Karbonn Sparkle V falls under the Android One series that is recently launched by Google. It is a Rs.6,300/- phone with impressive features and long lasting solution. It is very hard to find this kind of features in other budget phone, thanks to new Android One program . Surely in the coming time Android One is going to surprise us a lot due to its cost effective devices. This new Program is going to put serious impact on the mobile market. This will help us to get rid of china brands that are getting a lot of appreciation, because these phones does not consist a long lasting durability.
Being an Android One phone, Karbonn Sparkle V comes loaded with the latest Android 4.4 KitKat operating system and deemed to get all upcoming android updates, just like other phones in this program including Micromax Canvas A1 and Spice Dream UNO. Quiet a nice phone for day to day usage. I will still count the phone under entry level series but a tough competitor to other brands. Sparkle V clearly proves that Google is doing something that can directly benefit the customer. Karbonn Sparkle V is a good budget phone loaded with a decent hardware and display quality. It is loaded with the latest android version that makes it more beneficial to use.
So here we will have a review on the device and will be able to find out how better it is. But I am going to consider this as the budget phone. Not a high end or mid range. Even after having a quad core CPU it is not really good to consider Karbonn Sparkle V as on mid range device. That is because this device only fulfills your entry level requirements. If you want like something like Moto E or something a bit more well than that, then Karbonn Sparkle V comes in the pictures. If you are going for the phone then Airtel has some offer for you. When you buy it, you get around 200MB of data packet for updates download only. And this will be provided you for the next 6 months. This will help you to get instant updates at faster speed.
Sparkle V Highlights:
- SIM – Dual SIM 2G/3G
- Processor – 1.3 GHz Quad core processor
- OS Version – Android v 4.4, kitkat
- RAM – 1 GB
- Display – 4.5 inch
- Resolution – FWVGA 480×854 pixels IPS Screen
- Primary Camera – 5 MP
- Secondary Camera – 2 MP
- Internal memory – 4GB (2GB User Memory)
- External memory – Micro SD, up to 32GB
- Weight – 138g
- Battery – 1700mAh Lithium Polymer
Display Quality:
Karbonn Sparkle V comes with a 4.5inch touch screen. This one is the most minimum size that is required for a good device. Because on a small display it is hard to type text or to surf internet. So Sparkle V has a 4.5inch IPS display that is great enough for watching videos and also for playing games. You get a max resolution of 854×480 which is quiet low but not very bad. It is not a HD screen. There are few phones still under the same budget price offering a lot better resolution.
For usage I do not find the phone bad from any angle. I am talking on the base of entry level phone. The phone maintains proper standards and also gives you nice viewing angle with a bright touch screen. The UI is smooth to use. The phone does not lag or freeze when you are switching between app. Thanks to Android 4.4 that makes the phone very useful. To some extent I am quiet not happy with the touch quality here. If we compare Moto E with this then it is quiet better than Karbonn Sparkle V. still the touch output is enough good to give you smooth output. But if you had already used Moto E or any other phone with superb touch quality you will find Karbonn Sparkle V a bit lower here.
Software and UI:
Android 4.4 Kitkat update is one of the most important aspect of Android One series. That is designed to deliver you the atleast android operating system with all updates directly on your phone. It is quite amazing to find that we are getting all latest features on such a budget phone. Before if you see carefully then it is quiet hard to find this kind of features on an entry level devices. Most of them are still stuck on Android ICS operating system. Due to which app performance is limited and this also affect the overall battery output.
Karbonn Sparkle V runs on the stock version of latest android operating system. And Google has already promised that it will also get any new upcoming android updates on it. But does this mean that we will be getting Android L on all one series models.
That is not yet confirmed. Logically it is not possible to get Android L updates on this phone. That is because it is a 64bit operating system which requires much high end hardware to work. And devices like Karbonn Sparkle V are entry level devices with decent hardware which are ideal for day to day usage. Being a stock rom it does not comes loaded with additional apps that you don’t need. You can customize that as per your need.
Camera Quality:
Karbonn Sparkle V comes with dual camera support. Where you get a 2 Megapixel camera on the front side and a 5MP camera on the back with led flash. Most of the entry level phone including Moto E gives you 5MP camera. But flash is not available in all the models. Here in One series almost all models come with the same camera configuration. So it is not much to expect from the camera output. You get a decent quality.
5M camera is quiet enough for your day to day usage. You can take few good pictures under low light also using the flash. But as the camera is based on a low end hardware images won’t be much clear. The stock camera app also brings out limited things. You can extend the usage by adding third party camera software. I found the quality of camera good when you are under bright light.
Hardware and Performance:
Karbonn Sparkle V has fairly nice hardware that makes it’s a capable device to run different type of games and applications. Here the phone is offering you 1.3 GHz Quad core processor and has a 1GB ram. This is enough to run various games and apps easily. The phone is not having any kind of performance issue even when you are using too many apps at the same time. But can freeze while working on apps that access internet. Like YouTube streaming or downloading at the same time. So that is a common thing that many phones have common.
Android v 4.4, KitKat make it better in terms of usage. It is an optimized version that helps you to get decent battery output. Performance point of view the phone is good when it comes to entry level device. Anyone looking for a good device for internet surfing, for chatting, for social networking, etc can go ahead with Karbonn Sparkle V. but here the storage remains less. IT is restricted to 4GB only where you can use around 2GB only. So here it is wise to go for an expandable storage which is a micro SD card and you can use that up to 32GB. It also offers you all kind of common connectivity options with sensors like light, gyro, magnetic and accelerometer with proximity.
Conclusion:
No doubt that Karbonn Sparkle V a helpful device. It brings out major benefits at a very low price. It is a good start by Google, where you get a decent phone at the price you are paying for. Google is not at all charging you any extra on this. I am quite sure you can hardly find any phone like this. There is only one close competitor to this phone which is Xiaomi Redmi 1S which is not at all easy to buy because of its limited stock issue. It gets only Rs.300 more cheaper. But somehow Google has able to make this device good from all points. Battery is also not bad at all. We have to sit back to get new updates on the same as promised by Google.
