Phicomm Energy 653 Smartphone Review

Chinese handset maker Phicomm has introduced an entry level smartphone- Phicomm energy 653 at Rs 4,999; making it the cheapest 4G enabled smartphone along with the ZTE Blade Qlux 4G. We used the Phicomm Energy 653 to find out if it's worth a buy.

Slim and compact smartpone fits easily in the pocket 
The Phicomm energy 653 offers nothing new when it comes to design and looks. It has a decent look like other smartphones with the glossy back cover made up of plastic that works like a magnet to smudges. The compact size 5-inch smartphone houses volume rocker and power buttons on the right side and 3.5mm jack and microUSB on the top. There are no physical buttons at the front but three capacitive touch keys. At 144 x 70 x 8 mm and weighing 125gm, the phone is lighter and thinner than many phones at the same price point. The impressive part is – the smartphone is among the few devices, which provides 4G support in both SIM card slots at this price segment.

A little dull display

The Phicomm Energy 653 sports a 5-inch screen with HD (1280x720p) IPS display. It handles text and web pages very well under bright sunlight. But it struggles when it comes to video playback and games—HD videos look dull and washed-out.

Decent camera for daylight photography Phicomm Energy 653 smartphone features an 8 MP rear camera with LED that clicks decent images in the daylight conditions though you can see a little noise in the low light conditions. It captures natural colors using the rear and front 2 MP camera. The touch focus camera lets you capture images of the objects you are focusing on and makes the non-focused object blurry. It takes pictures in 4:3 square aspect ratio only.

Combines mediocre hardware but offers awesome performance 
The Phicomm Energy 653 is a dual-sim smartphone powered by a quad-core 1.1 GHz, Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor and comes with 1 GB RAM with 8 GB internal storage out of which about 5 GB is available to the user. Users who want more storage space can install microSD card of up to 64 GB.

The Energy 653 is one of the rare options that runs Android 5.1.1 with a slightly modified custom UI. The phone allows users to customize hardware buttons and touch keys. For instance, one can program the power key to end a call or home button to answer incoming calls.

Connectivity features of the phone include 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB. On call connectivity, it supports 4G which works great and there is no lag in it like call drop or low voice in a crowded area.

The smartphone runs smoothly while operating and there was no lag in the performance even while playing games like real racing. In our benchmark testing it scores: Antutu-16962, 3D mark-4200, Quadrant-8975 and Vellamo -1554.

Reliable battery

The phone has a removable 2300 mAh battery that enables you to operate the phone for entire day with moderate usage like calls, surfing Internet, games, videos, chats etc.