Indian smartphone maker iBall has launched a budget Android smartphone mSLR Cobalt 4, which comes with an interesting concept. In addition to high resolution lenses that come fitted as integral parts of the body, mSLR Cobalt 4 bundles three extra lenses for different photography needs.
Offered in India for just 8,499 Indian Rupiees(approximately $140), the iBall smartphone will be available across the country within a few weeks. It will compete with the popular budget smartphones in the market, including Yu Yuphoria, Lenovo A7000, Huawei Honor 4C and Xiaomi Mi 4i.
iBall mSLR cobalt 4 android smartphone is user friendly and coming with a large 5 Inch IPS Touchscreen Display for viewing all the contents in a good manner. The phone offers Dual SIM Support for easy calling option. Capture each and every photos with the 8MP Primary Camera With LED Flash.
4 detachable lenses
The clip of iBall mSLR Cobalt 4 has a screw mount on one side, while the other side has a rubber casing to ensure that the screen does not get damaged.
Of the three additional lenses, the telephoto lens offers 8X optical zooming and can capture subjects well within a distance from 3m to 24m. Another lens, the fisheye lens has 180 degree viewing angle, while the third one, a wide angle lens, can capture subjects up to 0.65X wide.
The extra lenses come with a front cap for protection from dust, fungus, fingerprints and smudge. However, iBall forgot to feature a similar lens cap for the back. So you need to replace and carry the lenses carefully.
mSLR Cobalt 4 features good built quality with polycarbonate rear and glass front with a metallic bronze strip on both the sides. The curvy rear of the smartphone feels comfortable and looks stylish in hand.
Features of iBall mSLR Cobalt 4
The phone features a 5-inch, 540×960 resolution display and runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS. It is powered by an octa-core processor, backed with 1GB RAM. It offers 8GB internal storage, actually offering 3.5GB to the user, expandable by up to 32GB.
iBall mSLR cobalt 4 supports 2G and 3G networks. The phone works at GSM : 900/1800 MHz HSDPA : 2100 MHz frequency. Black with Gold is the available color option.
The phone houses an 8mp rear camera on board with a dual-LED flash and autofocus, while on the front it packs a 3.2mp front-facing shooter with a soft LED flash for high quality selfies.
The handset feels nice to use, while the interface and camera app are quite similar to the stock Android KitKat. However, it looks a bit outdated even as iBall has added all the necessary filters and modes, like beautification and live photo mode.
After mounting an additional lens on the phone, you need to control the camera from the app itself as telephoto and wide angle lenses do not offer any adjustable feature. The telephoto lens offers a control ring, but on operating it the clip starts moving.
Is the iBall mSLR Cobalt best smartphone to buy?
mSLR Cobalt 4 is a bold step by iBall in the higly competitive budget smartphones market. It is decent in use and focuses well on the USP of the phone. But if iBall is serious about the smartphone business, it needs to focus on interface and feature the latest operating system on its future handsets.
