Spice Smart Flo Poise Mi 451 review

The Spice Smart Flo Poise Mi 451 is an affordable smartphone aimed at the youth. The phone sports a 1.3 GHz Dual Core processor and is powered by Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2, but still costs just Rs 5,499. Will such a phone be good enough? Read on.

Quick Tech Specs: 4.5-inch (854 x 480 pixels) capacitive touchscreen Ultra Bright IPS display |1.3 GHz dual-core processor | Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) OS | Dual SIM 2G (EDGE) with dual standby | 8.7mm; 156g | 3.2 MP rear camera and 1.3 MP front camera | 512 MB RAM, 4 GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with micro SD, G-Sensor | WiFi, Bluetooth, VPN, portable hotspot | 3.5 mm audio jack, FM Radio, Built-in Speaker | 1450 mAh battery.

Design: Spice Smart Flo Poise Mi 451 looks exactly like its predecessor. The phone has sharp-curved edges and a matte-finish and pearl white body. The Spice Mi-451 is outlined by a thick aluminium strip. There are two speakers, one in the front just above the display and one adjacent to the camera. The back panel feels plasticky but the phone is comfortable to hold. That said, the white finish of the cover at the back is okay, but isn’t great. We would have preferred a grey-ish finish, or anything darker for that matter. The large battery makes it heavier than other phones its size. The power button and the volume rocker rest on the left of the handset.

Screen: This Spice handset has a 4.5-inch capacitive touch display supporting a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels. The brightness is fine indoors but when taken outside, even at maximum brightness, the display is difficult to discern.

Software: There are four home screens, where you can add shortcut icons of applications and widgets as per your liking. The icon sizes are decent and the main menu icons (of which there are 16 on each screen) are labeled for further ease and selection. The home screen has a nice little tweak by Spice, which shows a 3D cube like interface asyou scroll between these screens, which appear more comprehensive. The phone also comes with regular pre-installed apps along with OLX, Spice Cloud, Spice Gang and GreetZap. NQ mobile anti-virus is free to users for the first six months from the date of purchase.

Performance: The device is responsive and doesn’t lag while shifting between screen views. With regular games like Angry Birds Space and Temple Run the phone had no issues. The 1.3 GHz dual core processor is faster than most other phones in this range that have 650 and 800 MHz chips.

Camera: The camera has an LED flash and Geo-tagging. During our testing we found the camera performance to be satisfactory, not stunning.

Battery: The 1450 mAh battery is amazing. The first charge takes two hours, but can last for more than 60 hours in standby and five hours in continuous usage.

Verdict: The Spice Mi451 is competitively priced at Rs 5,499 and is a strong contender in the entry level segment because of its looks. Though it is larger and heavier than most phones and has an average battery life considering its 1450 mAh battery, it is still a very good buy for a user who wants a not-so-expensive, good-looking Android smartphone.