Monday 17 February 2014

Karbonn Titanium S5i

The S5 Titanium is the second smartphone (after the S1) from Karbonn to feature a quad-core processor. Thankfully, the S5 takes care of... thumbnail 1 summary

02:25

The S5 Titanium is the second smartphone (after the S1) from Karbonn to feature a quad-core processor. Thankfully, the S5 takes care of several small issues that plagued the S1 Titanium.
Even with a 5-inch touchscreen, the S5 is not as bulky or heavy as most phones with the same size display. The slim design combined with the curved edges provides for an ergonomic grip (but we did feel that the volume rocker was far too slim for comfortable use). The display has good viewing angles, fantastic touch response and rich colours. Even though it has a 960 x 540 pixel resolution, the screen looks sharp. However, individual pixels are visible when viewed up close. The entire front and back has a glossy finish — attracts a lot of fingerprints and dust.

Like the S1, the S5 runs Android 4.1 on a 1.2Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 512MB RAM and 4GB internal storage. We did not notice any lag in heavy games such as Shadowgun and even full HD videos played smoothly without any hiccups. Thanks to the 2,000 mAh battery, the phone gives you about a day of battery life with constant data connectivity and multimedia use.
We were impressed by the phone's camera. The 8MP rear camera takes great pictures in daylight with sharp details and natural colours. Even indoors, images taken were good enough to view on the screen and share to your social networks. However, when viewed at full resolution, a fair bit of noise was visible. The interface of the camera is different from the stock Android one and offers many additional options including colour effects, white balance as well as exposure.
Video recording is done at 30fps in 720p HD resolution and again is of above average quality. The phone also lets you capture images simultaneously while recording video — these images are shot at 1280 x 720 pixel resolution. The audio output is also impressive — the loudspeaker as well as the voice call speaker is very loud and clear.

For the price, the Karbonn S5 is fantastic value for money. It only falls behind with the low-resolution display (which is more apparent when you keep it next to a phone with high resolution display). By upping your budget by a few thousand, you can go for Micromax's Canvas HD. It offers a better resolution display with similar hardware and USB host (on-the-go) support.