The Karbonn A21 was launched a couple of months back , as part of their "duple series".
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| A21 Front. |
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| A21 Back { Black Model } |
You must have seen it in one of the ads Karbonn aired by them.
Priced Rs.8999 @ Flipkart , & similar in my neighborhood, It seems a pretty powerful device .
The Specification of the Device is:
Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8625 Dual Core Cortex-A5 CPU ,
512 MB of RAM ,
4GB Internal memory,
expandable up-to 32 GB.
The Screen size is 4.5 inch , has a resolution of 960x540.
The Chipset is the same as on my Karbonn A9+ , so I wanted to know if this device is any better in other aspects.
The Phone feels pretty big in the hands , the back finish seems good ,almost has a rubberry feel to it.
The viewing angles may not be as good as the A9+ , still the screen quality looks good .
Lets see if this phone is worth its 9,000 rupees price tag.
Flipkart Pricing - Rs.8999.Interface:
The Lock screen is stock , with no customization done.
The Home screen {except the Wallpaper} is all stock ICS again , which is a pretty good thing.
The Device Runs on Android ICS 4.0.4
The Notification panel can be pulled from the top , & it is has got shortcuts for WiFi , GPS , etc..
The Dialor is a bit customized , but looks neat overall.
I used the phone for a pretty short amount of time , but the few calls i made had no problems {in voice quality}.I used an Idea & a Uninor Sim.
The app Drawer has not been customized , but I don't know why but browsing through the App Drawer & the Home Screens showed a bit of Lag.
The Keyboard on the A21 is stock
& therefore is better than the one on the A9+.
Overall , the Device is better in terms of Screen size , Keyboard than the A9+.
But when it comes to Screen Quality , the A9+ is better.Also I am yet to encounter any lag while browsing through the Home Screen {7 of them,with widgets on everyone of them} & the App Drawer on my phone {Karbonn A9+}.
Video Playback
I did got it to play some videos , but as with the A9+ , it just could not handle 720p videos.
The Converted videos {800x480} , which ran on my A9+ ran smoothly on the A21 . It should handle videos @ 960x540 {Its native resolution}.
Internet
Browsing the Internet was smooth , the Big screen makes it pretty easy to switch through Tabs.
Benchmarks
I Ran some Benchmarks on the Device , & the results were pretty similar to the results on A9+.
Quadrant Sandard
CPU , GPU & Sensors Info from Quadrant.
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| Sensors |
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| CPU & Memory |
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| GPU Info |
Nenamark 2
29.2 Fps is a bit higher than the Mediatek dual core Chipsets , but lower than the A9+ { because of the higher resolution}
Linpack Single & Multi Thread
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| Multi-Thread |
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| Single-Thread |
Antutu
Gaming
Gaming is one aspect where the 4.5" screen really comes into play.
The Big screen is really helpful in Games like GT3,VC, etc. where there are many controls on the screen.
GTA 3
GTA VC
Angry Birds
Real Racing 2
Battery Life
The device stayed with me for less than a day , so i did not get any chance to test the battery life of the Phone . But it looked like i could last a day on moderate usage.
Verdict
The Phone is pretty good , overall.It has a powerful chipset , therefore good for gaming.The Camera is good too { identical to the one on A9+}.
The phone seems to be worthy of the 9k price tag , & if you can live with the slight lag that may be encountered here & there, This a very good phone .
Before buying it , do keep in mind that it is a pretty large phone { not as big as the MMX Canvas } .
If a 4 inch screen is your choice , then pick the Karbonn A9+ for a thousand rupees less. { Rs.8,000}
