Coolpad Dazen 1 – Review

The Coolpad Dazen is one among the two first smarphones to be lauched by Coolpad under the Dazen brand in India. The Dazen 1 is a low cost budget device and this particular segment has severe competition and a large market base. The Dazen 1 offers 2 GB of RAM and 5 MP front camera compared to other devices in this price band. It is priced at Rs 6999 and will go on flash starting from 12:00 pm on June 9th in Snapdeal. So is it worth it and how does it fare against the competitions? Let’s find out!

There are 2 main competitors for the Dazen 1 in its segment. The Xiaomi Redmi 2 and the Yu Yuphoria.

Key Specifications

• 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 410 quad core processor
• Adreno 306 GPU
• 2 GB RAM
• 5 Inch Display
• 8 MP primary camera with LED flash
• 5 MP Secondary Camera
• 8 GB Internal Storage:
• Expandable upto 32 GB
• 2500 mAh no removable

Design

Dazen 1 is designed with functionality and pricing in mind and definitely not style. It has a solid construction and the plastic material used is of good quality. Our review unit is snow white and later on the device will also be available in black. The Snow white has a smooth matter finish to it. It weighs 143 grams and 9.3 mm thick. It has a 5 inch display like the Yuphoria, but the larger size has made it loose on pixel density and that is probably why I find the display in Redmi 2. Also the display is not protected by Corning gorilla glash unlike Redmi 2 or Yuphoria. The speaker is placed at the back and it gets blocked easily. Though the speaker is not very strong, it is definitely better than Redmi 2. The design and quality of construction is comparable with Redmi 2, but definitely better than Yu Yuphoria.

Hardware and performance

Dazen 1 is powered by 64 bit Snapdragon 410 Quadcore processor clocked at 1.2 Ghz. It has 2 GB of RAM, 8 GB internal storage and expandable by upto 32 GB. The RAM contributes to the better performance of this device compared to it competitors. It get decent scores on the benchmark test, but it lags and drops a few frames while playing graphic intensive games. I would say that this device had a performance that is good for the price you are paying. The device does not heat up beyond 38 degree celcius, even after 15 – 20 minutes of gaming.

Camera

he mobile has a 8 MP primary camera which has a decent performance. The images are sharp only under well lit conditions and the quality deteriorates under low light. However the color reproduction is good. The white balance is a bit off and you can see from the samples that the images are always on the colder side with a blue tinge. Otherwise the lens gives a decent depth of focus and the details come out well. The image output quality is same for the front camera as well. The front camera being a full focus, it would have been better if the focal length was smaller. Again for Rs 6999, you get what you pay for. Comparing with the competitors, I would say that the Redmi 2 has a better camera than the Dazen 1.

Software

Dazen 1 runs on CoolUI on top of Android 4.4.4. The CoolUI has striking similarity with the MIUI and mimicks most of its interactions and functionality. The MIUI has been around for a while and it has stabilized to a robust custom ROM. While the CoolUI has the look and feel of MIUI, it still has a lot to cover in terms of user experience and UI robustness. Though it has a few tricks up its sleeve, frankly speaking, if the UI had not been similar to MIUI, I would not be comparing it with it and infact, I would have felt that it is a good UI. Nevertheless, the UI is fast and snappy and it has little or no bloatware, except for the Snapdeal app that comes preinstalled. The OS takes up 50% of the storage and you are left with ~ 4GB out of the 8 GB internal storage. The device does not support USB OTG, which is a big deal breaker.

Battery

The 2500 mAh battery along with the patented technology to conserve battery, this is one area where the Coolpad Dazen 1, out shines all of its competition. With my usage, it lasted for more than 1.5 days. A few minutes on calls, 15-20 min of gaming, frequently checking social feeds and all this with 4G always on and that is my regular usage. This is a device you can trust to take you all day without any compromise on power consumption.

Conclusion

The extra RAM and MP count on the selfie camera, does it really matter? If numbers do matter, well yes Dazen 1 dazzles. But practically it is on par with its competitors. Now it is upto your personal liking and also brand reliability. Micromax and Xiaomi have been around for a while and Coolpad is a new entrant. Will they bring up their service network to match the competition? The registrations have already crossed 1 lakh for the first flash sale and will Coolpad be able to supply to the demand? While we wait on those answers, one thing I can say for sure is that the Dazen 1 is definitely a good mobile that will give a stiff competition in the market.

Buy it here