You probably would have, if you are an Indian. A cricket enthusiast. A tech enthusiast or even a budget keeper, partly because there seems to be absolutely nothing in the Indian market that seems to be a rival to Micromax mobile phones.
Well, I’m no advertiser for them, so let’s be fair in the judgement. I first came across the name a couple of years ago when I was following cricket teams in the Indian Premier League. A time when they went all frenzy with their advertisements. It just seemed to be everywhere. Boards, signs, TV, etc, etc…Yup, everywhere.
Beforehand, the most alien name I heard was Chinese company ‘Huawei’, who at this point seems all global and innovative. And no, I don’t stay in India. I was born and brought up in the Middle-East. Yeah, the place where all good stuff comes and goes.
Nevertheless, I am not very sure as to how much it is publisised and sought after, here in the GCC. But I do hear that they have their exclusive showrooms in Dubai and Oman.
Whatever it is. I have not seen anybody close to owning a mobile handset, carry one of those Micromaxes’. That’s probably because its all Samsung and Apple here. Still, we thought it was very much possible to find a guy who owned one.
Well, we just had to find him.
The start wasn’t very good for us, as people just shooed us away on hearing the term ‘Micromax’. They probably though I was playing ‘Star Trek’ with them. Still we went on the search, until we found our first. And to be honest, the guy was rather disappointing, because the only thing he told us summing up on his device was that it was “horrible”. We also couldn’t talk back or argue because we had no idea on what the device would be like.
He managed to tell us that his phone kept hanging, and that after a few months it had to be plugged in like a personal computer because the battery was too lazy to hold juice. That’s that, then we thought. But to just shoo away India’s best selling and leading mobile phone maker would just be stupid from our side. So we did a bit of photo searching before we found this.
Nevertheless, I am not very sure as to how much it is publisised and sought after, here in the GCC. But I do hear that they have their exclusive showrooms in Dubai and Oman.
Whatever it is. I have not seen anybody close to owning a mobile handset, carry one of those Micromaxes’. That’s probably because its all Samsung and Apple here. Still, we thought it was very much possible to find a guy who owned one.
Well, we just had to find him.
The start wasn’t very good for us, as people just shooed us away on hearing the term ‘Micromax’. They probably though I was playing ‘Star Trek’ with them. Still we went on the search, until we found our first. And to be honest, the guy was rather disappointing, because the only thing he told us summing up on his device was that it was “horrible”. We also couldn’t talk back or argue because we had no idea on what the device would be like.
He managed to tell us that his phone kept hanging, and that after a few months it had to be plugged in like a personal computer because the battery was too lazy to hold juice. That’s that, then we thought. But to just shoo away India’s best selling and leading mobile phone maker would just be stupid from our side. So we did a bit of photo searching before we found this.
This is a Micromax A50 Ninja. And firstly, this thing has nothing in common to associate it with a Ninja. It comes in white, possesses no stealth features or anything that would help it pull away from the rivals at Nokia and Samsung. The A50 not-a-Ninja calls itself a smartphone and has a 3.2 inch capacitive screen with a 2.0 mega-pixel flashless-camera. It runs on Ginger-Bread OS and has a 650Mhz processor running underneath. Nothing VERY interesting here then, excepting the 35 Omani Riyal or US $93 price tag. But I did hear that the phone packs in a voice recognition software called A.I.S.H.A, to mimic Nokia’s Vlingo voice (input only) or even the smart Siri in the iPhone 4S.
Secondly, again after a few clicks I came across the rather simple looking X11i not-so-smart phone that is designed to take the Nokia 101, 100 or C1. So the features?... It hasn’t got any. Let me sum it up. No internet, no games, no flash, no Bluetooth, no infrared, no USB port, no GPS, no JAVA, no life, no nothing. All it has is a plastic piece enclosing two SIM cards that claims to live for 720 hours for 30-days before you have to plug it into the plug forever like your PC.
I also saw the Micromax Funbook P300 tablet which, at this point seems to be a name-saver and a rather good buy at US $150 or 57 Omani Riyals. It reportedly runs on a1.2 Ghz Cortex A8 processor and Android ICS. The screen measures at 7.0 inches and supports multi-touch. It also claims to play back 2160p videos via the LCD (well, I’m sure 2160p exists, but I wasn’t aware).
MARUTI 800...MADE IN INDIA...
Sounds a good deal then? I don’t think so. All the above mentioned devices have their own part to play in the Indian or any other market, alongside the best in the business. Nevertheless, these products are made in India, which is not exactly the by-word for quality. See their cars and bikes. They don’t usually flare well outside home. (I’m not insulting Indian goods. There are a lots of fantastic stuff out there).
Also known is that the chips and various electronic components running in the devices are made in China before being put together in India. Again, we can never be too sure on the safety of the devices. Radiation and issues like that seriously plague such materials, and I’m not aware of any work that has gone into creating a safe product for the masses at such low costs. Surely, there has to be a catch. And that’s what gets me.
I am not exactly biased against the company in this article of mine. But all that stupid, worthless and senseless ads on Indian television really had to be addressed. There is no point of winning over audience by simply misusing the media.
Another serious and disturbing fact is that, this company has made it mainstream over a span of just 3-4 years.
Now there’s no point of continuing. But we at alvinemman.com are sure that a lot more work will be done in the years to come, but for that like any Indian company will require a lot of reforms. Well, lets give them the start. Go buy Nokia’s and Samsung’s.
Well, If you have something to say on how ‘GREAT’ your Micromax phone is, just leave us a confidential message here…
Also known is that the chips and various electronic components running in the devices are made in China before being put together in India. Again, we can never be too sure on the safety of the devices. Radiation and issues like that seriously plague such materials, and I’m not aware of any work that has gone into creating a safe product for the masses at such low costs. Surely, there has to be a catch. And that’s what gets me.
I am not exactly biased against the company in this article of mine. But all that stupid, worthless and senseless ads on Indian television really had to be addressed. There is no point of winning over audience by simply misusing the media.
Another serious and disturbing fact is that, this company has made it mainstream over a span of just 3-4 years.
Now there’s no point of continuing. But we at alvinemman.com are sure that a lot more work will be done in the years to come, but for that like any Indian company will require a lot of reforms. Well, lets give them the start. Go buy Nokia’s and Samsung’s.
Well, If you have something to say on how ‘GREAT’ your Micromax phone is, just leave us a confidential message here…
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