Smartron, an Indian startup company has returned with a budget smartphone, Smartron srt.phone. Last year we saw the Smartron’s t.phone, the company’s first smartphone to enter the competitive Indian smartphone market. The srt.phone is inspired by the one and only well-known Indian Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. While it is heavily backed up with the name Sachin Tendulkar, the price of the srt.phone is quite tempting, starts from ₹12,999 for 32 GB storage version and adding ₹1,000 more to it will avail you a double 64 GB storage. Does it live up to the expectations and fight against the existing Chinese rivals? Let’s find it out in the review.
In The Box
- Smartron srt.phone with built-in battery
- USB type-C cable
- Charger (5V/9V, 2A)
- Quick Guide & Warranty Card
- Two Interchangeable Back Covers
Smartron srt.phone Specifications
- Display: 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display (1920 x 1080 pixels resolution | 401 ppi), Protected by Gorilla Glass 3
- Fingerprint Scanner: Yes, on the back
- Software: Android 7.1.1 Nougat, Upgradable to Android O
- CPU: Up to 1.8 GHz octa-core processor, Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 (MSM8976), 28nm HPm
- GPU: Adreno 510
- Memory: 4 GB LPDDR3 RAM
- Storage: 32 OR 64 GB EMMC 5.1 internal storage, No MicroSD slot, Unlimited Cloud Storage (tcloud)
- Main Camera: 13 MP f/2.0, BSI Sensor, Single LED Flash
- Front Camera: 5 MP, wide angle
- Connectivity: USB Type-C, 3.5 mm earphone jack, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC
- Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor, Digital Compass, Fingerprint sensor
- Cellular: 4G LTE, 2x Micro SIM (GSM + GSM), VoLTE, VoWiFi, eMBMS
- Other: Quick Charge 2.0, FM
- Certifications: BIS, ROHS
- Battery: 3,000 mAh (non-removable), Li-Ion
- Adapter: 18W adapter (5V, 2A and 9V, 2A)
- Dimensions: 153 mm x 77 mm x 8.9 mm
- Weight: 155 grams
- Colors: Titanium Grey
- Accessories: Sachin Tendulkar Signature back covers
- Box: srt.phone, Quick Charge adapter, USB type C cable, QSG
- Price: ₹12,999 for 3 GB RAM, 32 GB storage | ₹13,999 for 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage
Design & Build
Starting off from the design, it flaunts a polycarbonate body, folks who fancy metallic design may not find it appealing. However, the build quality is just as good and feels strong and light yet light in weight. It features a 5.5-inch full HD display with no 2.5D curved edges on the glass like the others, but we didn’t find any sharp edges on any side.
One good thing in the phone is that the back cover is removable and can be changed with two bundled covers of Sachin Tendulkar’s signature and graphics to give a different look. Sachin Tendulkar is a stakeholder in the company and the brand ambassador of course, so fans might love it.
The srt.phone comes with touch capacitive keys at the bottom and front loudspeaker where the earpiece is located. On flipping the phone, a fingerprint scanner is there along with a 13 MP camera on the top left corner with LED flash. The front is backed up with 5 MP selfie camera.
The device comes with dual SIM options, it supports 4G network with VoLTE. By opening the back cover, you can insert two Micro SIM cards (GSM), while there is no MicroSD slot for storage expansion.
On the sides, we found an odd thing about the phone, the power button is placed on the top side which might be unusual for some people. I have to extend my finger to the top to reach the power key. The volume keys are on the right side. Unlike many phones which are still using the standard micro USB port, the Smartron srt.phone uses a new USB type-C port.
Like many phones that employ two grills on the bottom, the srt.phone continues the trend. The loudspeaker is under the left grill whereas the right one is actually the microphone. There’s another microphone on the top along with a 3.5 mm port for earphones.
Display
When we talk about the display, the srt.phone offers a bright display here. It features a 5.5-inch full HD display covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The touch response of the display is good, the viewing angles are sufficient, colors look warm and decent, everything about the display is as good. No complaints here.
We moved to the display settings to check what are the extra features the display can offer, and its pretty much like the stock Android features. There’s no option to control the color temperature, night mode, and other display enhancements.
There’s an option to enable or disable the softkeys from the Display settings. If you like the traditional on-screen style navigation buttons, just turn on the slider to enable soft navigation keys.
Software & User Interface
One great thing about the phone is the software, Smartron has pretty much gained a plus one in the software space. They have put the ongoing version of the Android i.e. Android Nougat as you can see in the screenshot. The Smartron srt.phone comes with Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box. During the time of the review, we received an update with the following release notes. It also covers the latest security patch.
The user interface has made clean, stockish, no bloatware and other customized stuff. I mean it’s the Pure Android experience like you find it on the Nexus and Pixel devices. With Android N, things you can do like multi-window, quick reply, access the quick shortcuts from the notification panel, switch apps quickly by pressing the recent button twice, and access the shortcuts right from the homescreen by long pressing the icons.
