Budget premium

Symphony makes affordable phones. And affordable usually means cutting a few options out of the list. And now they have gone and built a range topping device tagged with a sub 15k price tag that is bound to make this a favorite. WE find out whether this is just good enough or something even better.

BUILD: its glass front and back is encased in a unibody structure giving it the right amount of weight and solidity. The up/down toggle switch and the power button is conveniently placed on the right with SIM and memory card trays on either side. It's a sharp edged device that provides good 'holdability' meaning I haven't dropped it yet.

DISPLAY: 5 inches is now the acceptable standard for reading, viewing, playing and showing off. The HD display with 294ppi provides sharp and clean fonts. The screen is super bright even in strong sunlight. The only gripe i have about it is that at its lowest brightness, it is still too bright for reading in the dark.

HARDWARE: An ARM Cortex A7 1.4GHz Octa-core processor means there's plenty of power for all your computing needs. This is backed up by a solid 2GB of RAM. I've been running plenty of games on this machine. SIM City and Real Racing 3 guzzle quite a significant amount of processing power. Both games have plenty of stuff going on at all times. The device so far performed without any hiccups seamlessly stitching from one app to the next. There's 16GB of onboard storage space with 32GB of expandable memory.

SOFTWARE: I hate bloatware and this device comes with a few. But Symphony has avoided the previous odd looking skins kept bloatware to a minimum. The interface works smoothly almost like a stock android. The 4.4.2 comes out of the box and an upgrade is due soon.

CAMERA: Yet another improvement over the cameras from Symphony I've used before. This has a 13MP primary unit and a 2MP moderately selfie friendly front unit. The camera responds quickly and takes the picture i want. Gone is the older units annoying shutter lag. There are plenty of options to play around with. The HDR takes its time but does produce brighter shots in lower lighting.

BATTERY PERFORMANCE: The 2000mAh battery sounds like a recipe for disaster. In case of a zombie outbreak, at the most crucial moment, you fear you will run out of power. Fear not. I have managed to get a full day worth of heavy usage out of the phone. And that shows how well the 4.4.2 manages to keep all that hardware running smoothly.

Verdict

At just under Tk 15000, this is terrific value for money. Symphony played safe with the styling; going with a square design that has stood the test of time so far. You will like holding it because it feels premium. And you will like using it because it has plenty of juice for not much cash. And when the zombies do come running, you can kill one or two by hitting them with it. It feels that durable. It has been my daily driver for most of a month now and I am yet to find a serious flaw with it. It's the best smartphone I have used in this price category, period.

SPECS

Display: 5 inches, IPS OGS 294PPi
Camera:13 MP, 4128x3096 pixels, 5MP secondary
OS: Android OS 4.4.2
CPUO: Octa Core 1.4 GHz
GPU: Mali 450 Mp4
Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity,  G-Sensor
ROM: 16GB, RAM: 2GB
Battery: 2000 mAh

Price: Tk. 14,990/-