This Tuxedo is not so chic

"Is that a Nokia?" This is what you'll ask on a cursory look at Konka's Tuxedo W990. The company's logo closely resembles Nokia's. Konka Telecommunications is a Shenzen, a China-based company which has started launching low to mid-priced Android smartphones that bundle a lot of features. I'd never heard of this company before, though it claims to be one of the top in that country. A friend in his early twenties also tells me he remembers his uncle using a Konka TV.

If the first impression were the last impression, then this sleekly finished slim dual-SIM smartphone is sure to win you over despite being heavy. It has a good five-inch touch screen, but the resolution is disappointing. The phone sports a 3D user interface which is not so discernible. It uses the Ice Cream Sandwich or 4.04 version of Android - a bit off-putting now that everyone's already awaiting version 4.3.

The back panel comes attached with a flip cover that locks the screen every time you close it. At the bottom are the home, back and settings keys. On the top right is the volume rocker, and on the top are the 3.5-mm earphone jack, the power key and the USB port. The USB port also takes the charger, which uses a detachable data cable so that you can charge the phone through any device or even use similar chargers of other phones.

The phone has five homes creens and comes with voice search. The status bar on the top of the screen alerts you about messages, SIM in use, calls, network connections (including Bluetooth) and GPRS. You can also set the pre-loaded weather app to show the local temperature on the status bar. A dock, which also has a shortcut for the menu, at the bottom lets you create shortcuts to frequently used apps.

The phone uses a 1 GHz dual-core processor. The low 512MB RAM shows when playing games using a lot of memory. Besides, there is a little lag between the press of a key and the launch of a function. Big news or video apps, too, don't work so smoothly. The phone has 2GB internal memory and takes a microSD card of upto 32GB. What is disconcerting is that you have to switch off the phone to mount or unmount the SD card.

The 2,400 mAh Li-ion battery lasts for about six to eight hours if you do not play a lot of videos or heavy games.

The speaker is okay: alarm sounds were difficult to notice even when I was awake. If the phone is silent, better carry your grandfather's alarm clock. The 5MP rear and 0.3 MP front camera are average, with flash and sport wide-viewing angle technology and panorama feature. You can record calls easily. The display is not for use outdoors.

A pleasing - though not greatly useful - feature the phone has added in the browser search bar is that you can scroll the address or text in it. The phone has a handwriting feature in its pre-loaded notepad app. A few of the pre-loaded apps, such as Konka Club and Konka Gene, were either outdated or useless. The predictive text is horrible - I was once asked to add 'about' to the dictionary.

At Rs 13,499 it would have been a good smartphone to initiate you into the large-screen experience if it had come some months ago. With even the established brands, let alone the Indian upstarts, launching smartphones at even lower prices, you might not want to buy this one.
KONKA TUXEDO W990
Price: Rs 13,499
Screen: 5-inch, 480x500 TFT
Weight: 205 g
OS: Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich
RAM: 512 MB
Processor: 1 Ghz dual core
Memory: 2GB, expandable via microSD (up to 32GB cards supported)
Camera (rear/front): 5MP /0.3 MP
Battery: 2400 mAh