Saturday, January 22, 2011

Micromax Q66 eclipse - Stylish design, swivel-style QWERTY [Review].....!!!


The Micromax Q66 eclipse is an affordable dual SIM smartphone with a stylish QWERTY, which is also its undoing. Overall, at a price tag of Rs. 5,499, the Q66 does not truly justify its worth and is hence not recommended.

Pros
  • Affordable
  • Stylish QWERTY
  • Ships with a leather pouch

Cons
  • Poor SIM latch build quality and faulty mechanism
  • Mediocre keypad ergonomics
  • No bundled memory card
The Micromax Q66 eclipse is yet another dual SIM smartphone that has been targeted at the youth by the Indian brand, and it directly competes with the likes of Wynncom Y100. Incorporating a stylish body design and swivel-style QWERTY, it will almost definitely grab attention. The contours of the LCD and the back panel have a glossy black finish. The contours of the keypad layout and the back side of the front panel are coated in glossy cyan, which adds a stark contrast with the black. The shiny surface on the back side of the front panel also serves as a mirror for the style conscious. However, one sore point is that the front and back panel are vulnerable to fingerprints and smudges.

The Q66 ships with a stylish leather pouch, which can be fastened to your waist belt or attached to the hand-grip that accompanies it. The pouch with the hand-grip resembles a tiny ladies purse, that can be carried around like a vanity bag. In spite of its compact design, the Q66 is quite heavy weighing about 118 grams. It is built like a tank with harder than normal plastic and portrays a near perfect square shape with rounded edges.

The Q66 incorporates a QWERTY keypad that has three overlapping hues of black, blue and purple. This interesting colour pattern gives it an attractive look. The keypad is built with out-dented keys which are separated by very narrow spacings between them. This hinders the navigation comfort across the keypad to a large extent. The keys lack tactile feedback and require extra effort from the user to register an input successfully. Overall, the build quality and ergonomics of the keypad is ordinary.

The battery cover is clumsy and does not come off easily. Another sore point is the poor build quality of the SIM 2 latch, which fails to latch on during SIM card installation. In spite of multiple trials, the latch mechanism failed and the latch door came off the hooks. Thus, we could not install the SIM card into it.
The menu interface is neat and well organised. The trackball is handy for menu navigation and browsing. However, it lacks precision and is a bit slow in responsiveness. Overall, the menu and graphic user interface provides satisfactory ergonomics.
  
Performance

The Q66 eclipse delivered consistent signal reception across all the three zones. There were no instances of dropped calls, but we experienced a slight drop in the voice clarity across zone one and three. The loudspeaker produced distorted sounds at volumes higher than 50% and yielded wavering voice clarity throughout the test. The handsfree headset delivered good voice clarity across all the three zones, but the audibility was very feeble even at the maximum volume. The Q66 scored decent Bluetooth transfer speeds. The captured photo colour and image crispness was better with indoor shots than outdoor shots (night mode), as the atmosphere was a bit cloudy with failing light conditions. Thus, we felt that an integrated flash LED would be handy in such scenarios. The music test yielded a mixed bag of results. The bundled earphones delivered good bass and treble balance sans distortion at volumes up to 75%. However, the loudspeaker produced distorted sounds at volumes higher than 50%, while also lacking good bass output. The display quality is average with limited viewing angles and its legibility under bright sunshine is mediocre. However, a plus is the video playback quality - smooth, without any stuttering - though of course the screen's drawbacks do also contribute to the overall viewing experience.

Our Take

The Micromax Q66 eclipse is an affordable dual SIM smartphone with a stylish QWERTY keyboard that is marketed as its main selling point. However, we want better keypad ergonomics that can harness the true potential of the QWERTY keypad. The poor build quality and faulty mechanism of the SIM 2 latch is a major disappointment. Overall, at a price tag of Rs. 5,499, the Q66 does not justify its worth due to the shortcomings, and is hence not recommended.

Specifications: SIM (GSM+GSM); Display: 2.4-inch, Screen resolution: 320x240; Memory: microSD expandable up to 8GB; Battery: 850mAh, Talk-time: up to 4 hours, Standby-time: up to 8 days; Dimensions: 71x71x18; Weight: 118 grams;

Ratings
Features: 6.5
Performance: 6.5
Build Quality: 6
Value for money: 7
Overall: 6.5

Brand Micromax
Model Q66 eclipse
Features  
Physical Specs  
Form Factor Clamshell
2G Network Bands (MHz) Dual GSM 900/1800
3G Network Bands N/A
Screen Resolution 320x240
Screen Size (inches) 2.4-inches
Maximum Screen colours -
Touchscreen / Dual Screen (Y/N) N
Battery Rating 850mAh
Dimensions (L x W x H) in mm 71x71x18
Weight 118 grams
Expandable Memory Type microSD
Hot Swappable (Y/N) N
Available Colours Black with blue
Other Features  
Operating System Proprietary
Charging via USB (Y/N) Y
Hardware Keypad (Regular/QWERTY) QWERTY
Accelerometer (For auto rotate) (Y/N) N
Address Book Capacity 1000 entries
No of calls in register -
Talk Time / Standby Time * up to 4 hours / up to 8 days
No of Profiles # / Customisable (Y/N) 7/Y
Offline Operability (Y/N) Y
Inbuilt GPS / A-GPS support (Y / N) N
Connectivity  
Browsing (GPRS/EDGE/3G) Y/Y/N
EDGE max speed -
3G max speed N/A
Connectivity (WiFi/Bluetooth/IR/USB) N/Y/N/Y
Bluetooth Version/A2DP support (Y/N) -
Accessories  
Bundled Accessories Charger, handsfree headset, USB cable, leather pouch
Size of memory card provided None
Overall Build Quality (So 10) 6
Overall Ergonomics (So 10) 5.5
Keypad Design (So 10) 6.5
Camera Specs  
Camera Resolution (Mega Pixels) 2MP
Video Capture Resolution 176x144
Dual Cameras / Auto Focus / Flash (Y/N) N/N/N
Mirror for self portrait (Y / N) N
Camera Settings (So 10) 6
Zoom (Optical/Digital) 3x digital
Multimedia  
Music Formats supported MP3, MIDI, WAV, AMR, Embedded with SRS wow HD
Video formats supported MP4, 3GP
FM Radio (Y/N) Y
Performance  
Signal Reception and Voice Clarity (So 10)  
Zone 1 6
Zone 2 7
Zone 3 6.5
Device Earpiece Volume 6
Device Loudspeaker clarity 6
Handsfree Clarity 7
Speaker Volume (on call) 6.5
Bluetooth Transfer Speed (kbps) 851
WiFi signal strength (Zone 2) N/A
Captured Photo Quality (So 10)
Captured Photo Colour 6
Captured Photo Crispness 6.5
Captured Video Quality 6
Loudspeaker Audio Quality 6.5
Bundled Earphones Quality 7.5
Display
Quality of display 6.5
Viewing angle of display 6
Legibility in bright sunlight 5.5
Video Playback Quality (So 10) 8
Price (MRP, Rs) Rs. 5,499

Contact: Micromax Informatics Ltd.
Phone: 0124 – 4009601
E-mail: N/A
Website: www.micromaxinfo.com
Price: Rs. 5,499




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