Symphony Xplorer H150: The Marathon Runner

We observed something: Symphony's smartphones tend to arrive in packs, especially when they sport a unique feature. This time there was no exception. Last week Symphony launched two phones with extensive battery life. The one we are reviewing, Xplorer H150, has an enormous 4000 mAh battery. Yes, it raised my eyebrow too when I heard for the first time. So does it live up to the hype or is it just a marketing gimmick? Let's find it out:

Starting with the exterior: the phone is made of durable plastic with metal bezel. It's a bit heavy but not bulky. Despite packing a 4000 mAh battery, the phone's thickness is only 9.95 mm. The power button and the volume rocker both are on the right side.  The charging port and headphone jacks are on top of the phone.

The phone has got a run of a mill IPS HD display with 294ppi. Photo details, WebPages and doc files full of text weren't any less sharp to my eyes on the H150 than the other phones. The colors were vibrant and the touch was responsive. One particular feature that sets this phone apart from the competition is the hall sensor. To understand how the hall sensor works you need to put on the flip cover that comes with the box. You will see a circular void in front of the flip cover. Now try double tapping the screen or just press the power button. You will see a clock face starring at you. Fancy, right? If you swipe on the clock face, a menu will appear in the circle. You can performs inventive tricks such as responding to voice calls , check incoming texts, quick-launching the camera, playing your favorite music etc.

A 1.3 GHz quad core processor & 1 Gigabyte RAM is the powerhouse of this handset. These were able to handle all necessary apps. It comes with a Mali 400 GPU so it won't be able to handle most of the 3D games released this year. But if you are fan of the classics like angry birds and hill climb racing then you won't be disappointed.

With an 8 MP camera on the back, Symphony Xplorer H150 can take good snaps. We tried both: wide angle and close up shots. And we found out that it was capable of capturing pleasing photos both inside and in the outdoors. Indoor shots were crisp, had accurate colors rendition and great exposure. There are several modes i.e. live mode, panorama, face beauty for different subjects.  You can also pinch to zoom on objects and tap to get focus on a target.

Xplorer H150 comes with the biggest and baddest battery in any phone of this range that we reviewed so far. And with our test we did confirm it's ludicrously long run time. On a single charge the phone was able to provide 3 days non-stop service. In this period of time I got more than 4 hours of talk-time, YouTube playback of more than 5 hours over 3G. And in-between, I did keep on doing my everyday online chores. So was H150 able to deliver its promised longevity? The answer is: HELL YEAH.

The phone comes with an Android 4.4.2 KitKat with a custom UI skin – a combo we see very often in Symphony handsets and something we are not a big fan of. The icons are not intuitive and the skin hogs some RAM. The phone has OTA and OTG support. So you will be getting firmware & OS updates (if any). 

FULL SPECS:

2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network: HSDPA 2100
Alert types: Vibration; MP3 ringtones 
Stand-by: Up to 550 h
Talk time: Up to 20 h
Battery Type: 4000 mAh Li-Polymer Battery
Bluetooth: Yes
Camera Features: Autofocus, Flashlight, Continuous Shot, Zoom up to 4x
Camera Resolution: 8 Megapixel
Colors Available: Black
Dimensions: 144 x 71 x 9.95 mm
Display Resolution: HD, 720 × 1280 pixels (294 ppi pixel density)
Display Size: 5 inches
Display Type: IPS Capacitive touch screen, 16M colors (G+F+F glass material)
EDGE: Yes
Front: Camera: 2 Megapixel
GPRS: Yes
GPS Function:    Yes with A-GPS
Graphic Processing Unit (GPU):    Mali 400
Internal Memory: 8 GB ROM
Loudspeaker: Yes
Memory Card Slot: MicroSD, up to 32 GB
Messaging: SMS (Threaded view), MMS, Email
Multitouch: Yes
Operating System: Android OS, v4.4.2 (Kitkat)
Other Features    - Built in Applications: Facebook, Play Store, Opera Mini, Skype, Office Suite, Audio , Video & Call recorder
Processor: Quad-Core, 1.3 GHz
Radio: FM Radio
RAM: 1 GB
Release Date: April 2015
Sensors:    Accelerometer: (3D), G-Sensor, Proximity, Hall Sensor
SIM Card Type:    Dual SIM (both regular SIM slots)
USB: MicroUSB, USB on the go (OTG)
Video: Recording    Yes
Web Browser:    HTML
Wireless LAN:    802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Hotspot

Price: Tk. 10,590/- plus free flip cover

VERDICT
Xplorer H150 packs an astonishingly big battery, a decent screen with hall sensor, a combination of metal and durable plastic exterior and good camera. Thanks to the free flip cover & hall sensor, you can perform essential tasks without even opening the flip cover. The 1 gigabyte RAM time to time struggles to serve your every demand but it won't let you down. If you are constantly on internet and too lazy to hook your phone to the charger every night then buying H150 should be on the top of your To-Do list.