What Android One brings on the table!
Google collaborated with various hardware partners like Spice, Micromax and Karbonn to penetrate the multibillion smartphone market with their new initiative of Android One. Google had specified the requirements in terms of hardware to the partners to develop smartphone for the Indian users so as to make internet and smartphone experience available to all of the people who aren’t still used to the smartphones. The three hardware partners eventually developed Spice Dream Uno, Karbonn Sparkle V and Micromax A1. All the three are similar in most of the aspects due to the constraints by Google. Here in this article we shall be taking up the Spice Dream Uno Mi 498 smartphone for review.
Design and Build
The Dream Uno Mi 498 comes with a 4.5-inch display having a resolution of FWVGA 480×854 pixels. The display is not HD but the display is very good and equivalent to an HD display. You should use a screen protector to safe guard the screen. The front camera and the round speaker is placed at the top. The loudspeaker is placed at the bottom of the back panel with a round finish as well. We expected Gorilla Glass in the smartphone like Moto E and Redmi 1S who are also in the same price segment. Like the other two devices the Dream Uno also has rubberized back panel. This makes the smartphone incredibly comfortable to feel along with the good grip. Design wise the back is flat with curved edges. The flat back panel gives the smartphone a premium feel. The camera is placed at the top at the left, which slightly comes out which might get a feeling unobtrusiveness for some users. The peeping out camera can be prone to scratches when slid on hard surfaces. The design of the Dream Uno is better than the other two Android One devices as far as we could observe. The smartphone feels good, robust and sturdy in hands. The audio port is placed at the top while the micro USB port is placed at the bottom of the phone.
Hardware and Software
The Dream Uno 498 is powered by a 1.3GHz MediaTek quad core processor. The processor is coupled up with 1GB of RAM like the other devices in the same segment. For the graphics processing capabilities the device is fabricated with a Mali 400MP chip. The device has 4GB of internal storage along with expansion of up to 32 GB. Spice has also provided the users having with 10GB of Spice cloud storage and 35GB of Google drive space. On the connectivity front the device has dual SIM standby, Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth 4.0 and A-GPS. The Dream Uno runs on Android 4.4.4 KitKat being an Android One device. Apart from the dialer and messaging apps, the two other apps on the home screen are Chrome and Google Camera. Present right above is a folder with other Google apps – Gmail, Google+, Photos, Maps, Calendar, Keep, Drive, YouTube, Play Music, Play Games – and the Play Store.
Camera
The Dream Uno comes with a 5MP primary shooter and 2.4 MP secondary front facing camera like the other Android One devices. The primary camera has auto focus functionality and also the device comes with the new Google Camera app which has a whole lot of options than the conventional Android Camera app. There are features for Panorama, Lens blur, Photo sphere, video, camera etc., in the new app. As far as the quality of the images clicked is concerned the front camera is good for selfies and video calling and the main camera clicks decent pics in good lighting conditions, however, we observed a lot of noise in low light conditions. The snaps are not that great but good enough to share on social networking websites.
Battery and Performance
The hardware in the smartphone is powered by a 1700mAh battery which seems low for such hardware but we found that it gives a decent battery backup. If you aren’t using heavy resource consuming apps then the smartphone can easily stay alive for a day. The internet speed over 3G and Wi-Fi was very good. The smartphone remained lag free completely while using basic apps like call, messages etc. the device also sported consistency in performance for long usages as well.
Our Verdict
The Spice Dream Uno Mi 498 priced at INR 6299 has a lot of competitors at this price point but being and Android One device it will be among the first ones to get the latest Android Lollipop upgrade. The consistency while using basic apps makes the phone desirable. The build quality and robustness of the device also makes it attractive for regular users. For now this smartphone is available exclusively on Flipkart and they have also been giving free gifts and books along with the Android One smartphone. Surely Spice has done a good job in this smartphone, so If you want a device which gives fluid performance in basic apps and some heavy apps with less cost you can definitely go for the Android One Spice Dream Uno Mi 498.
