So here I am with another review. The review of a recently released smartphone that has a very interesting name. Fly Qik+. Sounds good, doesn't it?
Well, as a matter of fact, so do its specifications. Qik+ by UK based Fly Mobile is priced at only Rs 6999 in India. The device is available exclusively on Snapdeal.com. When launched, it was the cheapest smartphone with an Octacore processor in the market. Maybe it still is. Anyway, it has the processing power of Mediatek 1.7 GHz Octacore processor. With a 5 inch display, it is a big screen phone. The display is High Definition and has 1280 x 720 resolution. It has 1 GB RAM, 8 GB internal storage, 2200mAh battery power and the operating system is Android KitKat. The primary camera is 13 MP and the secondary camera is 5 MP.
Considering the price of the device, these are pretty impressive specifications.
Qik+ can also boast about its slim and jazzy looks. The device is only 7.8 mm thick. And it comes in White colour for those who prefer sober colours. And it is also available in Russian Red. The review device that I got was Russian Red. It is a fancy colour and the back has a sort of metallic shine to it. Those who prefer fancy looking devices would like it. The front is all black with three hidden Soft Keys at the bottom.
Another thing that users would like about Qik+ is that there are no third-party apps installed on it. It only has the Google apps like Gmail, Google Drive, Maps and the usual system apps like calendar, calculator, clock etc. In the past I have seen several devices with several unwanted third-party apps pre-installed on it. Even including online retailer apps. Users can't get rid of such apps without rooting and may not want or use them. But these unwanted apps keep on consuming precious internal storage space. No such unneeded app has been installed on Qik+. I'm sure many users would appreciate that.
The phone also has two small utility apps. These include a very basic note taking app called ToDo. It just allows adding of plain notes. Another utility app is the flashlight. But it has no widget and can't be accessed from the lockscreen.
Simplicity is the specialty of the whole user interface of the device. This makes the phone very suitable for the first time users of the smartphones. However, that also means that there are very little customization options. And that might disappoint the users who like having customization options. One can only change wallpapers and ring tones on it. But even while changing wallpaper, one can't set separate wallpapers on Home Screen and Lock Screen. Also, there's no option to edit the order of apps in the main App Folder. Nor is there any option to hide any app or access an app's information from the app folder. In short, there are very few things in Qik+ that you can customize as per your preferences. This will suit the new smartphone user, but the seasoned smartphone users might be disappointed.
One nifty feature that I found in Qik+ is auto power on and off. Just set the time when you want the phone to switch off and on, and it will do so automatically.
The typing on the big screen was convenient. The device has Android keyboard and Google voice input. . But it has no shape typing or continuous input using which one can type by sliding the finger from letter to letter. The voice typing is helpful but can't always be perfect when being used to type Indian words or English words in Indian pronunciation or when there's too much interfering noise in the surrounding.
The dialer of the phone is a little different from what I have seen in other phone. When you open the dialer, the first screen displays the favourite or frequent contacts, with the recent log on top. Bellow it are the three options. The first option is to view the recent list, the middle option opens up the number dialing pad, the third icon opens up the options to add new contact, view all contacts or change the call settings. Seems to be quite intuitive and easy to use.
Fly Qik+ is a Dual SIM phone and one of its useful features is the Contact Binding. Using Contact Binding, one can set which SIM card to use to call which contact
Qik+ has 13 MP rear and 5 MP front camera with several useful camera modes and features. The camera obeys voice commands as well as gesture commands. You can just say Capture or Cheese to click a picture or create the V sign with two fingers in front of the lens and then it automatically clicks the picture. The camera also has Burst Shot which can click upto 40 photos quickly by just long pressing the shutter. The phone allows clicking of photos while making videos. And also, the video recorded on it can be trimmed and muted. However, these editing functions are very basic and don't have any setting options.
The camera also has smile shot mode, panorama mode, face beauty mode that automatically brightens the skin tone and enhances eyes etc. the effect of this mode is quite good and it's automatic and thus easy and quick to use. Another interesting mode is the Live Photo that clicks the photo and also records the video just a few seconds before clicking the photo and then combines the two. In the result, you first see the photo which then slides to a corner and the muted video of the moments just before the picture was clicked starts playing.
There's no third-party photo editor. But the basic editing features like fine tuning, adding frames, cropping and adding common filters can be used.
Qik+ also has lockscreen widgets. Also, moving the lockscreen towards the left activates camera. Just drag your finger from the right edge of the Lockscreen towards the middle and the Lockscreen shifts and the camera gets activated.
The lockscreen has four shortcuts. Only one of these is customizable. The other three are Google search, camera and Unlock. Only the left side shortcut can be customized by going into the Security settings. And the app to be set on this shortcut can only be chosen from the select list of apps. These include gallery, music, radio etc.I wish it also included Flashlight..
Also, when you change the wallpaper, it changes on the Homescreen as well as the lock screen. That also means that if you use a live wallpaper, even the Lock Screen shows the live wallpaper. That is pretty cool. Video wallpapers can also be used. These too appear on the Home Screen as well as the Lock Screen.
One thing that many users would like is that the FM Radio in Qik+ also has the recording feature.
In the few days and with the few gaming and other usual apps that I tried using on Qik+, the device performed well. But at the same time, it did look and feel like a budget device to me. Despite its big screen and sleek shape, it does not give the feeling of a premium or high-end device. The phone has good specification when considered its price. Its sleek shape and big screen and jazzy Russian Red colour (also available in white) might appeal to many users too. But it offers very little customization options, the user interface has scope of improvement too. For example, sliding the finger down opens the notification panel. But to view shortcuts like Wifi, brightness etc, one has to press the icon on the top right side of the notification panel. And there's no customization option for these toggle switches.
In short, the phone wins for offering good specifications at such affordable price. But it loses a little due to lack of features and very simplistic user interface. However, simplicity has its own benefit and so will suit the users who are new to smartphones and not yet familiar with its more advanced and complex features. More advanced users would probably install a custom launcher on it soon. What the user will get for a price of 6999 is a big screen, slim smartphone with decent performance. A device that has no bloatware or third-party apps and a user interface that's clean and simple. And of course, a device with a 13 mp rear and 5 mp front camera that obeys voice and gesture commands and can auto beautify the photos.
Note: Along with Qik+, Fly Mobile also released in India two other smartphones.These are Qik and Snap. You can check out this post for specification comparison of Qik+, Qik and Snap
