Indian smartphone maker Micromax that once led the smartphone market in the country is one of the only few homegrown brands that is taking the fight to Chinese manufacturers who dominate our market currently. The company’s “In” for India series of smartphones has been there for almost a year now, with five smartphones for buyers to choose from. While the company is still a long way from coming close to the sales that its Chinese rivals churn out, Micromax is making smartphones and accessories to keep up, at least in terms of the number of offerings the company provides.
Micromax has now launched its latest and the most premium offering yet, the Micromax In Note 2 in India. The smartphone comes with a premium-looking design, a quad rear camera, an AMOLED display, and more features for the Indian buyers. The Micromax In Note 2 has been launched at a price of Rs 13,490 for the single 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant, and the company is offering a Rs 1,000 discount as an introductory offer for early buyers to get the smartphone at an even cheaper price. I have been using the Micromax In Note 2 for the past few days and in this article, I will tell you what I like about this smartphone, what I don’t like, and finally, if you should spend your Rs 13,490 on the Micromax In Note 2. Let’s get started.
DESIGN
In terms of design, Micromax has done a good job in making the In Note 2 look more premium than its other offerings. It has a flat-edged design, something I have previously said I prefer over curved glass, and a camera module that looks similar to the Samsung Galaxy S21. Micromax has tried to do what Samsung did with its designs last year. The back panel is glossy and shines quite a bit. It looks good but is a fingerprint magnet. If you don’t use a cover on this, you will find yourself constantly trying to get rid of fingerprint smudges. Just a touch is enough for a fingerprint to show on the back panel. The smartphone also feels very lightweight and that is good. The screen comes with a hole-punch design, with the camera cutout on the top in the center. It is a good design, just the glossy back panel gets fingerprint smudges very easily and the build quality doesn’t feel sturdy at all.
DISPLAY
Display is my second-favourite thing about the Micromax In Note 2. It is a 6.43-inch AMOLED panel with a 60Hz refresh rate. Despite the low refresh rate, the display looks pretty good. The colours are very accurate and it is one of the brightest display in this segment. The Micromax In Note 2’s display is pretty nice if you watch a lot of content on your smartphone. In terms of gaming, this display puts out great graphics but you won’t get a high frame rate advantage. It is a beautiful display, but we could have done with a high refresh rate as well.
PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY
Performance wise, this performs like any other budget-to-mid range Android smartphone. During my brief time with the Micromax In Note 2, I experienced no slowdowns or app crashes, even in a split screen mode, or while doing more extensive tasks like gaming. The smartphone works pretty smoothly and there are no complaints in terms of the app loading times as well.
Coming to my favourite thing about this smartphone – the software. Micromax is now one of the only few brands that offer a stock Android experience within this budget. The smartphone runs on stock Android 11, and there is no UI skin over it. This also means an easier setup process, no unnecessary permissions to access basic smartphone features like phone, camera, and more. Best of all, there are no bloatware apps installed on the Micromax In Note 2. The only apps you get are Google apps including Gmail, Maps, YouTube, and more. Good stuff, I just wish more manufacturers went with this option within this budget.
The battery on the Micromax In Note 2 is also impressive. Of course, there are no bloatware apps and there is an AMOLED display. During my usage, despite gaming and using the smartphone on high brightness (more than half), I was easily able to churn out 6 hours of screen time, which is pretty good. The 30W charging is also fast enough and the Micromax In Note 2 charges from about 15 percent to 100 in less than 1.5 hours.
CAMERA
The camera on the smartphone is not very good. It comes with a quad rear camera setup with a 50-megapixel primary shooter, a 5-megapixel secondary sensor, and two 2-megapixel cameras. While on paper it sounds like a good camera, it’s very average in reality. While the good thing is that there is very minimal to no AI interference, the photos from the Micromax In Note 2 are not the best quality we have seen in this segment. Outdoors in bright sun it does put out clear photos that will look good on Instagram, but indoors the images aren’t the most clear and colour accurate. The portrait mode on the rear camera is decent in terms of singling out the subject. However, the image quality drops quite a bit the moment you switch to wide angle.
The front camera on the Micromax In Note 2 is quite good as compared to the rear. The image is pretty clear and it will never leave you asking for more, if you mostly use the front camera for video calls. If you are someone who is into selfies and takes a lot of selfies, this camera will still not disappoint you, but it’s not the best front camera in this price segment.
VERDICT
The Micromax In Note 2 is a proper budget offering and comes with a nice design that will go pretty well with the masses in India. While the brand may take a while to connect with the masses, I must say that it is on the right track. The Micromax In Note 2 is a pretty good smartphone barring the below average camera quality and maybe the low refresh rate. For about Rs 13,500, it is a very good smartphone and offers the cleanest and most hassle-free Android experience in this whole segment, even if compared to smartphones priced at up to Rs 20,000. And for that very reason, it is worth every penny of that Rs 13,490 in my book – plus you get a sweet AMOLED display and a long lasting battery as a bonus.
ALSO READ: Micromax In Note 2: In-Hand Photos Of The Latest Smartphone From Indian Brand.
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