GADGET GIZMO SPECIAL ............InFocus M680

GADGET GIZMO SPECIAL InFocus M680





InFocus M680 is the new addition in the company's line up of smartphones with an all-metal body. Aimed at the mid-range user, the M680 combines a stylish and sturdy design with good hardware, a 5.5-inch full HD display and dual 13MP cameras -this mix of features is not available on any other phone in this price range.

Coming in at 158 grams, the M680 is one of the lightest phablets with a 5.5inch display . What further impressed us was the overall construction quality -rounded corners, machine drilled speaker holes and a camera that sits flush in the 7.2mm slim body . The power key on the right side is ergonomically placed while the volume buttons are on the left side. The full HD display impressed us with wide viewing angles and natural colours. However, we do feel that the brightness was a bit lacking. InFocus has provided a handy bluelight filter setting plus the option of a standard or dynamic (richer colors) screen mode.There are three touch sensitive Android function buttons below the screen which respond well but are not backlit.

InFocus's user interface (they call it InLife) is based on Android 5.1. There is no app drawer, so all icons are placed on the home panels along with widgets. In our use the user interface worked butter-smooth. There are handy features like direct call, shake to switch to next song and turn over to reject calls. Another useful feature we liked was a a frequently used folder on the home screen that automatically updates with your most-used apps.

You get just a few third party apps: Facebook, Dropbox & WPS Office. This is a smart move, compared to just loading a bunch of bloatware. We also liked the `power detective' app. It shows you detailed battery status: usage, temperature as well a list of apps consuming battery. While the user interface is zippy in general, the phone becomes slow at times because there are so many animations. The lag is especially visible when clearing apps from the task manager. However, we faced no issues in full HD vides, games like Asphalt Nitro as well as switching between running apps.

The camera app offers modes like live photo, motion track, panorama, multi angle and face beauty. While there is no manual mode, you can still adjust exposure, white balance and ISO in the settings before taking a photo.

You should know that this is the only phone in this price range to come with a 13MP front as well as 13MP rear camera. Image quality in daylight is excellent from both the cameras. When we used the phone indoors, the images looked great on phone and when we uploaded on social networks. In low light images, there was visible noise on the screen itself.

Battery life is a sore point -with constant data connectivity, two email accounts, social networking apps and use of camera and multimedia -the phone would sometimes give up before the day was over. For the price, the InFocus M680 is a good mid-range phablet. For a lower price, consider the Lenovo K3 Note also that offers better battery life but with a plastic body .

Karan Bajaj

ET6DEC15