Symphony Mobile became the hot topic not just in Bangladesh but around the world after search giant Google announced that its Android One initiative was making its way Bangladesh. Though technically Micromax was the first to bring its Canvas A1 Android One smartphone in Bangladesh, Symphony got the bigger credit simply because it was the first homegrown manufacturer to launch an Android One smartphone.
We’re gonna spare the introduction to Android One initiative and why it’s important to Google and users because we’ve already written about this. Today we’re going to talk about what Symphony Android One smartphone, model no. Symphony Roar A50 looks and feels like. In this hands-on review, we’re going to dive down into the phone and see what it’s capable of.
(READ: Google reveals Android 5.1 Lollipop for Android One smartphones)
Unlike most other reviews that you will see on the web, we are going to write this review based on experience. How the handset feels like to hold, how it performs, what we think about this device and so on. So you will get a reflection of real-world experience based on real-world usage instead of regular reviews that are mostly based on hardware specifications alone.
So, without further ado, let’s see what Symphony Roar A50 Android One has to offer.
This post also appears in Bangla on Android Kothon.
Table of Content
- Build quality and Design
- Display and Touch and Hardware Performance
- Interface and Camera
- Gaming Performance, Benchmark and Music Quality
- Software, Internet, Pros and Cons
Symphony Roar A50 Hardware Specs
Like always, here are the hardware specification for Symphony Roar A50. You will notice that it’s not very different from Micromax Canvas A1 which was the first Android One phone released in India back in September.
- Processor: Cortex A7, 1.3 GHz Quad-Core
- Graphics Processing: Mali 400 MP2
- RAM: 1 GB
- ROM: 8 GB
- Camera: 5 MP rear and 2 MP front
- Display: 4.5” FWVGA IPS (480 x 854)
- Connectivity: 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS
- SIM: Dual-SIM (Both micro SIM)
- Sensors: Light, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, G-Sensor, Proximity Sensor
- Battery: 1780 mAh
- System: Android 4.4.4 KitKat
- Price: 8,700 Taka
You can already see that for a price tag of 8,700 Taka, the device is not so bad. There may be better phones from other manufacturers, but what makes Symphony Roar A50 special is the simple fact that it will receive Android updates from Google. Symphony and other local brands do sometimes release updates to their phones, but the updates are almost never confirmed when those phones come out.
With Android One smartphone, you are confirmed to get 2 years of Android update from Google. For a low-cost smartphone, that is kind of a big deal.
Video Review
Video review is not complete just yet, therefore until the review is ready and published, the teaser video is embedded here.
Design and Build Quality
The first thing that you will notice about this phone is how lightweight it is. I’ve had friends who held the smartphone and their first impression was, “Is the battery inserted?”
They are right to be surprised. Symphony Roar A50 Android One smartphone is extremely lightweight. At 132 X 66 X 9.1 mm dimension (specifics from Symphony website) It’s considerably lighter than my first generation Moto G dual-SIM phone which is lighter than any other smartphone I have previously owned.
Let’s talk about the button placement of the device. Like most of the Android phones out there, both power button and volume rockers are placed on the right side of the phone. On the upper side there is 3.5mm headset jack and on the lower side is the micro-USB port which also acts as the charging port. There is nothing to fiddle with on the left side of the phone.
The backside of Symphony Roar A50 comes off pretty easily. So much that you could mistake it thinking it was damaged. Or perhaps that’s because the backside of my Moto G is difficult to take off. However, that’s not the only difference between the two phones. While Moto G has a user non-removable battery inside, the battery on Symphony Roar A50 is removable. In fact, it’s required to remove the battery if you want to insert SIM cards or microSD memory card.
Another positive side of the back cover of Symphony Roar A50 is that it’s neither slippery nor sticky. It’s made of good old plastic material, not rubberized. While rubberized back covers are easier to hold in hand, there is one disadvantage. If you have a sweaty hand, the backside can easily become sticky which can be an annoying thing. I don’t have a sweaty hand, but the back cover of my Moto G does often get sticky. That problem is non-existent with the back cover of Symphony Roar A50. It’s pleasing to hold and comfortable to use.
At the time of the purchase, Symphony Roar A50 was equipped with a free 8GB microSD memory card. It supports up to 32GB of memory card in there. But one significant change that this dual-SIM smartphone will force you to make is cut your SIM card size. If you are still using a phone that takes a full-sized SIM card, buying Symphony Roar A50 will mean you have to cut the SIM card. Both of the SIM slots on Symphony Roar A50 take micro SIM cards. So that’s something to keep in mind before you go out shopping for the phone.
The speaker of the device is placed on the back and on the front size. The touch sensitive buttons are perfectly aligned at the bottom of the device’s screen taking no more than necessary place. The bezels around the screen are neither too narrow nor too wide. Overall, the design, build quality, look and feel of the device just feels perfect for a phone of this price.
Before we wrap up the talk about build quality, let me just say, for those interested, that this phone is apparently rebranded from an Indonesian phone Mito Impact A10 which is also released under Android One banner. It wasn’t until we posted this review and then started getting some visitors from Indonesia who later told us that this was the case.
