Recently, Hike has launched a smartphone in partnership with Airtel, which costs the same as a feature phone. We checked out this Intex Aqua Lions N1. With Airtel plan of this low priced smartphone effective price Is Rs 1,649. The main feature of the phone is Hike Total. This platform provides other facilities to the users like sending messages, receiving news without internet. How does this work? We found out in detail.
How is the phone and what is there in it, know…
design
Looking at the body and build quality, it can be guessed that the phone will be of low price. This phone with black color and plastic body is quite small according to today’s standards. Its weight is only 112 grams. The quality of the plastic used in it is also average, but due to the matte finish it does not look ‘too cheap’. The back has texture, which makes it easier to hold the phone. In the box, the user also gets a power adapter, data cable and a headphone. The company has tried to please the users by offering headphones at this price. The design of the phone could have been better, plus the micro USB connector doesn’t fit snugly into the phone’s port. Such shortcomings should have been removed.
The phone has a 4-inch display, which is equipped with 480×800 pixel resolution. This makes the text appear blurry. Viewing angles are also not that good. By rotating the phone left and right, the screen starts appearing black. The display and tempered glass are not connected to each other, the difference of which is clearly visible in terms of space. Besides, fingerprints also appear due to this. The edges of the phone are thick, the navigation buttons are not backlit. The phone does not have a notification LED or ambient light sensor but a front camera is provided. The volume and power buttons are on the right side of the phone. At the same time, headphone socket and micro-USB are present in the upper part of the phone.
The camera is provided in the middle part of the back of the phone, which is supported by the LED flash, which is just below the camera. There is space for the speaker at the bottom. The back cover of the phone can be removed. Also the battery can also be removed. There are 2 micro SIM slots, one microSD card slot inside. It is possible to use a card up to 128 GB in it. Overall, the Intex Aqua Lions N1 is a simple cheap Android phone.
Intex Aqua Lions N1 Specifications and Features
The hardware of the phone is also fine. It has quad core MediaTek MT6737V processor. 1 GB RAM is available for Jugalbandi. The storage is 8 GB. FM radio, GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are also available in the phone but the handset does not support USB-OTG. It has only two sensors – accelerometer and proximity. On the other hand, the handset supports 4G VoLTE. The performance of the phone was poor on the benchmark site.
Now coming to the performance of the phone. It runs on Hike Total, which is a custom version of Android. Just like Indus OS. Hike Total is a platform specifically designed for the Indian market. It supports 8 Indian languages and is capable of providing some services without an internet connection.
Hike hasn’t ‘matched’ the UI of Android Nougat much, it’s pretty much like stock Android. The left-home screen contains offline apps. These also include some important apps like bus tickets and game of the day. You can also try the app by selecting it from the rising bubble. To use the offline app, you will have to get your Airtel SIM verified by creating a Total account.
You will be able to use the apps on which the star appears offline. Currently, apps like Cricket, Recharge, Hike Wallet, Rail Info, News, Messaging, Offline UPI, Total Data Pack are available for offline use. We tried the app offline with a postpaid Airtel SIM and the experience was good. These apps will have to be used like USSD codes. Exactly the same process, through which we will be able to check balance from the phone.
Through the Hike Messenger app, users will be able to chat with friends on Hike. It also works like a common SMS app. Before sending the message, it checks the presence of other users on Hike. After this it switches to the chat interface. However, in our investigation this did not work, we just sent a regular SMS. If you want to take this service then you will have to download Google Messenger app.
Hike Messenger also works offline. With this you can send text messages and stickers without an internet connection. If you want to send pictures or any large file, you will have to purchase data packs. The data packs for Hike Total phones are separate and heavily discounted but are valid only for Airtel users. There is a plan of Rs 1 for 20 MB, which lasts for 1 day. Whereas for 1 GB data you will have to spend Rs 49. Its validity is for 28 days. However, it has not been made clear as to how long these data pack prices will remain valid. As soon as you open Hike Messenger, you are warned to purchase a data pack. All other apps which do not run without internet connection start showing errors when used for free.
To buy these packs, only Hike Wallet option is left. You get a bonus of up to Rs 200 after completing the KYC process. You will have to submit Aadhar Card, Driving License or any government certified identity card. Apart from this, you get pre-installed apps of My Airtel and Wynk Music. However, these are not permanent, you can remove them also. There are some changes to the Settings app, which we have previously seen in budget smartphones with MediaTek processors. These have Dura Speed, with the help of which the app keeps running in the background. Also, SOS button can be configured with its help.
camera and battery
Generally Android phones equipped with 1 GB RAM do not perform that well. The same problem arises with Android Nougat also. 80 percent of RAM is used, you are left with 174 MB. Due to this, Android gets stuck and apps also take time to open. Forget better performance for 3D games. At some places the phone interface worked fast but later the same slowness was seen again.
Due to poor touch response, fingers often stumble on the keyboard. The response of the keys is also slow. However, we did not face any problem with 4G VoLTE support in the phone. Also, the call quality on earphones was better. The phone is capable of providing 1080 pixel video, but the viewing angle and poor contrast of the small screen spoils the work. The speaker is also not loud. Alert feature is fine. The headphones are fine, it would be dishonest to expect better than this.
There is a 2 megapixel fixed focus camera in the rear of the handset. The front camera is 0.3 megapixel. Photos taken during the day were being overexposed. The clarity of the picture is missing and the colors are not good either. In low light the picture remains grainy and unclear. You will get common shooting modes like panorama and face beautification features in it. The phone supports video recording up to a maximum of 720 pixels. The quality is good enough to be used. The front camera has VGA resolution, due to which the phone is capable of taking better photos.
The phone has a 1400 mAh battery, which fails to last the whole day even with normal use. After 11-12 hours, you will have to run towards the charger. We found that the battery drains very quickly once it gets to 15 percent, so it’s important to keep it on battery saver mode. The phone took a long time to charge. Could charge only 80 percent in 3 hours. The phone lasted 5 hours and 28 minutes in our HD video loop test, which is a very poor performance.
Decision
The Intex Aqua Lions N1 is proof that there is a dire need for a better low-cost phone in the market. Android can’t do anything amazing with 1 GB RAM. At such a low price, an Android Go phone like Jio Phone or Micromax Bharat is better. The Hike Total platform is an interesting one, which will appeal to users who do not want to have a data pack. The phone is for those who like to ‘take as much as they give’. The advantage for Hike is that the number of users on its wallet and messaging platform will increase with the help of this phone.