Micromax, unlike many other mobile phone and smartphone manufacturers, is very concerned about their female users. It came out with the Bling series specifically for the females and till date two mobile phones have been launched in this series.
The first Bling handset, also known as Micromax Q55, was a QWERTY keypad based dual SIM phone with a white and pink colour tone and to a large extent was liked by many across the country.
The company has recently come out with the Bilng 2 A55 which is, unlike its predecessor, an Android based smartphone and not merely a feature phone. Micromax has beautified the Bling 2 with the same Swarovski crystals, used in the first Bling, both in the front and the back.
We know that being males we won’t be able to justify the appeal of this phone, so we gave this phone to a female colleague of ours and the inputs have been translated here.
Look and Feel
The Bling 2 A55 has the same glossy white finish as its previous avatar but Micromax has decided to shed the pink highlights which is a really good decision. The phone looks classy and definitely is an object of attention. The Q55 did not face any colour fading issue and we dearly hope that it continues with the Bling 2 too.
Micromax was not able to include a vanity mirror in the phone this time so they have included a handy carry case with the phone that acts as a soft cover for the phone and has a mirror and place for one knick-knacks too. The Bling 2 A55 is not light and weights slightly on the heavier side but even after that the design is compact and is very comfortable to hold this for longer durations also.
Build Quality and usability
The built quality of the Blind 2 is quite a remarkable thing. We drop-tested, actually accidentally dropped it, from a height of 3 feet on to flat concrete floor and the Bling 2 survived without even a scratch! The back cover fits in tightly and does not leave any space in between, making it dust proof to some extent but the placement of the opening notch is odd and will cause some problems to the ladies while opening the back cover.
Overall, the Bling 2 is designed for a single hand operation which will be liked by its users.
Display and Buttons
The 2.8 inch display has a capacitive touch that aids a smoother operation. The Resolution of the screen is on the lower side but the Bling 2 compensates for it with ample colour vibrancy and image brightness.
The Bling has three main operation keys on the front, out of which the options and the return key are capacitive while the home key is a hardware push key placed right below the crystal encrusted semi circle.
The volume keys are laced on the right side and are easy to access while on the call as well. The power key or the display turn off key is placed on the top and is very comfortable to use.
One thing missing in the Bling 2 is a dedicated camera key which is dearly missed while taking pictures especially as the camera application also places the capture key on the extreme left side of the screen making it impossible to click using a single hand while in landscape mode.
OS and Application
The Bling 2 A55 features the Android Froyo 2.2 which is very stable and has the maximum number of compatible application in the Android Marketplace. There is no information about the upgradability of this OS but it runs smooth except for a few occasional freezes. During the course of review, which is almost a week, the phone froze for two times.
The 600 MHz Processor gives it all the power needed for a smooth operation and juice to support multitasking as well. The phone comes preloaded with Net Quin antivirus programme, so don’t worry about security. A couple of other useful applications like eBuddy messenger, Opera mini and Office suite are also preloaded making this device ready to perform right out of the box.
Multimedia and Camera
It has 3 Megapixel fixed focus camera which clicks good images in daylight but the quality falls badly in the night or low light conditions. The default Audio player and video player of the phone supports known formats of videos and Audio, plus users can download many other players if they need advanced music or video playback.
Bling 2 has one Memory card slot which is expandable upto 16 GB, but it would be advisable to use 4 to 8 GB external memory to ensure smooth usage. It has a 3.5mm jack for headset and audio connectivity. The headset provided with the phone delivers average quality sound so if you love music you need to buy a good quality headset.
The phone uses both Bluetooth and USB for external connectivity and Wi-Fi can be used for data browsing too while indoors.
Price and Conclusion
With a price tag of Rs 9,000, the Bling 2 comes out to be a fair deal in which a user gets a good looking phone with a decent amount of features. Ladies, whom Micromax has targeted with this phone, will definitely like this smartphone. While aftermarket upgrades for adding the additional Bling costs a huge sum, Micromax Bling 2 offers that at the bare minimum price.
All in all the Bling turns out to be a good smartphone with a balanced price point.
