This review of the Spice Mi-410 phone is not our first encounter with a handset from the company. You’ve seen us tinker around with the Spice Popkorn M9000 and Spice M-67 previously. We’re taking a look at what they can do with touchscreens and a sprinkling of Gingerbread now. Though it may have been advertised with Froyo or Android 2.2 initially, it’s already been at the receiving end of an upgrade and a review unit running Gingerbread 2.3.4 was what we tore out of the package mailed to us.
The Spice Mi-410 arrives in a grey and yellow hued box with images of the phone and a man caught in the middle of an awkward dance step. You wouldn’t know that the handset managed to cadge an invite into the Android 2.3.4 club by merely looking at the box, so you’ll need to invoke the Settings tab to see for yourself. Apart from the device itself, only a pair of earphones and a microUSB charging cable come tumbling out of the packaging. There’s no software CD or SD card or power charger for hooking it up to a wall outlet.
When we say that this handset is a ‘slab’ of Gingerbread, we mean what we say and say what we mean. If you have a slab of chocolate in one hand and the Spice Mi-410 in the other, chances are you’ll crack your teeth on the latter at least once. It’s a good thing the brown shades flowing throughout the exterior are of a brownish-black color as opposed to a coco brown hue. The battery and microSD card compartment takes up most of the rear panel. There’s no way to discover the model name by inspecting the exterior since Spice CSL and 5.0 megapixel beside the camera lens are the only volunteers of information on the surface.
We pry open the battery cover while complaining about a bit of suffering for our nails and see that Mi-410 is scribbled on the 1,400mAh Li-ion battery inserted into this compartment. Offering some more trouble to our nails is the power on/off or phone lock/unlock hardkey clinging to the left side. A headset jack, microUSB port, HDMI D-type connector and volume rocker also line the edges. The speakers are positioned on both sides of the device, somewhere towards the base. Additionally, a couple of sensors and a front camera are visible on the bezel too.
When we turn it on ‘Cherry Mobile Values Your Lifestyle’ and then the green Android man hold our attention for a few seconds before letting us into its world. Tactile buttons for Back, Menu, Home and Search are lined along below the screen and yet again, Call, Menu and Home widgets are placed at the base of the display area. The touchscreen stretched across the front happens to be a 4” HVGA TFT LCD and there are various ways of not letting anyone else fiddle with it by keeping it locked with a password, numeric PIN or pattern. Tip – the last mentioned option does not ensure safety from unauthorized access.
This could have something to do with the fact that the display is a chump for fingerprints, greasy or non-greasy. Meaning any pattern you draw will probably be easily traceable, especially if you simply unlock the phone and then leave it lying around, even though you may have set it to get locked automatically. The touchscreen is pretty responsive and rarely makes you suffer from any freezing up issues. It’s just brilliant for web browsing, with accommodation of zooming and smooth scrolling gestures. Images as well as text come off really crisp and bright and the screen’s viewable in almost any lighting condition, though it does tend to fade ever so slightly under direct sunlight.
The only itch we felt very often was the on/off or phone lock/unlock button. You have to press down very hard on it to invoke any of the functions and the screen shows a little hesitation with responding to the unlock command most of the time. The sheer size of the display means there’s plenty of space for a keypad, TouchPal and Android featuring among the options. The virtual keyboard is your only option for typing out mails or messages. But we’re not going to complain because the keyboard is comfortable enough to type away on even if it does take some time getting used to.
The Spice Mi-410 lets us surf the web over 3G without any hitches and it even allows us to hook it up to Wi-Fi, set up a mobile hotspot or share the phone’s mobile data connection over USB. The call quality is crystal clear and the ‘answer with a swipe’ function has a certain annoying proclivity towards fat fingers. We’re saying this because we haven’t yet managed to pick up a call using our skinny little index finger. For music and videos, the audio quality varies with the surface the handset is placed on. A flat, hard surface makes the speakers sound like they’ve been muffled by a very chubby hand or something similar. The sound gets better when the phone is seated on our lap.
On the other hand, the audio is pleasant through a pair of earphones whether you’re listening to the radio or watching stuff on YouTube. If there was an extremely thin digital camera, we’d probably want it to fit into the 66mm x 122mm x 10mm dimensions this device boasts of falling under. Speaking of the camera, it’s not a friend of shaky hands at all. Pictures turn out fine at 5MP, but the slightest shake or a fast movement (imperceptible though it may be to the human eyes) and your photo or video is ruined. And we’d rather not comment on the quality of the front facing camera for fear of hurting its feelings.
To sum it up, the Spice Mi-410 is a capable contestant in the Android smartphone market. It’s snazzy-looking, quick, good for an entire day of normal usage, has up to 32GB expandable memory and sports a large, responsive screen. We’re happy to give it an 8 out of 10 rating. Been convinced to buy the phone? You’ll have to drop Rs. 13,999 in cold, hard cash for it.
