Two of the must have features for this generation of smartphones is the dual camera setup and an 18:9 aspect ratio screen, and the attempt from Micromax, the Canvas Infinity Pro makes it available at a mid-range price. This is a successor to the already successful Canvas infinity series and it is a worthy upgrade over its predecessor. Given some of the shortcomings in the predecessor, the new Pro model of the Canvas Infinity series has shown some much-needed improvements in our usage test.
In this review, we’ll be checking the performance of the dual camera, display, build, battery and overall performance.
Display
The Canvas Infinity Pro has a 5.7-inch HD+ Screen with a resolution of 1440×720, the screen is long to adhere with the 18:9 aspect ratio of this era, this also helps to accommodate a rather large screen in a very compact form factor. The display is above average when it comes to the color reproduction and contrast while the brightness could have been a little better. The display becomes extremely difficult to use while wearing some of the polarised sunglasses. We’ve seen a major improvement in terms of the touch latency issue which was prominent on the previous generation and the rendering on the device is quick.
Design
The Canvas Infinity Pro is very well designed for the price and comes with a matte black finish, the antenna bands are laid out on the top and bottom of the device which is a common design trend these days. The company didn’t try to experiment with the looks and design of the device and went with a rather conventional approach which might be a good thing.
The MicroUSB port is placed on the bottom of the device and the speaker grill is right beside it. The 3.5mm earphone jack has been placed on the top of the device which might not be to most convenient position for all. The hybrid dual sim slot is placed to the left of the device which can be ejected using a sim ejector tool and the volume and power buttons are placed conveniently to the right of the device making it easily accessible. The power button has a different texture which makes it easy to differentiate and avoid false triggers.
Camera
The camera is perhaps the most important part of this device review as it comes with a dual camera setup on the front along with a front flash. In our experience, the dual camera performed decently while there still is scope for improvement. The sensor does capture a lot of details and the images look very sharp, thanks to the 20MP sensor in the front camera.
The 20MP sensor is aided by an 8MP depth-sensing camera which helps the portrait mode or bokeh effect find the difference in the level of the subject and the object. While the front camera worked very good in our experience there is still a lot of scope for improvement in the rear camera, the rear camera is a single 16MP camera with support for automatic scene detection and the sensor greatly struggles in low light conditions resulting in grainy images. Also, you will need extremely stable hands to deal with the rear camera of this device and even small jerks cause a noticeable disturbance in the images.
Interface, OS, and Apps
The Canvas Infinity Pro runs on Android Nougat with a custom skin by the company atop. While the custom skin by the company is far from impressive, the rest of the device was very much appealing. While the pre-installed apps include FM Radio, Sound Recorder, File Manager, App Centre, Asphalt Nitro, Narendra Modi app, Facebook, and Amazon Shopping, it is the gesture features that help in a better user experience.
There are smart action features including “wake up screen by double tap” and lock it the same way, Flip to mute, Get the call by putting the phone near your ear, Direct call, Disable handsfree, Answer by Mistake, Flip to snooze, Unlock by power button. The smart gesture features include the drawing of letters on turned-off screen to open an app or perform a function, and there is a one-handed mode as well.
Performance
The performance on the device is pretty good, the device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor and is coupled with 4GB of RAM, the internal storage on the device is 64GB and can be expanded using a microSD card. The processor could handle most of the basic tasks without any issues at all and the RAM management was much better than most of the devices in this segment.
Battery
While the device has a rather small battery at just 3000mAh, the device still ended up giving excellent battery life on our usage test. The device lasted us a complete day of above normal usage with a screen time of 6h 12m with the device connected to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi all the time. For an average user, we expect the device to last over a day and even for a heavy user the device should easily get you through a day without issues.
Conclusion
The Micromax Canvas Infinity Pro is pretty good and can serve most of the purposes for an average user. While the front camera on the device is very promising, the device falls short when it comes to the rear camera which might be a major let down. The display looks brilliant and adds to the viewing experience on the device. Although the device might seem overpriced at Rs. 13,999 it does offer some of the exclusive features to make up for it.
It might face some heat to stand beside the likes of Xiaomi Mi A1, Honor 7x, and others, but then, the set of offerings on this phone are unique to itself and they are good for the price it is being sold for.
