Would you trust a Chinese phone, especially a high-end one? You probably have no choice anyway – most of the gadgets we use are from the other side of the Great Wall. But the Qiku Q Terra is an all-Chinese phone. Not unlike the OnePlus or Xiaomi brands. And a rather good one, at just under Rs 20,000 (remember ‘affordable flagship? OnePlus has been there).

Qiku, pronounced Chiku, like the fruit, is a collaborative entity resulting from two other companies, Qihoo and Coolpad. And the Q Terra is their stunning new entrant into the Indian market. I found it hard not to fall in love with the packaging. It's a brilliant red, just like the stuff from OnePlus, if you've seen that, and the top opens up like a book. A couple of pages in, you see the Q Terra phone. Under this layer, another section opens up to reveal a OnePlus-like red cable, charger and a few things like a back cover and a screen guard.

But back to the phone. Everyone finds the screen stunning with its 1080 x 1920 resolution. The colors are vivid. It's a 6-inch phone, so, as big as they get, but the screen space is maxed by there being almost no bezels on the sides.

The visual effect is stunning. Wallpapers, videos, photos, all look really nice on it, no question about that. In fact, people are queuing up to buy it -- and I would have to say the screen is the reason I'd buy it. I might.

Let's see now, what else is remarkable. Well, the Q Terra works with a 2GHz Snapdragon 808 and 3GB of RAM. That's not stingy. It works smoothly, even with power-hungry games. Then there's the battery: 3,700mAh keeps you going through the day. The battery isn't removable and in fact, you can't open the back up. It's got SIM trays for a micro SIM and a Nano SIM and microSD card on the left side.

The Q Terra runs Android Lollipop, but of course, as Chinese phone makers are wont to do, there's an interface on top of that called 360 UI. It's done away with the app drawer, a habit that I find most annoying (as with most Chinese phones, the interface has no separate apps section -they're all lined up on home screens.) There's many settings to fiddle with. And the usual themes and wallpapers. The preloaded apps are, happily, not too annoying and span security and app management, among others.

A surprising feature on a phone that's so inexpensive is a fingerprint sensor (though the slightly-pricier OnePlus 2 has been there, too). It takes a bit of work registering your fingerprint, but once that's done it works like a charm and is one of the fastest ways of waking up the device and unlocking it. It's located on the back – a nice all-metal back, by the way.

Then there's the cameras. There are actually two 13MP cameras: one that shoots in color and another in black and white. The two images are then stitched together for better quality. Just as a color-inket printer uses a three-color cartridge and a black cartridge, for better detail. I'm not sure I can really spot a dramatic difference when compared with other phone cameras. It does have a little trouble focusing in indoor light, though it does a nice job outdoors in good light. Overall, the camera is good, but not spectacular in indoor/low light: I’d say the OnePlus 2 is better.

You may also find a few problems with apps. For example, Apple Music doesn't seem to work with it at all and reports ‘incompatible’ before you even download it. Why that is, I'm not sure. I suspected it was because of the 6-inch format until I tried it on another phone of the same size without a problem.

Still, for the most part, it's quite a steal for Rs 20,000 -- if you can get an invite to steal it in the first place. Else, it's Rs 22,000 without the invite. Why do they make pretty phones and then not bring in enough of them?

(The author is a corporate consultant who likes her gadgets almost more than her shoes. Write to her at [email protected])

Tags : QIKU Q Terra