Gladiator Kult Review: The meek sheep competing against Redmi, Moto G

Priced at Rs 6,999, the handset does not seem very attractive at the offered price

The Gladiator Kult smartphone, priced at Rs 6,999, made its debut on the online platform Amazon on Sunday (September 24), nearly a week after its official unveiling by the now two-year-old domestic smartphone maker.

Falling under the mid-range category of smartphones, the package involves an Android-powered handset along with a charger. This means that buyers would have to purchase earphones, handset cover/case and of course the screen guard separately, thereby, increasing the overall cost by at least Rs 1,000.

The VoLTE-enabled dual SIM handset has two micro SIM slots and one micro SD card slot. 

Running on Android Nougat 7.0, the phone comes with a fingerprint sensor on the back and has a couple of day-to-day friendly features such as the in-built Go2Pay feature that enables user to make phone, data card and D2H payments. The phone also comes with a twin SOS system with a panic button and an emergency rescue setting. The panic button can be activated by pressing the power button three times and an instant call is made to the emergency number 112. The emergency rescue setting allows users to send automatic message alerts and location points to select contacts.

Another unique feature is the SmartWake feature that basically provides easy access to applications through set letter or patterns. The letters, to be drawn in patterns on the phone’s screen, are shortcuts to open the music player, camera, e-mail, browser (Google Chrome), settings, sound records, application browser and FM radio.

Despite offering a 13 megapixel (MP) primary camera along with an LED flash, a light sensor and a high definition (HD) filter, the pictures clicked were blurred- a common problem with most domestically manufactures mid-range phones in India. As far as the 8 MP front or ‘selfie’ camera is concerned, images clicked are brighter but there is not much on the table in terms of quality.

The 4,000 mAh battery does not take too long to charge and lasts throughout the day. It also has a 64-bit Quad-Core processor, along with the ARM Mali-T720 650 MHz GPU for enhanced graphics.

The 5.5-inch display is definitely a boon enabling users to indulge in movie/video streaming without much strain on the eyes.

Final verdict: The handset does not seem very attractive at the offered price as the mid-range segment has a plethora of options by popular brands, including Xiaomi, Motorola Nokia and Samsung. Xiomi’s Redmi 4 and Motorola’s Moto G (4th generation), despite being priced a little higher at Rs 8,499 and Rs 8,999 at Amazon, would perhaps be a safer bet after the success of the respective series.