Surprisingly, we found one app from the manufacturer named tronx. This app includes a store for the Smartron products, tcloud for storing unlimited data, tcare for its customer support, and a community forum where you can discuss stuff with other Smartron users.
The fingerprint scanner on the back scans fast, but it takes a while to show you the screen or wake the screen, about less than a second. While this isn’t a big deal, but we have seen faster scanners on some phones with similar or lesser priced phones. Nevertheless, it is still fast than many other phones in this range. The fingerprint setup is quite easy, fuss free.
Hardware, Performance & Gaming
Smartron srt.phone is raw on the power. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 SoC with 4 GB LPDDR3 RAM. The chip consists of 8 cores in which 4 high-performance Cortex-A72 cores are clocked at 1.8 GHz and 4 power-saving Cortex-A53 cores are clocked at 1.2 GHz.
Although it’s not as power efficient as the phones equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, the latter can beat the devices having Snapdragon 625 in performance regards. Check out the benchmarks of the Smartron srt.phone.
AnTuTu Benchmark
- 79,940 points
Geekbench 4
- 1,404 points (single-core CPU)
- 2,769 points (multi-core CPU)
- 3,567 points (GPU)
Quadrant Standard Edition
- 18,669 points
Packed with Adreno 510 GPU, it can play all the games pretty well. The gaming experience on the device is very good.
Storage Performance
Smartron srt.phone comes with a large 64 GB storage without any options to expand. So, the 64 GB is all that you got and if you need to extend the storage further, then, unfortunately, you have to find any other option apart from just MicroSD. I could use a thumb drive here and plug in it using an OTG connector to add a storage. Since we got a 64 GB storage variant, you can get a 32 GB variant too with a ₹1,000 less. That’s not advisable due to the storage expansion limitations.
Smartron offers unlimited cloud storage space for the lifetime. If you aren’t a MicroSD fan, you can still save your data in the cloud and get it whenever you want with the internet connectivity.
Anyways, the storage performs decently. The performance is merely a little above average since it’s as good as many devices that come around this price. Not too fast but not too slow.
A1 SD Bench
- 168.41 MB/s (Read)
- 88.80 MB/s (Write)
AndroBench
- 241.86 MB/s (Sequential Read)
- 90.06 MB/s (Sequential Write)
- 24.24 MB/s (Random Read)
- 9.62 MB/s (Random Write)
Cameras
For the camera it offers, the srt.phone has equipped a 13 MP f/2.0 camera sensor on the back with LED flash and a 5 MP camera on the front side with no flash.
The camera performance is average, though it takes some shots quite a little good, not as good as compared to the phones we saw in this price range. The camera offers features like Manual mode, HDR, Panorama, 4K video, Slow motion, night mode and a few others.
Smartron srt.phone Camera Specifications
- Camera: 13 MP f/2.0
- Sensor: BSI CMOS
- Optical Image Stabilization (OIS): N/A
- Rear Flash: Single LED
- Features: Geo-tagging, Tap to focus, Manual, HDR, Night, Slow Motion, Panorama
- Video Recording: Up to 4K @30 FPS, Slow Motion 720p @120 FPS
- Front Camera: 5 MP
- Video Recording: Up to 1080p @30fps
- Front Flash: N/A
Smartron srt.phone Camera Samples
Battery Runtime
The 3,000 mAh battery which appears to be just average performs the same. Smartphones like Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 having 4,100 mAh battery with a power efficient 14nm Snapdragon 625 CPU offers a very good battery life. Things, in the case of Smartron srt.phone, are not as good and doesn’t offer the best battery backup we have seen on the other smartphones in its class. The processor, though it is powerful, can’t help much with its 4 power saving cores.
On above minimum usage, the battery ran good and lasted one day with half the battery percentage left. Considering it, the moderate use of the phone or occasionally using the phone can get you somewhere around a day battery life.
Verdict – Can It Replace The Chinese Rivals?
Well, for the starters like Smartron, the srt.phone is the third device the company has launched. Within just opening of the game, the srt.phone has performed very well. In a nutshell, this could be the first Indian phone that tackles the Chinese rivals consistently.
The Smartron srt.phone is good for people who likes the latest Android in stock interface, a powerful processor to play games and multitask, and those who want an unlimited cloud storage to save all their stuff. To top things off, the phone is backed up with Sachin Tendulkar’s image, fans will definitely love the phone mainly with its bundled graphical back covers along with his official signature.
The strength of the srt.phone lies in the storage and the software department. Its competitors may not offer an unlimited cloud storage and the latest Android software experience. If you want a better camera and battery on the phone, you should opt for any alternatives.
Competitors
- Honor 6X (32 GB) – ₹12,999
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (64 GB) – ₹12,999
Strength
- Unlimited Cloud Storage For Lifetime
- Android N out-of-the-box
- Fast Performance
- Light Weight Design
- Bright Display
- Good Build Quality
- Value For Money
Weakness
- No MicroSD Support
- Unusual Position Of The Power Key
