Xolo A500S IPS

The Xolo A500S IPS is an entry-level Android smartphone from Xolo, a sub-brand of Lava mobiles that targets a different set of audience. The Xolo A500 IPS is almost similar to the Xolo A500S except the screen as it has an IPS LCD display instead of a normal LCD panel. It features a 4-inch IPS LCD display with WVGA resolution, a 1.3GHz dual-core processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage, microSD card slot, and a 1,400 mAh battery. The device runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and comes equipped with a 5-megapixel primary camera and a VGA secondary camera. The device is available in black, blue, red, and white colours.

The device, which is made up of matt plastic, is quite light at 120 grams, and decently slim at 9 mm. This results in a device that is easy to hold and operate, unlike many other phablets that are present in the market. The power button is placed on the right, volume rockers on the left, and a single loudspeaker on the back. The camera and the LED flash are placed on a distinct looking piece of glossy plastic on the back, while the headphone jack and the microUSB port are placed on the top of the device.

The 4-inch IPS LCD display features a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, a commonality in its price range these days. This resolution gives the display a pixel density of 233 pixels per inch. IPS LCD is generally known to offer better viewing angles than TN or PLS LCD panels. On the imaging front, the Xolo has equipped this device with a 5-megapixel camera sensor on the back that has a fixed-focus lens, and a single-LED flash. The primary camera can record videos in 720p HD (1280 x 720 pixels) resolution, a bare minimum for device in its price range. There s VGA (640 x 480 pixels) front-facing camera that can be considered as a bare minimum for video calling.

The Xolo A500 IPS, just like the Xolo A500S, is powered by a MediaTek MT6572W processing chipset. It combines a dual-core ARM Cortex A7 CPU clocked at 1.3GHz, a single-core Mali-400MP GPU clocked at 500MHz, and a multi-mode HSPA+ modem. There s 512MB RAM, 4GB of internal storage, and a microSD card slot that can be used to expand the storage capacity by up to an additional 32GB. There are a bunch of sensors accelerometer, ambient-light sensor, and proximity sensor for helping the device work efficiently. A 1,400 mAh battery keeps the device powered, and the company is promising a talk-time of 10 hours and 8 hours on 2G and 3G networks respectively.

A smartphone is as good as its software, and the Xolo A500 IPS uses the world s most common smartphone platform Android. Out of the box, the device comes pre-installed with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, but the company has denied Android 4.4 KitKat update to the device. You can still use some of the most popular Google services such as Google Search, Gmail, Hangouts, Google Maps, Google Drive, Google Keep, Google Chrome, Google Plus, Google Translate, and YouTube. Google Play Services such as the Play Books, the Play Games, the Play Movies & TV, the Play Music, the Play NewsStand, and the Play Store can be used to download e-books, games, movies, TV shows, music tracks, newspapers, and apps. As an added bonus, XOLO Secure, that acts as an anti-theft solution, comes pre-installed on this device.

Connectivity wise, the Xolo A500S IPS comes with two SIM card slots, one of which can connect to 3G networks, while the second is compatible with 2G networks only. The company has also bundled operator video calling with this phone, so that you can carry out network native video calls. There s single-band HSPA (HSDPA up to 21.1Mbps; HSUPA up to 5.6Mbps), EDGE, GPRS, and Wi-Fi b/g/n for data connectivity. GPS can be used for navigation purposes while Bluetooth v3.0 can be used for data transfer, connecting to accessories, or audio streaming. There s a microUSB v2.0 port for data transfer and charging.