Videocon V6200 Ducati Series - Stuck in Reserve

All you Moto GP freaks, what was your reaction when you heard about Videocon releasing a “Ducati Series” phone? If you actually thought of picking it up, then please read this before you do buy one. Features and extra stuff is all well and good, but what about performance and the money that you throw in?

Design and Features
Anyone, and mind you anyone, will appreciate how the V6200 has been made. Right from the rugged design to the very detail of the phone, one thing’s for sure, the V6200 looks awesome. Well at times the phone does look like a newly-wed bride (with lights flashing from all corners), but it’s all cool. Let’s start off with the features of the phone, but before that a quick look at the specs.

The V6200 has a 2.4-inch TFT display, below which comes the standard four-way navigation and then the twelve-key keypad. The V6200 is decorated with buttons on both sides as well as on both ends. On the right is the Torch button (which works even when the phone is switched off) and the camera button, in between the two are two slots for the SIM card and mini USB. Similarly on the left there is a dedicated button for your GPS while the other is to switch to different features on your Multi-Function Display (MFD) screen. Coming to that, the MFD screen is a small one, about 3 cm in diameter and gives various information like temperature, pressure, etc. it’s also situated next to the 2 Megapixel camera.

Moving to the features, the phone supports your mundane features such as an e-book reader, calendar, alarm clock, internet browser, java games, video/audio player, FM radio, etc. What’s cool about the V6200 is that it has some additional sports features like a barometer, altimeter, pedometer, thermometer, digital compass, UV sensor and in-built GPS.

Does it go vroom vroom when switched on?

There are plenty of goodies that come along with this phone. Right from an arm band and a water flask to a CD with photos and videos of Ducati bikes, then comes the standard barrage of cables like the USB cable, a headset and a hands-free. Not to forget, the phone comes pre-loaded with lifetime access to maps from MapMyIndia.

So when it comes to the design of the V6200, the features that it has to offer and the extra stuff they throw in, I’m left with a wide smile on my face. Somehow, the smile disappears later onwards.

Interface
Although a simple Java-based system, the interface lags only a bit. The main screen is divided into three modes. The phone mode has all the phone functions like making phone calls, messaging, internet browser, user profiles, etc. Think of multimedia and you have the Fun mode. This one consists of games, videos, images, songs and an FM radio. Last comes the Sports mode which has the sports features.

Designed like a Ducati for sure...

For a new user, it’ll take a while or so to get used to the navigation between the different types of menus. But once you find your way around, switching is not too difficult.

Performance
If there’s anything that matters now, it’s about the V6200's performance and this is where the acid test actually begins. Let’s take it from all perspectives.

Media
The V6200 supports MP3 and AAC for audio, and 3GP and MP4 for videos. The audio quality is okay but the volume doesn’t go up too high. The videos are decent, with some pixelation and lagging in the midst of videos.