XOLO One Review

When Google launched the Android One platform with few Indian OEMs including Micromax, Karbonn and Spice, XOLO couldn’t get on board. But XOLO has made sure that there is a good device to compete the Android One Platform by launching the XOLO One. The XOLO One has similar specs as that of Android One phones and comes with 4.5inch FWVGA display and is powered by 1.3Ghz Quad Core MediaTek processor with 1GB RAM. The phone supports dual SIM and comes with 8GB internal storage which is expandable.

The device runs on Android 4.4 KitKat, but is upgradable to Android Lollipop. It also comes with a 5MP rear camera and a VGA front camera. Here is the detailed review of the device and we check out whether this device is a better buy than the Android One phones.

Related Reading: XOLO One Unboxing

Here is the video review of the device.

Design and Build:

One thing striking about the XOLO One is the design. Unlike the normal budget or low end devices with uninspiring design and quality, the XOLO One stands out with a unique slim design and great finishing. The device is designed such a way that bezels are made small and you get a feeling that the device is pretty small even though it has a the same display size of Canvas A1 and ASUS Zenfone 4 (A450CG).

The device comes with power button on the right side and volume keys on the left. The micro USB charging slot and the 3.5mm audio jack sits on the top. The rear panel has the 5MP fixed focus camera with LED flash. The rear cover has a leather finish giving good grip on the device. It also gives a premium feel.

The front panel has the 4.5inch FWVGA display and three capacitive touch buttons at the bottom. There is also a front facing VGA camera on the top. Overall, we were impressed with the design and build quality of the device.

Display:

The device comes with a 4.5inch FWVGA IPS display which has a pixel density of 218 PPI. While the resolution of the display is pretty low, it doesn’t really look like one. The display is pretty vibrant and has good colors and gives a good feel while using it. One of the main issues with the low end devices is that the display feels dull, but not the case with XOLO One.

The viewing angles are also pretty decent and so is the sunlight readability. The phone also comes with ambient light sensor. The touch response of the display is fairly good although at times when pulling the notification center, you have to pull it twice.

Software and Performance:

XOLO One runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat and is meant to compete with Android One platform, which means it will get the latest update. XOLO has promised that the XOLO One will get the Android Lollipop or Android 5.0 update, but there is no mention on the time frame. The software on the phone is more or less like stock UI with very little customization. The phone has two different types of launcher, one with the looks of KitKat and one with the UI of Jelly Bean.

The notification center has the same set of options you would see on a device powered by MediaTek processor.

There isn’t any customizations in the device and the phone feels pretty fast. Powering the device is MediaTek 6582M  1.3 GHz Quad Core processor with 1GB RAM. The performance is pretty good and we didn’t see any sort of lag while using it. Multitasking was also fine on the device. The gaming experience although was not the best, it was better than Micromax Canvas A1 as the display was more vibrant.

The phone comes with 8GB internal storage out of which internal storage makes up for 1.97GB while phone storage comes to around 4.07GB. This is one good advantage of the device as most of the Android One offering gives only 4GB storage. The storage is expandable via microSD card.

The call quality on the device is pretty decent and we didn’t have any issues with dropped calls or signal strength. The speaker quality is just average and there are other devices with better audio output. The phone comes with dual SIM card support and has dedicated section to manage the SIM cards. XOLO has added two useful apps- Xolo Power and Xolo secure.

Xolo Power helps you get the better out of the battery with different modes and the secure app protects your phone by backing up data to the cloud.

Camera:

The phone comes with 5MP rear camera with fixed focus and LED flash. There is also a VGA front facing camera. The camera is the weakest aspect of the phone. Although many of the entry level phones have only 5MP camera, devices like Redmi 1S, Honor Holly have better camera and now it is really difficult to sell a phone with a fixed focus camera.

The photos taken using the phone looks washed out and colors are out of sync. With the fixed focus, macro shots are totally out of focus and they are blurred. The low light and night photos are also not impressive. The interface of the phone camera is similar to any other phone with a MediaTek processor and has good set of options. It can record videos in 1080P, but the quality is again not impressive. If you are looking for an entry level phone with decent camera, you should be skipping this one.

Here are some of the samples from the 5MP fixed focus camera.

Battery Life:

The phone comes with 1700mAh battery which is similar to any other entry level phone in terms of capacity. With average usage which includes few calls, SMS, browsing, casual gaming and also using social networking apps, you should be able to get a day of usage. Along with this the XOLO Power app should help you get a better battery life from the device.

Verdict:

Priced at Rs 6599/- MRP, the phone is a decent competitor to Android One devices. While XOLO One excels in design and build, the camera is one of the weakest links on the phone. If you are not worried about the camera, XOLO One is a decent buy with good performance and guaranteed Android Lollipop update.