14 DAY TRIAL // We reported over the weekend on Micromax’ plans to launch the affordable Canvas Juice A77 in the next couple of days, and now the Indian company silently released a completely different smartphone, the A116i.
We had no previous info on the Micromax A116i and the smartphone hasn’t even been officially introduced in India, but AndroidOS reports the device is now available for purchase via major online retailers.
Given the fact Micromax has yet to officially announce the A116i, most retailers sell the smartphone for various prices. Customers can get the phone for as low as Rs 12,100 ($195 / €140), while some authorized resellers offer the device for no less than Rs 13,500 ($215 / €160) outright.
Micromax A116i seems to be the sequel to the popular A116, which was released with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box.
Even though the latest model comes with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean platform onboard, Micromax has already offered the same update for A116 owners so this will not be worth the upgrade.
As expected, Micromax A116i provides users with dual-SIM capability, as well as 3G connectivity. The phone’s 5-inch capacitive touchscreen display supports HD (1280 x 720 pixels) resolution, but doesn’t feature Corning Gorilla Glass coating due to pricing constraints.
Furthermore, the smartphone comes equipped with a quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, a PowerVR SGX 544 graphics processing unit and 1GB of RAM.
No word on the amount of storage, but the A116i allows users to add microSD cards for memory expansion (up to 32GB). There’s also an 8-megapixel main camera on the back, which features autofocus and video recording, as well as a secondary VGA front-facing camera for video calls.
Other highlights of the Micromax A116i include: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, GPS with A-GPS support, FM Radio, 3.5mm audio jack and 2000 mAh Li-Ion battery.