XOLO A800: A Specifications Review

XOLO entered the Indian market with the X900, the first phone to be powered by Intel’s Medfield SoC. After failing to spark much interest, the company shifted to the more popular ARM-based chipsets, the latest of which is the A800. Priced alongside the iBall Andi 4.5h and the Micromax A110, the XOLO A800 aims to raise the bar for budget Androids even further. We break down the specifications and compare them to the closest competition.

OS – Android Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.4)
Like most budget droids in the market, the XOLO A800 features stock ICS, for the most part. The icons in the ‘Settings’ menu and the toggle switches in the notifications bar are new as are the extra options for dual SIM management and the option to schedule powering your handset on and off. We don’t know how XOLO will push any updates to the handset since there’s no OTA option. There’s a good chance that the A800 may never see Jelly Bean, which is a real shame since it has the hardware to easily handle it.

Cellular network – 3G and dual-band GSM support (dual SIM)
This is one area where the A800 falls a bit short as compared to the Andi 4.5h. XOLO’s offering only supports two bands in the GSM network unlike the quad-band support of the Andi 4.5h. This means if you do happen to travel a lot, chances are, you won’t be able to use this on all networks around the globe. There’s also support for 3G on the 2100MHz band, but for only one of the SIM slots and not both.

Looks good

Display – 4.5-inch qHD IPS
With a 4.5-inch display and a qHD resolution (540 x 960), we are looking at a very healthy pixel count of 244.7ppi. This is the same as the iBall Andi 4.5h and a lot better than the Micromax A110. To make things better, A800 also features an IPS panel instead of the standard TFT LCD display. This gives you far more accurate colours and good viewing angles.

Form factor and weight – Very comfortable at 10.5 mm in depth and weighs 152 g
The rounded edges and curved chin makes the XOLO very comfortable to hold as well as aesthetically appealing. The white body and the silver trim along the bezel remind us a lot of the HTC Radar. At 10.5 mm, the handset is fairly slim and light too. Apart from the XOLO name that’s tastefully plastered around the back, it looks and feels every bit like a premium handset.

Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g/n
XOLO hasn’t compromised on the 802.11 spec and you get full Wi-Fi ‘n’ support, unlike the iBall Andi 4.5h.

SoC– Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 and 512MB RAM
Unsurprisingly, the A800 also features the MediaTek MT6577 SoC so we can expect the same multimedia performance like the A110 and the iBall Andi 4.5h. The SoC consists of a dual-core ARM CPU running at 1GHz and a PowerVR SGX 531 GPU. 

Storage – 4GB with expandable memory up to 32GB
The A800 comes with 4GB of internal memory and also features expandable memory up to 32GB via a microSD card slot. You even get an 8GB memory card bundled along in the box.

Primary Camera – 8MP BSI sensor
This is the first budget Android to pack in a Backside Illuminated Sensor (BSI). BSIs typically allow more light than standard sensors, so the A800 should do better in low light shooting conditions as compared to the sensors on the A110 and the Andi 4.5h.  Some of the camera features include touch focus, auto focus as well as HDR mode.

Front camera – 0.3MP
Front camera is also present for video calls and self-portraits.

The 8MP BSI sensor

Sensors – Accelerometer, Ambient light, Proximity
Many of the handsets in this price range choose to ignore an ambient light sensor, so it’s nice to see XOLO include it in the A800.

Battery – Li-Ion 1600mAh
The battery capacity is the same as the iBall Andi 4.5h, which means we should expect around 5-6 hours of average battery life with typical usage.

The bottom line
A quick look at the specifications shows us that the A800 is nearly identical to the iBall Andi 4.5h, only better. The XOLO A800 trumps the iBall Andi 4.5h by offering Wi-Fi ‘n’ and a BSI sensor in a more aesthetically appealing body. We are yet to put the A800 through its paces in the full review, so stay tuned. For now, it seems like one of the best handsets in the 10–15K price bracket.