Intex-Aqua-Style 4.0 review

Intex Aqua Style 4.0, the recently launched entry level smartphone from Intex can be easily mistaken for an iPhone 4 black when looked at a glance. The device has taken cues from its predecessor Intex Aqua Style Pro when it comes to the look and feel of the device. The price on the box is put at Rs 6,290 but the device is available in the market for a price less than 6K.

With a strong network of dealers and service centres, Intex has a upper hand in the market. Adding to the list of successful android devices, we have the Intex Aqua Style 4.0 for review. Do leave your comments after reading the review, also please share your experience with the device if you use it already 🙂

Before we start with the review, have a look at the specs of the device:

GENERAL
Release date August 2014
Form factor Touchscreen
Dimensions (mm) 119.70 x 62.50 x 9.30
Weight (g) 110.00
Battery capacity (mAh) 1400
Removable battery Yes
SAR value NA
DISPLAY
Screen size (inches) 4.00
Touchscreen Yes
Touchscreen type Capacitive
Resolution 480×800 pixels
HARDWARE
Processor 1.3GHz  quad-core
Processor make MediaTek MT6582M
RAM 1GB
Internal storage 4GB
Expandable storage Yes
Expandable storage type microSD
Expandable storage up to (GB) 32
CAMERA
Rear camera 5-megapixel
Flash Yes
Front camera 2-megapixel
SOFTWARE
Operating System Android 4.4.2
Java support Yes
Browser supports Flash No
CONNECTIVITY
Wi-Fi Yes
Wi-Fi standards supported NA
GPS Yes
Bluetooth Yes
NFC No
Infrared No
DLNA No
Wi-Fi Direct No
MHL Out No
HDMI No
Headphones 3.5mm
FM Yes
USB Micro-USB
Charging via Micro-USB Yes
Proprietary charging connector No
Proprietary data connector No
Number of SIMs 2
SIM 1  
SIM Type Regular
GSM/ CDMA GSM
3G Yes
SIM 2  
SIM Type Regular
GSM/ CDMA GSM
3G Yes
SENSORS
Compass/ Magnetometer No
Proximity sensor Yes
Accelerometer Yes
Ambient light sensor No
Gyroscope No
Barometer No
Temperature sensor No
 

Now that you have got an idea on how the smartphone fares with its specs, let’s have a look at the photo gallery and head to the review part:

Box Contents

Inside the box, the device sits on the top. Inside,  there is 1400 mAH battery, a pair of in-ear type earphones, a free screen guard, one extra back cover, a round pin USB wall adapter, a micro USB 2.0 data cable and some usual documents including one for special offers from Tata Docomo.

Design and Build

The Intex Aqua Style 4.0 is an elegant device with a design language that fits right into your hands, thanks to the 4 inch screen size. Even though the device is made out of plastic but the aluminium accent around the phone gives it a premium look and better grip.

As you would have read in the specs, the Intex Aqua Style 4.0 is powered by a 1.3 GHz Quad core MediaTek processor coupled with 1 GB of RAM. It has 4 GB of internal storage which can be expanded up to 32 GB using the micro SD card.

The device has a 4 inch WVGA display; a 2 MP fixed focus front camera; the earpiece and the sensors in the front. Default Android shortcut keys below the display with a round backlit Home Screen key. On the left is the volume rocker and the power button is on the right; the micro USB 2.0 port and 3.5 mm jack on top and the mouth piece are below. On the back of the device is a 5 MP auto focus camera with LED flash, the Intex branding and speaker grill. Removing the back flap reveals the 1400 mAH battery, the SD card slot and the two SIM card slots out of which one supports a full sized SIM and the other supports the micro SIM.

The device is definitely one of the better looking and better build Android device in this price range.

User Interface

The device comes with Android 4.4.2 KitKat experience out of the box with a bit of customization. The UI has bare minimum customization over the stock Android KitKat UI making it pleasing to the eye.

There are some Intex Apps and games preloaded apart from the usual Google Apps.

Users also get an option to select between the Google Now Launcher and the Intex Launcher3

There is a theme manager for users to select themes from and change the look and feel of the UI

Performance

Display

The Intex Aqua Style 4.0 has a WVGA display that doesn’t match the standards of other devices present in the same price bracket but still it’s not that bad. The display is adequately bright and crisp. Even on the maximum level of brightness the colours don’t get washed out. Colour reproduction of this device is just fine and so photos on this device doesn’t look that great on this device. The viewing angles are decent nothing much to talk about.

Browser

The default browser renders the webpages perfectly and we didn’t find any lag while scrolling. The text rendering capacity of this device is also decent. We performed the HTML5 test and got a decent score of 448 out of 555.

Gaming

Thanks to good speakers on the device, gaming experience gets enhanced. We played a few games and there was no lag or heating issues on the device. Overall it was good gaming experience. 

Camera

The 5 MP camera has a very minimalistic UI. Camera shoots images at pretty decent speed but does take some time to process the images and even some lag is experienced. The front facing camera is 2 megapixel shooter that is just fine for taking selfies. You have the usual stuff like the HDR mode, flash settings, continuous shots, scene modes, colour effects, video quality etc. in the camera settings. Switching to video mode is fast and stills can be clicked while recording. The photo and video quality is decent under enough light and you see a fair amount of details in the picture taken in good lighting conditions. The metering is good though. Although under low light conditions a lot of pixelation is visible.

The Unbiased Verdict

We loved the design language of this device. It is elegant, light weight with a solid build quality. The metallic texture around the phone makes it even more appealing. The almost stock UI makes the device function smoothly with no lags or quirks. The device has a mediocre camera but the amazing sound quality makes up for it and makes it worth spending the money. But camera being one of the major factors when purchasing a smartphone these days. We would like to tell you that the camera is all right under good lighting conditions but the quality degrades when exposed to low levels of light. On the whole the Intex Aqua Style 4.0 is a decent device keeping in mind the price point at which it is being offered and out performs many other devices in the same price bracket and can even be compared to some midrange devices.

Social Media Evangelist | Gadget Guru | Model | Photographer | Ex- BlackBerry Boy - Now iOS | WP8 | Droid. Founder and Chief at ‘The Unbiased Blog’. I breathe in WiFi zone, prefer LTE over LIT. Ex MSFT, MCP, A+ and coder. I like news to be served to me on twitter.