Micromax has addressed some of the 1st generation pain points that allowed Chinese competitors to dominate the Indian smartphone market.

The In Note 2 succeeds the In Note 1 from last year when Micromax made a grand comeback to the Indian smartphone market. 

Generation 2 is here and it seems that Micromax has built on the promise of providing better value for a lower cost.

Let’s take a look.

Design

Compared to last year’s design, the In Note 2 has evolved appearance-wise. The In Note 2 has a glass-on-glass look. It also has Gorilla Glass protection but Micromax hasn’t specified the exact version. When it comes to having the In Note 2 in your hand, it certainly has superior weight distribution. The plastic on the camera island doesn’t protrude too much but the plastic used is inferior compared to the rest of the build quality. 

The phone has flat sides, giving it a more confident look and feel. The additional phone cover that is provided in retail also accentuates the sharper edges. The cover at the back is a must because the back of the device is extremely reflective and attracts fingerprints.

Display

The display. This is where most customers will squeeze every drop of value out of the In Note 2. The smartphone has AMOLED display and in this price range, that kind of panel is not easy to come by. The panel elevates the colours and contrast to higher levels. This much-enhanced experience will be a treat to the entry-level smartphone user.

While AMOLED is a welcomed upgrade, Micromax did not include a faster refresh rate display, which is a total bummer. Many other budget phones come with a minimum 90Hz refresh rate so Micromax may want to think about this for next time.

Performance

The In Note 2 is equipped with MediaTek Helio G95 that came out in 2020. It is a definite step up from Helio G85 (previous generation). But the phone only has a 4GB RAM, 64GB internal storage variant.

The In Note 2 can keep up with day-to-day tasks and even some short gaming sessions, but don’t depend on the phone for much more than that. The long-term impact of the current specs aren’t quite optimistic. 

The phone can carry a memory card of up to 256GB and The internal storage is UFS2.1, which indicates that the user will have smooth experience.

Keep in mind that the phone may drop WiFi signals but a future software update should fix this.

Camera

The camera is nothing to write home about. In the daylight, the images are brighter than the actual landscape, and the colour saturation is also turned all the way up. Overall, the daylight images looked sharp but lacked accurate composition.

The macro shots in bright daylight turned out fine but the low-light shots were simply unusable. The primary camera, which is a 48MP doesn’t really do justice to the size of the sensor. Low light images lack details and there’s some artificial HDR-like effect that is being used to brighten up the darker areas.

Battery

The battery is one of the bright spots of the Micromax In Note 2. The phone comes with a 5000mAh battery unit and a 30W fast charger with a USB Type C charging port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Micromax says the phone can charge up to 50% in a mere 25 minutes. 

The Verdict

The In Note 2’s processor may not be the latest and greatest, and there’s a long road ahead when it comes to camera performance, and the display isn’t the best, but overall the phone is quite solid in terms of the price to value ratio and it’ll certainly swipe some market share back from Chinese competitors.

TAGS: Micromax, Micromax IN Note 2