Micromax Canvas Nitro 2

The Canvas Nitro 2 E311 is a mid-range smartphone that comes with most of the bells and whistles of competing phones from HTC, Sony and other international manufacturers at almost half the price. Standout features include an octa-core processor, HD display, and 2GB of RAM.

The Canvas Nitro 2 is powered by an octa-core MediaTek MTK6592 chipset that clocks at 1.4GHz for powerful performance. Multitasking is equally good thanks to the 2GB RAM, which isn't very common to see on phones that cost less than Rs. 10,000. The display is a 5-inch of the IPS LCD type, with an HD resolution (1280x720 pixels). There is Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on the device as well, for protection against scratches and drops from small heights.

The phone also supports swipe gestures for various functions, such as unlocking the screen, setting the sound profile, picking up calls, and more. On the imaging front, the Nitro 2 features a 13-megapixel Sony IMX135 rear camera with a Largan 5P lens for impressive photo capturing chops. The front camera is a 5-megapixel sensor that has an aperture of F2.2 for better low-light selfies and video calls and an 84-degree wide-angle lens for fitting more in the same frame than standard front-facing cameras.

For storing the photos you take, the Canvas Nitro 2 features 16GB of internal storage, an amount that can be further expanded using a microSD card. Unfortunately, the low price of the phone brings a limitation here, as the device can only accommodate cards of up to 32GB in size. On the flip side, the phone runs Android 4.4 KitKat and hence has access to all the popular cloud storage apps, making storage less of a problem as long as you have a good internet connection.

The 2,400 mAh battery on the Nitro 2 is a tad small for the hardware that is present under the hood, but with low usage values of just 250 hours of standby and 9 hours of talktime. Connectivity is fulfilled by Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS and Bluetooth sensors, and the phone's design is somewhat impressive with a 7.5 mm thick body and soft-touch leather on the rear side.