M812: Focus on performance

The M812 is reliable but needs to deliver more to catch the customer's attention

"When did you get the 6 plus?" asked a friend incredulously knowing very well my aversion to extremely big screen phones. I flipped the phone to show my friend that it's not Apple's iPhone 6 Plus but InFocus' latest phone M812. As you would've guessed, the M812 looks pretty much exactly like the iPhone 6 Plus. For some it might just be a good thing but beyond being an iPhone lookalike, what does the phone have to offer? Read on:

The M812 is a good-looking phone and comes with a metal body. It looks like a "premium" phone and is quite solid and sturdy. The all-metal body, however, makes it on the heavier side. The plastic bands and the 4G logo on the back of the phone though are a bit of an eyesore. It's a dual-SIM phone that can hold a Micro-SIM in one slot while in the other you can put a Nano-SIM or a micro SD card. So if you're planning to use two SIM cards then you will have to settle for the 16GB onboard memory only.

On the inside, the M812 is a powerful phone that comes with a quad core Snapdragon 801 SoC, 3GB RAM and 4G LTE. It runs on Android 5.0.2 and delivers pretty solid performance. Gaming on the phone is a breeze and not once do you feel the phone slowing down when you're using multiple apps. On performance, the M812 scores quite high.

The 5.5-inch display gives you a 1080x1920 pixel resolution but somehow doesn't look that bright. It certainly washes out a bit when put under direct sunlight. The 13-megapixel (MP) camera, though covers up the slight flaws in the display as it shoots extremely good pictures - especially close up shots. There are several modes and one thing I noticed was that the pictures tend to take a second or two more to click once you change the modes. The 8MP front-facing camera is sure to delight the selfie brigade.

The highlight of the phone, however, is its excellent battery life. The 2,900 mAh battery runs for more than 12 hours quite easily despite heavy usage. Batteries generally wilt under such heavy usage but the M812 delivers commendable battery performance. The review unit which we got didn't come with any accessories but a headset, charger and cable comes in the phone box.

At Rs 19,999 (available only on Snapdeal), the M812 faces tough competition from the Moto X Play and might just feel the heat from Xiaomi and OnePlus One. At this price point, you expect a smartphone to check almost all the boxes. InFocus' M812 delivers solid performance, good looks - if you're a fan of metal body phones - and a good camera. However, the display does leave you a bit disappointed and the weight of the phone is also a bit of a downer. Overall, for a brand trying to make inroads into the market, InFocus will need to do a lot better to get noticed in an already crowded segment.

SPECIFICATIONS
Screen size: 5.5 inches
Display: 1080x1920 pixels
Camera: Front 8MP, Rear 13MP
Processor: 2.5 GHz quad core
RAM: 3GB
Storage: 16GB (expandable storage up to 128GB)
OS: Android 5.0.2
Number of SIMs: Two