After the srt.phone, Smartron has brought another smartphone t.phone P for the Indian market aimed especially at the budget segment and it’s from the t.phone series itself. Smartron has already launched a few smartphones in the country including the Smartron srt.phone which was heavily backed up by the name Sachin Tendulkar. The latest phone by Smartron is the t.phone P priced at ₹7,999 with a massive 5,000 mAh battery as its main highlight. Here’s the Smartron t.phone P review.
What’s in the Box
- Smartron t.phone P with built-in battery
- Micro USB cable
- Power Adapter (5V, 2A)
- User Manual & Warranty Card
- SIM Tray Ejector
Smartron t.phone P Specifications
- Display: 5.2-inch IPS display, HD resolution (1280 x 720 pixels), 2.5D curved glass
- Fingerprint Scanner: Yes, on the back
- Software: Android 7.1.1 Nougat
- CPU: Up to 1.4 GHz octa-core processor, Qualcomm Snapdragon 435
- GPU: Adreno 505
- Memory: 3 GB LPDDR3 RAM
- Storage: 32 eMMC internal storage, MicroSD slot on SIM2, 1 TB Cloud Storage (tcloud)
- Main Camera: 13 MP, Single LED Flash
- Front Camera: 5 MP
- Connectivity: micro USB, 3.5 mm headphones jack, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS
- Cellular: 4G LTE, 2x nano SIM (GSM), VoLTE
- Battery: 5,000 mAh (non-removable)
- Adapter: 5V, 2.1A
- Price: ₹7,999
Design, Built, & Ergonomics
Smartron t.phone P has a 5.2-inch display, hence it’s compact, the design feels premium and solid. The rear side has metallic finish plate with side frames made of glossy plastic. The overall feel of the phone is good and appealing due to its metal design. Although it weighs 160 grams, it seems to be on the lighter side considering that it holds a large 5,000 mAh battery.
As per the current design trends, the t.phone P isn’t offering any bezel-less type design or FullView display rather you see the usual large top and bottom bezels like the traditional phones. The design isn’t surprising or eye-popping, but keeping the price in mind, it’s still competent.
It’s the third smartphone from the company and it’s focused on the budget segment. The t.phone P is priced at ₹7,999 for 3 GB RAM and 32 GB variant with no other variants as of now.
At the bottom, you will see three capacitive keys for navigation and they do light up. This is something that not many phones offer at this price point. The fingerprint scanner is provided on the rear side and it’s decent enough to scan the fingerprint yet it takes about a second to unlock the phone.
For imaging, the phone has got a 13 MP and 5 MP combination on the rear and the front side respectively. The 5 MP selfie camera comes LED flash for low-light selfies while the rear camera holds a single LED flash.
The left side offers a hybrid SIM tray that carries dual nano SIM cards and an optional microSD slot on SIM2. It supports 4G network and VoLTE calling. The right side has the usual power button and volume buttons. On the top, the 3.5 mm headphones port is provided with a secondary microphone. The bottom offers a micro USB port not the newer type-C standard, a microphone, and loudspeakers.
Display
The display on the phone is 5.2-inch IPS with HD resolution (1280 x 720 pixels) and it’s topped with a 2.5D curved scratch-resistant glass. The display uses the conventional 16:9 aspect ratio not the newer 18:9 which you may find on certain phones. Hence, the bezels are visible and you may not find it as attractive as compared to the bezel-less designed phones.
Speaking about the quality of the display, it’s more or less good for its price, there’s nothing much to complain in the display department. The viewing angles are fair and the brightness is average, not the best in class. Rival Xiaomi Redmi 4 has a slightly higher brightness comparatively.
Software & User Interface
One of the main highlights of the Smartron t.phone P is its software. It runs on the stock Android 7.1.1 Nougat with the company’s proprietary tronX skin. While most things on the phone are stock with no bloatware, there are additional apps from Smartron such as t.cloud, t.store, and t.care. Some Microsoft apps (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, OneNote, Skype) are added by default and they can’t be removed, but you can disable them right away.
People who like clean and stockish interface will fancy the software on the t.phone P. The phone offers similar software features as seen on the srt.phone. They both are based on the same operating system. Just that an Android Oreo out-of-the-box would do better. Oreo update would have been a great addition, not many phones offer Android Oreo which eventually makes the t.phone P a standout.
Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
Since it’s a budget smartphone, it is powered by the entry-level Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 octa-core SoC clocked at 1.4 GHz and paired with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage.
With the Snapdragon 435, the performance of the phone is decent, the interface is fast. The phone sometimes lags when you try switching apps, an update may solve the issue. The processor is good for daily use and some light multitasking and gaming. The benchmarks we got are almost closer to the Chinese rivals, check out them below.
