GADGET GIZMO REVIEW - XOLO BLACK

GADGET GIZMO REVIEW - XOLO BLACK





Online exclusive sub-brands are the new rage thanks to the success of brands like Xiaomi, Yu and Honor. Not to be left behind, Xolo, which is already a sub-brand of Lava mobiles, announced its own, online exclusive, sub-brand called Black. The first smartphone to be launched in this range by Xolo is called Xolo Black.

The Xolo Black looks strikingly similar to some Sony Xperia Z series smartphones . It has got the same front and rear glass panels with rounded edges. Some may even mistake it for the Sony Xperia Z3. The unibody design, combined with chrome buttons and machine drilled speaker holes gives the phone a stylish look. However, the smooth frame on the side makes the phone quite slippery -a common issue.

Both front and back are Gorilla Glass 3 for protection and Xolo has used an oleophobic coating to minimize fingerprints. In our usage we did notice that the phone was less susceptible to fingerprints, but within one week of usage there were visible scratch marks on the rear -this is with normal day-to-day usage and while keeping the phone in a pocket.

The 5.5-inch IPS display of the phone has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (a density of 401 pixels per inch). As expected, the screen showed crisp details with rich colors and has excellent viewing angles.Below the display are touch sensitive backlit buttons for home, menu and back. On the right side are buttons for volume and power in a chrome finish while the hybrid SIM slot is on the right side. The power button also doubles up as a notification LED -it lights up in different colors depending on the notification. While the feature is useful, we felt that it has limited usage, as the phone has to be placed in such a way that the power button is always visible.

Specifications include a 2nd generation, 64-bit octa core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage and a 3,200mAh battery . In our usage the phone was able to play visually intensive games and full HD videos without a hitch. Even switching between running apps was instant. In terms of battery backup, the 3,200mAh battery manages to last from a day to one and half days with mix usage -impressive, because we never even touched the battery saver feature. With the battery saver on, the phone can stretch to two days.One issue we had with the phone was that the in-ear voice call volume output was low -even at full volume, we sometimes found ourselves pressing the phone to the ear hard so that the caller was audible.

Xolo Black comes with Xolo's own Hive Atlas user interface that is based on Android 5.0. On the face of it, the user interface looks beautiful with colorful icons and smooth animations. However, the various animations also make the phone feel sluggish. The most annoying animation is seen as soon as you unlock -the bottom row of app icons takes a couple of seconds to come into view. This means that you cannot immediately check your SMS, dial a number or even open the app drawer when you unlock the phone.

There are a few nifty features in the user interface. A dedicated reading mode switches the display to black and white for a better experience with e-books. You get the Comet browser preloaded. Comet is powered by Opera and helps with data saving because it compresses data and images.A powerful secure app offers anti-theft, app lock, tracking, device encryption as well as SIM change alert functions. Other features include a built-in blacklist, a powerful photo editor, flip to silent, hover to silent and a pocket mode.

The Black is also the only phone in this price range to offer dual rear cameras. It has a 13MP primary camera and a 2MP secondary camera. The two cameras work together to offer faster focusing and depth sensing when clicking photos. For this, there is a dedicated app called dual camera that has to be used. A normal camera app is also present -it uses only the 13MP camera for image capture. In our usage, we found that the camera took nicely-detailed photos with ample light. In low light and indoors, there is visible noise. What is highly disappointing is that the dual camera only worked for depth sensing and not for capturing. A dedicated editing mode (Ubifocus) creates software based depth in the images and adds a blur effect to highlight the selected area -you can even adjust the level of blur. The front 5MP camera takes good selfies and there is also a front LED flash for use in low light.Overall, we feel the camera is good, but not what we expected from a dual rear camera module.

For `12,999, the Xolo Black counts as an impressive first attempt. However, there is a lot of scope for improvement, especially in the camera and user interface department. For a lower price you can consider the Yureka Plus that offers similar specifications and features with a zippy CyanogenMod interface.

karan bajaj

ET22JUL15