Intex is known for bringing new smartphones in the budget segment in quick successions. The company recently expanded its Aqua smartphone portfolio with the advent of the Aqua Lion X1+ for a price of Rs 8,499. The smartphone comes with a shatterproof glass that is capable of enduring regular or severe falls easily. However, if you still manage to break the shatterproof glass, the company still has your back with a one year screen replacement warranty.
Despite the unbreakable chin, is the smartphone competent enough to take a beating when pitted against other smartphones that fall under the same price point? Let’s find out:
Specifications
- 5.2-inch HD IPS display (720 x 1280 pixel resolution)
- 1.3GHz quad core processor
- 3GB RAM
- 32GB internal storage (128GB expandable)
- Android 7.0 Nougat
- 4G VoLTE connectivity
- 13MP rear camera with flash
- 5MP front camera with flash
- 2800mAh battery
Design
Design wise, the Aqua Lions X1+ isn’t something exceptional. It sports a glossy plastic body which acts as a smudge magnet and attracts a lot of fingerprints. The front panel houses a 5.2-inch display followed by capacitive touch buttons. On the rear panel you will find the camera with flash and a fingerprint sensor in the centre.
The USP of the phone is its shatterproof display that is capable of enduring regular falls. We tried testing the durability of the phone and dropped it from a good height multiple times. The result was same every time — no cracks, no scratches, no dents.
The smartphone is surely a tough nut to crack and outclasses other devices with its shatterproof capabilities.
Display
The Aqua Lions X1+ flaunts a 5.2-inch HD IPS display with 720 x 1280 pixel resolution. The display uses MiraVision technology, which is a set of engines that enhances display picture quality. The interface allows for interactive tuning with real time quality feedback. Advanced users can choose Picture Mode / User Mode to activate more tuning options.
The colours on the display come out over saturated, but that’s forgivable as you cannot expect so much from a HD display. The company could have used a Full HD display since other smartphones all already offering a better display at the same price.
Camera
The smartphone comes equipped with a 13MP rear camera with flash. The camera app UI is very old but offers all the standard options including the HDR mode, Panorama mode and the Face Beauty mode for both rear and front cameras. The camera app also has an integrated QR code scanner which you find on a lot of other smartphones.
The quality of the picture isn’t very impressive and doesn’t justify the 13MP sensor. Pictures taken in sunlight come out decent but the ones taken in low light show a lot of noise. The camera is only good for normal pictures and one shouldn’t expect a lot from this sensor.
For selfies, the company has tucked in a 5MP front shooter which exposes below par images. The pictures mostly come out hazy and a lot of noise is evident. Overall the camera isn’t something that would convince you to buy this device since we’ve already seen some good camera smartphones in the budget segment.
Performance
The Aqua Lions X1+ has a 1.3GHz quad core processor at its heart coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. It runs on Android 7.0 Nougat and the UI is fluid most of the time.
The performance of the device is smooth until you chose to play heavy games or run extensive app. We noticed severe lags after continuously using the device for a long time. Also the device started heating up when we played some high-end games on it. Well that’s expected considering the chipset used here is not strong enough to handle such beating.
Wrap up
The Intex Aqua Lions X1+ overall qualifies as a decent smartphone overall but doesn’t bring something new to the table. It only has a shatterproof glass display which you won’t see on lot other phones in this price range. The functionality of the phone is good enough for a moderate user, but the ones who require a device for heavy usage can give this a miss.
The X1+ packs a sturdy design and is apt for users who aren’t good at taking care of their phones and keep dropping them. It will be hard to recommend this device over the likes of Moto G4 Play and the recently launched Xiaomi Redmi Y1, as they offer much better functionality and performance compared to the Aqua Lions X1+.
