From a side-player to one of the largest selling smartphone manufacturers in India, Intex has come a long way – both in terms of quantity and quality. Intex Aqua GenX tries to drive the message home through attractive specs on paper. But how successfully does it translate into real world usage?
What’s Good?
Intex Aqua GenX has a metallic unibody, which is quite slim and easy on the hands, even with a 5.5-inch display. The screen is full high definition and protected by a Dragon Trail covering. Accommodating over 400 pixels per inch of the device, the display looks crisp. Outdoor readability isn’t much of an issue either.
We see quite a few physical keys on the sides of the phone. Three on the right side, and one on the left. The three keys on the right are volume up and down, and the power button. A single button on the left is called the Q-Key. It can be customised to open different apps right from the lock-screen.
The 13-megapixel back and 5-megapixel front camera work quite well. The images shot on the phone carried natural colours and a very nice amount of detail. There are quite a few in-camera options such as picture-in-picture selfie that takes a photo on both sides of the camera.
The phone provides 16GB of onboard storage, which is expandable up to 128GB with a microSD card.
Equipped with a 2GB RAM and 1.3GHz Octa-core processor, the phone glides through your everyday requirements. Plus, gaming is also a delight on the Aqua GenX, with smooth gameplay and colour-popping display. The smartphone runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with an Intex custom interface overlaid.
A 2,850mAh battery in dual-SIM 4G Intex Aqua GenX doesn’t complement the power-house this smartphone tries to be, but is still able to last through the day on moderate usage. A full charge on the phone kept it going for 7-8 hours with an hour of phone calls, 30 minutes of gaming, videos and web-surfing, and over two hours of messaging.
Key Specifications: Intex Aqua GenX
- Display: 5.5-inch, Full-HD IPS Display
- Operating System: Android 5.1 Lollipop
- Processor: Octa-Core
- RAM: 2GB
- Storage: 16GB, Expandable to 128GB via MicroSD card
- Rear Camera: 13MP
- Front Camera: 5MP
- Battery: 2,850 mAh
- Price: Rs 12,699
What’s Bad?
We were quite impressed with Aqua GenX’s imaging capabilities. However, the low-light images left a lot to be desired. Image stabilization features were also severely missed, and we ended up trying to keep our hands really steady for every selfie.
The quality of physical keys on the sides was quite disappointing and it really dampened the ‘premium’ feel of the smartphone.
Also, in Intex Aqua GenX, you get a hybrid dual-SIM slot, which means one of the SIM slots doubles up as a MicroSD slot. This also means that you cannot use two SIM cards if you want to use extra storage on your smartphone.
Why Buy It?
Buy it for the metallic unibody and the ease of use. The phone has good looks and backs it up with dependable performance. At Rs 12,699, it’s a sensible decision for a budget smartphone. The fact that it’s available both online and in regular stores near you makes the deal only sweeter.
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