I got my Micromax Q5 on 20-feb-2010. I would like to share my experiences and points of view regarding this much-hyped phone.
First things First
PROS of Q5
1.Good looks and body build quality
2.Rich interface and ease of use for basic applications with superb track-ball navigation.
3.Decent Battery ( comes to around full 36 - 48 hours with full use)
4.USB charger and PC suite.
5.Slick connectivity to internet(courtesy Opera Mini) and pre-loaded GPRS settings for all MAJOR telecom GSMs
6.Facebook, yahoo, gtalk, msn etc pre loaded.
7.Soft and intelligently laid out QWERTY keypad.
8.3.5 mm jack, Decent Camera and Yamaha powered music player(for this price)
9.Speed and movement of control through the phone
- 1000 contact address book
Now comes the better part.
CONS
1.Phone is Dual SIM - Dual Standby (Read definition below) :-P
2.Major interface mistakes. (for simplest of options like making calls or changing ringtones, u need to jog around the phone)
3.Hard-coded features (only 5 ringtones can be used from your personal memory)
4.Tooooo heavy vibration!!
5.Bad and amateur design of many applications.
The phone was really impressive when I saw it and was definitely better than all the china mobiles and all the mobiles from micromax.
What got me was the rich styling and no-compromise steel-black body. The track ball was amazing and the phone looked just too cool.
I got this phone cause I needed a dual-sim phone.. but my frends started complaining that while I was on call on one SIM the other SIM was unavailable. When
I mailed the micromax email support. This is what I got. I felt like a JAck-Ass to say the least......
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for your mail.
With reference to your Query we would like to inform you that Q5 is a Dual sim Dual standby phone as it is mentioned on our website as well which means that you can insert both the Sims but can use only one at a time as the other one would be not available.
For more informations you can log onto micromaxinfo.com
For any further assistance feel free to contact MMX Support.
Thanks &Regards
Neha
MMX Support
0124-4811000
So there goes my basic necessity. SO I got two sims. One phone.. u can use only ONE SIM at a time. The other will be COMPLETELY deactivated. No calls no messages. I am mincing no words here.
I need to activate the missed call alert facility. I was further enraged when they said the Phone does not support Virgin GSM mobile's GPRS connection. I am trying to configure it manually
OK next.... all the basics.......
Call quality purely depends on the network you use... otherwise signal reception is quite good.
Messaging is quite convenient and comfortable with the qwerty keypad... if you use system often. It took me less than 5 minutes to settle down to the keypad.
Good internet accessiblity and User-friendly opera browser that fires off like a raging bull. Well laid and phone friendly sites like twitter are sparkling nice to use!
Very Frankly it is much better to access facebook from Opera rather than from the Facebook application from Micromax :-P
Camera is good. At least it is really 2MP :-)
Good ring/Speaker/Call volume - Cant complain
Phone comes with a nice rubber pouch that sticks around and avoids any possiblity of scratches on the body.
Interface to system is no-fuss (though I am facing problems with the PC suite)
Update(3.3.2010) :PC suite is good.. though the interface and software look at least 10 years old.. All you need to do is when u connect your phone to the internet, select COM port in the phone and open PC suite. If phone shows connected at the bottom left of your screen, then done, else Select "settings" in the PC Suite and choose a different COM Port number. It should work!!
But then there are Major Irritants.......
Ok now, I did get a cheap phone.. so I didnt expect much.. but then.. there are somethings that really frustrate you. Only 5 of your personal mp3 songs/tones can be moved to the 'ringtones' menu to be used. Remember Nokia 1100? u used to get tones from friends and store them right? That too you must have had space for only 7 tones. Exactly the same case. AND you cant just click on a song and set as ringtone.
Message tones cant be used from our personal memory and we have to use the in-built tones like it or not!!
I am not able to set one sim as the primary sim... as a result you need to cross 5-6 screens everytime you send a message. Phone book looks hastily-laid out and so is a little tough to use.
Other features:
The Facebook, Gtalk, yahoo are all individually configurable. GPRS settings need to be set separately for each of them. What??? I am not saying anything.. it depends on how you see it. The music files need to be added to My Music folder that magically gets created in your Micro-SD memory card. Any files outside will not be read or recognized by the player. The music player seems like something designed by a 10-year old. It is so fussy to use and even inside the player, if you click a music file, the interface prompts up asking you what you want to do with it.
The clarity of music, effects in the likes of Reverb, Equaliser, 3-D surround are surprisingly good. Hands-free Ear phones are decent. Yamaha? Well maybe. But who cares anyway? Got this phone at ameerpet cell phone complex. for Rs.4400. Must say a decent deal. Had they looked a little deeper for some simple ideas with an idea of a better, crisp interface, this phone would have been a hand - bomb!!
The entire kit contains
1.Handset
2.Charger
3.USB cable/Charger
4.Rubber pouch
5.Manuals
6.Hands-Free
Update - Ppl I had to sell my phone due to circumstances by June itself. Now I am making an update.. Pls DO NOT go for this phone!! I sold to a guy who I came to know, Now there are lot of complaints in the phone - the major one being the track ball. The track ball is really proving to be a menace it seems. So please re-consider if you are going for this phone!
My suggestion is the less-featured but technologically superior Samsung DUOS brand phones. Please inform your phones. The SAR rate is also too high!! pls take care
