Sports personalities have a great influence on the masses. Little wonder then, big brands turn to these stars to promote their products. Sometimes though, these personalities grow so popular that they become a brand. That's the case with Sachin Tendulkar, the guy who is often referred to as the greatest cricketer of his time. He is the reason why domestic brand Smartron caught everyone's attention. Sachin is not only a brand ambassador for Smartron but is also a key investor. The result of this partnership is the srt.phone (which is a nod to Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar). However, for a Sachin fan, does this phone add any real value?
Build and Aesthetics
For a budget smartphone, the srt.phone has a good fit and finish. it is also quite sturdy and seems can survive an odd fall. But then, thanks to the brands such as Xiaomi, Lenovo, and Huawei, we are used to seeing well-built phones in sub 10k category. In fact, the srt.phone loses out on premium feel due to its plastic back.
Unlike most unibody phones these days, the srt.phone comes with a removable back panel. Oddly though, you only get access to nano SIM slots. The battery is not user removable.
The placement of fingerprint sensor is quite good. Moreover, the matte grey finish reduces the visibility of fingerprint smudges. However, we wish that the power button had a better placement. Similarly, the volume rocker is unusually placed near the centre rather than the edge of the phone. It is a slight inconvenience until you get used to it.
If you were expecting some kind of branding for Sachin, you are in for a disappointment. There's etched signature or image of the master blaster at the back of the phone. Instead, you are supposed to buy additional Sachin Tendulkar Signature back covers.
Screen
The srt.phone comes with 5.5-inch Full HD IPS (In Pane Switching) screen. Thanks to the pixel density of 401ppi, the screen is sharp. The colour reproduction is good and it there's not much colour shift at extreme angles. The display is bright with decent outdoor legibility.
Software
The srt.phone ships with Android Nougat 7.1.1. Smartron promises Android O update soon. The domestic brand hasn't made many changes to the stock Android, which is a good thing. The app drawer has a handy search bar that helps you find apps with ease. Google Now is duly covered. You also get the Split-screen feature, which is triggered by long-pressing the Recent Apps button.
The phone does not come with much bloatware unless you have no use for Microsoft's productivity suite including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Smartronic's services are unobtrusive and stay hidden in the app drawer unless you decide to use it.
Performance
Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 625 chipset, the phone pulls off a good performance. Things such as menu scrolling and transitions are particularly smooth. The company's decision to go with 4 GB RAM pays off as we noticed no issues during multitasking.
In terms of gaming, the srt.phone handles resource-intensive games such as the Need For Speed No Limits, Asphalt, and Modern Combat quite well. There's not much lag to complain about, but the loading time is quite long.
Media
The srt.phone comes in 32 GB and 64 GB variants. The microSD card slot is missing though, which is quite a bummer. The phone's built-in speaker is quite weak and easily gets drowned out by ambient sounds. Well, this is one aspect it shares with Sachin for sure.
The sound output is quite good though. Pair it with decent earphones, and the phone doesn't disappoint. There' nothing to complain in terms of video playback either. Once you install MXPlayer, there's hardly any video this phone can't handle.
Camera
The 13-megapixel rear camera is just average. While its performance is decent in broad daylight, it falters in low-light conditions. This results in blurry and fuzzy images. The Manual mode doesn't elevate things.
The front-facing camera is not any better. It brings some heavy-handed sharpening and noise reduction to photographs.
Surprisingly, the phone supports 4K video recording. The max clip length at 4K resolution is capped at 10 minutes. Of course, you can switch to more practical HD or Full HD quality.
Battery
Quick Charge 2.0 makes for fast charging of the phone. At 3000mAh, I actually thought the battery would only barely manage to last me an entire day’s use, but it completely superseded my expectations. In my use, I managed to clock 6+ hours of screen-on time on at least one occasion.
Verdict
With prices starting from Rs 13,000, the srt.phone offers quite good specifications. For starters, you get a 5.5-inch Full HD screen and the Snapdragon 625 chipset. This puts it in direct competition to the Honor 6X and Redmi Note 4.
The srt.phone is quite sturdy with a decent design. It performs quite well and you can even play latest games on it. On the other hand, it loses out to the Redmi Note 4 and the Honor 6X in terms of premium feel. Also, Redmi's device, in particular, offers much better camera and battery performance. Therefore, we can't really recommend this phone over the competition.
Pros
Sturdy build quality
Good performance
Sharp Full HD screen
Cons
Plastic body
Average camera
Lacks storage expansion
Price: 32 GB for Rs 13,000, 64 GB for 14,000
by Chandrakant Isi. The author has been covering all-things-tech for over 10 years. He is a sci-fi aficionado, wannabe space explorer, and Content Lead at MySmartPrice.com.
