OptimaSmart OPS 45Q
Street Price: Rs 6500

Rage mobiles, part of Sunstrike Telecom India, has unveiled an Android phone in the already crowded budget segment. Dubbed 45Q, this handset belongs to OptimaSmart series. It's a handy device with a 4.5-inch screen. Backed by a quad-core processor, it's specifications look good on paper. However, does it stand a chance against the Moto E and Lumia 630?

Design And Build
There's not much here to talk about here, as the phone features a generic design. Think of any sub-10k Micromax, Karbonn, Celkon device, and you'll get an idea of what this phone looks like. Such resemblance is expected since most domestic brands get their phones manufactured by the same OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) in China.

The plastic used in construction feels terribly cheap. It weighs in only 114 grams, which is mostly due to bad build quality. The back panel has a Samsung-inspired faux leather stitch pattern. It also has a textured rubberised feel to it to help with the grip. However, during my week's usage, the textured layer started peeling off. It has an unusual tendency to retain the dust stains. Within a couple of days, the original cover had changed its colour from white to light yellow. Thankfully, Rage mobiles has thrown in a flip-cover. It has some basic smart-cover features. The proximity sensors sitting near the front-facing camera detects the closed cover and locks the phone. Similarly, it lights up the screens once you open it.

The company tries so hard to be Samsung that the 45Q even has a fake-chrome strip on its edges. As is the case with most Samsung phones. expect this metal finish to fade away within a month. All in all, the phone is disappointing in terms of design and sturdiness.

Display
The 45Q features a 4.5-inch screen with 480x960 pixels. Although Rage doesn't mention it, the company seems to be using an IPS panel as the colour reproduction is good and viewing angles are wide. Moreover, the display is impressively bright for an entry-level smartphone. What's missing here is the scratch-resistant layer. To make up for that the phone ships with a screen guard.

Key Specs
Like any entry-level Android smartphone, this one packs in a shady MediaTek MT 6572 quad-core chipset clocked 1.3 GHz. It has an 8 megapixel camera, 4 GB internal storage (1.3 GB user accessible), microSD card slot, and 1500 mAh battery. Rage has duly covered a 2 megapixel front-facing camera for selfies.

User Interface
The device features Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) out-of-the-box. The user interface is highly modified. It feature MIUI-esque icons, whereas settings menu is inspired by the iOS. You also get an on-screen clock with an uncanny resemblance to the old HTC Sense themes. What else would you want for Rs 8000?

Despite powered by a quad-core processor, the phone stutters throughout the menu navigation. Even simple tasks such as pulling down the notification bar happens to be sluggish. Moreover, apps crashes were frequent during the testing. It does lets you play most casual games, but the framerates are nothing to write home about. For reference, the synthetic benchmarking score are given below:

Multimedia
Its affordable price tag taken into consideration, the 45Q's sound output is quite acceptable. The phone also offers quite a few equaliser settings, but that doesn't help much. Moving onto video playback, the phone doesn't support many formats. However, we all know that a good app like MXPlayer gets rid of this problem. The deal-breaker here is that even with these third-party apps the HD (720p) playback turns out to be jerky.

Camera
It's good that Rage offers an 8 megapixel camera in this affordable segment. The snapper captures good amount of detail, provided that you have very steady hands. However, its colour reproduction if off. Especially, it produces purple tinge in black areas. Still, it's somewhat better than the recently reviewed Oppo Joy. Things go worse once the video recording feature kicks in. Although it does 720p, the frame-rate is hardly near 20 fps. Sometimes the snapper even fails to keep up with camera panning and fills in frames to make up for it.

Telephony And Messaging
The 45Q has two SIM slots — one micro SIM and another Mini. That's thoughtful. The phone's network reception was quite good. For some reasons, the company has messed-up the messaging layout. Check out the screenshot below to get the idea of what I'm talking about.

Battery Life
The phone packs in a 1500 mAh battery that easily lasts for more than a day and half. In our video loop test, it managed to power the device for almost 5 hours and 30 minutes. That’s pretty average for a budget Android device.

Verdict
Apart from its competitive pricing and a good display, I'm struggling to find anything positive about the 45Q. Especially, inconsistent performance and shoddy build quality are deal-breakers. The new wave of Android One phones from Micromax and Spice make the matters worse for the 45Q. So if you're looking for a budget smartphone, you're better off with the ZenFone 4 or one of the Android phones that cost Rs 6000.

Features: 3/5
Design And Build Quality: 1.5/5
Performance: 2/5
Value For Money: 3/5
Mojo: 2/5
Overall Rating: 2/5

TAGS: Mobile Phones, Android