Over 50 per cent of smartphone manufacturers in India are from China and in the last few years we have witnessed that the fight is now shifted to Rs 6,000 – Rs 10,000 price band. InFocus first entered India in 2015 and has launched several smartphones till now, but none of them has captured the hearts of Indian consumers.
With Xiaomi currently dominating that space with value-packed offerings, is there a place for an American brand InFocus which is trying to make a comeback with Turbo 5?
Majority of Indians desire smartphones that come with metal unibody design, a good memory, great looks, a great camera, and, of course, they want all that without burning a hole in their pocket. Keeping in context these Indian consumers’ needs, InFocus with its latest offering Turbo 5, aims to stand and deliver on those aspects.
Turbo 5 is available in two variants -- 2GB RAM/ 16GB storage and 3GB RAM/32GB storage and are priced at Rs 6,999 and Rs 7,999, respectively. Here we look at 2GB variant. The main USP of the device is 5,000mAh battery that the company claims can last for two full days.
Ergonomical design but not impressive
Xiaomi is one such company that has a consistent focus on enhancing the user’s experience and also aspires to create devices that looks elegant. When compared to Redmi 4, InFocus Turbo 5 looks like an inspired design and does not appeals much. When viewed from the front, it is curved, rectangular and simple. However, the silver finish on the camera ring, fingerprint scanner and on the antenna bands, gives Turbo 5 a neat look when seen from the back but the format has now become common.
The volume controls as well the power button is positioned on the right side and the fingerprint scanner is located on the back below the camera, all of which can be easily accessed.
Clean performance for average users
The 5.2-inch HD resolution of InFocus Turbo 5 produced good colours on the screen but not as vibrant as Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus that comes with full-HD display. While InFocus Turbo 5 offered a pixel density of 282 ppi, Xiaomi Redmi 4 comes with 294 ppi, thus was slightly better in displaying colours than Turbo 5 even with a smaller 5-inch screen.
While majority of smartphones including Redmi 4, Lenovo Vibe K5 that are in the same price segment ship with Qualcomm processor, InFocus Turbo 5 is powered by 1.3GHz quad core MediaTek processor which has its own limitations. And for everyday use, the 2GB RAM is enough to work with, and if you want to play high-end games, the 3GB variant will slightly ease the task, but as you might know these devices are not made for serious gaming.
InFocus delivers clean performance when working with documents, surfing web and streaming videos, but with editing and playing graphic-intensive games like Asphalt 8: Airborne and Walking War Robots we felt a tortoise like performance.
InFocus Turbo 5 runs on Android Nougat 7.0 and comes with Saavan, Dailyhunt, Go2Pay and Amazon Shopping app pre-installed.
With Android N, Turbo 5 offers split-screen multitasking, replying to messages direct from notifications, along with the ability to mute alerts for a specific app.
The fingerprint sensor is also accurate and recognises the stored print instantly. And unlike Redmi 4, there is no option to increase the storage. The speaker grill at the bottom of the device produced decent sound, but is good only when you are in the close proximity of the device.
Decent camera
Sporting a 13MP rear camera, the performance is good and outdoor shots are clean, however lacked depth. On the positive side, colours don't appear overly saturated.
The 5MP front camera is good for selfies and also comes with "Beautify" mode to enhance those.
Nearly 36 hours of charge
The device takes over two hours to be fully charged, which lasts for nearly 27 hours wherein I watched several videos on YouTube, used Google Maps and also clicked a good number of pictures. Thus, under simpler use, Turbo 5 can last for nearly 36 hours which is way better than the battery life of Redmi 4 and Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus.
Conclusion
The InFocus Turbo 5 offers standard specifications and nothing comes much of a surprise and while it’s a battery powerhouse, the camera could be deal breaker for users and there is room for improvement. Xiaomi Redmi 4 on the other hand offers more balanced performance.
