is pretty good and color reproduction under natural light decent. Was not that impressed with low light photography, the white balance was off most of the time. Slow motion videos can be viewed using the default video player in four modes up to 1/16 but they cannot be shared or played on any other media player. Front camera does most of the captures and video recording pretty decently. With future Software updates, we can expect Creo to improve the camera app.
Battery:
It comes with a 3100mAh non-removable battery which was lasting for a day with moderate usage and with heavy usage and viewing videos it was draining a bit faster. The Quad HD display is the one the blame for the faster battery drain while watching videos or playing games. It was good enough for a device with these specifications and nothing to complain in this aspect. charging was moderate and not fast with approximately 2 hours 15 minutes taken to charge the device from 0-100%.
Final Verdict:
One thing which stands out in the Creo Mark 1 is the Fuel OS with the impressive features which are available and monthly updates. If you look at the hardware aspect, apart from the Quad HD display and the design with the Glass back, other segments are average and nothing exceptional at this price range. The device is great but it is bulky a smaller device might have been a better idea is what I felt which will also bring down the price. Though, the same Quad HD display seems too heavy on the processor to put out high-graphic content with ease.
Overall if you are looking for regular software updates and a decent device, not worried about the size and weight of the device, the Creo Mark 1 is the one for you. It is a great attempt by Creo and I will be looking forward to their next device which I am expecting will be a much better device in all aspects.