AnTuTu Benchmark
- 56,594 points
Geekbench 4
- 686 points (single-core CPU)
- 2,129 points (multi-core CPU)
- 1,981 points (GPU)
We played some games like Into The Dead, Hitman Sniper, and Breakneck on the t.phone P. The Breakneck was laggy at times while the other two ran just fine. We also tested the same game Breakneck on the Redmi 4 and it did lag, hence, the game demands higher graphics. The gaming performance with the Adreno 505 is okay for light to medium graphics games. Games with higher requirements may want a better GPU if you are into gaming.
Games Tested On Smartron t.phone P
- Breakneck
- Hitman Sniper
- Into The Dead
Storage & Memory Performance
The phone offers a 32 GB internal storage but provides the option to add microSD card of up to 128 GB. The microSD card takes on the SIM2 slot, so it works as a dual SIM phone without a microSD card or single SIM with a microSD card. If storage is the problem, Smartron has provided users with another storage option offering 1 TB of free cloud storage on their t.cloud platform.
Moving to the performance of the storage and RAM, the benchmarks suggest that the phone offers average performance, there’s nothing remarkable here. Other phones in the range may be ahead or better by a margin in terms of performance.
A1 SD Bench
- 155.60 MB/s (Read)
- 80.32 MB/s (Write)
- 3,833 MB/s (RAM Copy)
AndroBench
- 270.51 MB/s (Sequential Read)
- 76.89 MB/s (Sequential Write)
- 32.13 MB/s (Random Read)
- 11.42 MB/s (Random Write)
Cameras
The t.phone has a camera package that sounds too mainstream, it has a 13 MP camera on the back and 5 MP on the front. Surprisingly, the front camera is backed with LED flash for low-light selfies.
Smartron t.phone P Camera Specifications
- Main Camera: 13 MP
- Optical Image Stabilization (OIS): N/A
- Rear Flash: Single LED
- Features: Panorama, Beautify, Multi Exposure, Time-Lapse, HDR, Manual, Geo-tagging, Tap to Focus, Color Filters, Burst Shot
- Video Recording: up to 1080p video @30fps
- Front Camera: 5 MP
- Video Recording: Up to 720p
- Front Flash: Single LED
There doesn’t seem many phones with better cameras in this segment. A few phones in the segment, the Redmi Y1 and Honor 9 Lite that are capable of taking great selfies. Anyways, the t.phone P doesn’t look like a camera phone, so it offers decent cameras, not ground-breaking.
In bright daylight, it takes good shots, but image quality lacks the punch when you zoom. Some modes such as Manual, Multi Exposure, Beautify, and Time-Lapse are added to enhance the camera. The Selfie camera is okay, but as mentioned you have better camera phones out there. You wouldn’t expect something great from a budget smartphone, the cameras on the phone are average.
We took some shots to see how the camera performs and the results are in front of you. Take a look.
Smartron t.phone P Camera Samples
Battery Runtime
The battery is the main feature of the phone with a huge 5,000 mAh capacity. The large battery performs well thanks to its 720p display combined with the power-efficient processor, this setup leads to a better battery runtime.
Smartron says the t.phone P can offer 2-day battery life and it does achieve the same. Out test suggests that the t.phone P can last 2 days on average use and 1.5 days on daily driver use. You can check our test results for the most used apps and daily tasks that consume the battery. Besides, the phone can be used as a power bank with its reverse charging support.
In terms of competition, the Xiaomi Redmi 4 has similar battery backup and the MIUI software is more optimized for its battery, hence longer runtimes. The Redmi 4 sports a 4,100 mAh battery which is smaller than that on the t.phone P.
Smartron t.phone P Battery Test Results
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Verdict
Smartron puts up a competition to the Chinese rivals like Xiaomi Redmi 4 and it’s close enough to what they offer. You won’t go wrong with the Smartron t.phone P, it has all the things a budget smartphone needs to have. What we like on the phone are its the battery life, stock Android interface, solid build, and 1 TB free cloud storage for the lifetime and of course its price i.e. ₹7,999 which sounds appealing for budget users. The cameras are certainly not the best in the price range, phones like Redmi Y1 offers a better camera package.
Rivals
- Redmi 4 (32 GB) – ₹8,999
- Honor 9 Lite – 10,999
Strength
- Metallic Design | Solid Build
- Large 5,000 mAh Battery | Decent Battery Life | Reverse Charging
- 1 TB Of Free Cloud Storage | MicroSD Support
- Stock User Interface
- Front Camera Aided By LED Flash
- Value For Money
Weakness
- Average Cameras
- No Oreo out-of-the-box
