Micromax X550 (QUBE) - Explore the Cube

The Micromax X550 (QUBE) is a feature-rich device. The absence of a hardware keypad, Wi-Fi and 3G are major drawbacks, as is the quirky interface. At Rs. 5,999, you can forgive its shortcomings on account of it being a fairly good deal.

Pros

Attractive and user-friendly 3D Cube interface
Supports simultaneous dual-SIM activation and usage
It is sleek, stylish and lightweight

Cons

It lacks a hardware keypad
The touchscreen interface is quite sluggish and inaccurate
Average loudspeaker quality

The Micromax X550 (QUBE) is a dual-SIM, candy-bar resistive touch-screen phone, made almost entirely of plastic. It has a thin purple metallic strip running across the body contours, which gives an attractive look to its sleek dimensions. It weighs just 85 grams. The power button is located at the top of the cellphone, while the volume control buttons and the camera button are located on one side. A 3.5mm audio jack and USB port are located at the bottom surface of the cellphone and a screen exit button coated with purple, is located below the LCD screen at the centre.



The battery cover clings on firmly to the back of the cellphone and can be pulled off in the direction of the marked arrow by using the marked nail grip. By removing the flexible battery cover and the battery we can access the two GSM SIM-card slots and a microSD slot. The X550 provides the user the option of activating both the SIMs together or use only one SIM at a time through the software on the phone. The X550 bundles with a retractable stylus. The resistive touch-screen interface is quite sluggish and inaccurate, particularly while typing lengthy messages. We often found ourselves repeating the input more than once to register it successfully. The lack of a hardware keypad is a huge drawback, considering the inaccurate, sluggish and sometimes inaccurate interface.
The 3D Cube user interface looks very neat and organised. This 3D interface is ubiquitous i.e. present everywhere. Little gimmicks like touch sensitive wallpapers, application widgets and Snaptu (a social networking platform) add value for money. The three sides of the cube incorporate three different sections of applications and services, while one side is left blank. The user can flip through from one side to another by selecting the page & dragging the page horizontally, as if he is reading a book and turning the pages. Overall, the 3D Cube UI is a welcome change that adds a new dimension to the look of what is, essentially, an ageing touchscreen interface.

Performance:

The Micromax X550 (QUBE) had a satisfactory outing in the signal reception and call clarity test. There were no dropped calls or noticeable loss of voice clarity during the calls, across both zone one and zone two. It got decent scores across device earpiece volume, loudspeaker clarity, handsfree clarity and speaker volume tests. Although, it delivered average performance with loudspeaker audio and photo colour tests, it had good performance in the camera and music tests. It performed reasonably well in the video playback test. The X550 was unimpressive in the Bluetooth test and finished transferring a 5MB file in about 66.87 seconds.

Verdict:

The Micromax X550 (QUBE) is a feature-rich social-networking and touchscreen phone, which provides good value for money. The 3D Cube UI adds a new dimension to the aging touchscreen interface. Although, the absence of a hardware keypad, Wi-Fi and 3G is a major drawback, it still makes a decent buy at Rs. 5,999. Perhaps, we could forgive the absence of some of these features in such a cheap device. However, the biggest shortcoming comes from one of the features it already has - the touch-screen - the interface of which, is anything but ergonomic and intuitive. We've come across countless affordable touch-screens that have problems with usability and this is just another. Spending a little more, (Rs. 3,000 or so), will get you something like a Samsung Corby Pro, that has a better interface and also bundles a hardware QWERTY keypad.
Specifications: Dual-SIM (GSM+GSM); 3.2-inch TFT resistive touchscreen (240x400); 3D Cube UI; microSD slot expandable up to 16GB; 2MP integrated camera (1600x1200); Battery - up to 8 hrs talk-time and up to 144 hrs standby-time;

Accessories: AC adapter/battery charger, battery, handsfree headset, USB cable, PC Sync driver CD, user manual, leather pouch and stylus.

Ratings:
Features - 6.5
Performance - 6
Build Quality - 7
Value for money - 7
Overall - 6.5