Intex Cloud S9 Review: Good VFM Backup Phone

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Intex is a fast growing Indian smartphone brand. They are mostly focused on catering to the price conscious average indian buyer who looks to get maximum value for every rupee spent on buying a device. They recently launched the Cloud S9 phone. This phone is aimed at the budget segment while giving it fairly useful specifications

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When you pull the device out of the box, it is not looking to win any design awards. The phone has a pretty practical and normal looking build. The back cover of the phone has a matte finish that makes it very easy to grip and non slippery. The front has a 2.5D curved glass.

The Cloud S9 comes with a 13.97 cm (5.5) HD IPS display with 1280 x 720 pixels resolution that offers 267 PPI of pixel density and 16M colors, which nothing short of impressive, given the price that it is sold at. It is powered by a MediaTek MT6737 Quad-core Cortex A53 processor that clocks at 1.3 GHz coupled with Mali T720 MP1 650MHz GPU. It is a dual SIM smartphone that offers support for 4G LTE bands; It has a SAR value of 0.785 W/Kg in 1g at  the Head and 0.594 W/Kg in 1g when worn on the body. It is also RoHS compliant.

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It comes with 16GB of internal memory which can further be expanded via microSD card slot up to 32GB and there is 2GB of RAM to go with this. The juice for running this phone comes from a 3650 mAh capacity battery that can deliver up to 16 hours of talk time and lasts up to 200 hours of standby time. The other connectivity options that are supported include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.1, GPS / A-GPS Navigation, FM Radio, 3.5 mm audio jack, Micro USB 2.0 port and OTG cable support. Sensors on the device include G-Sensor, Proximity Sensor, and Light Sensor. It also has the other features like Fingerprint Identification, VOLTE, Gesture Control, Emergency Rescue and the usual features. What we find to be good about the package is that the fingerprint scanner that the phone has is extremely fast and efficient, once we recorded a finger print, it almost never goofed up, spot on every time and fast too. The phone also comes with an FM Radio. Inside the package is a decent headset and a charger wire with adapter. Since there is a slight bump in the rear where the camera and fingerprint scanner are placed, there is also a back cover that comes with the packing. This back cover also has a matte finish and is very sturdy.

Coming to the camera and imaging capabilities, it has an 8MP rear camera with LED flash that can record videos in 1080p at 30 frames per second. On the front, there is a 5MP selfie camera with a front flash for taking good snaps even in the dark conditions. The front flash again is a big win given the price of the phone. The phone just has loads of things going for it in the budget segment. The front camera can also record video as well. The usual bells and whistles like Panorama Mode, Face Beauty, Victory Gesture, Smile Shot and Voice Capture are all there. It runs on the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box and weighs around 161.5 grams.

The device comes in two colors – blue and grey. We got the blue version and it looked very decent. The price of this phone is what makes this an attractive proposition for people looking to acquire a good 4G phone without burning a hole in their pockets. This device is priced at INR 6499/- And at that price point, the features that the phone packs in are impressive. We are yet to see a phone with  front flash at this price point. The added bonus is the fact that it supports all LTE bands and VoLTE calls. So if you are just getting yourself a Jio SIM card and are looking for a phone that will support it out of the box and be and good backup device for you, this is a good contender. We would have really loved to see it have 3 GB RAM and come with a minimum internal storage of 32GB, that way, it would have been able to take on Coolpad and Xiaomi head on in that price bracket. But given the price and the package, this is a good backup phone nevertheless.

About Shakthi

I am a Tech Blogger, Disability Activist, Keynote Speaker, Startup Mentor and Digital Branding Consultant. Also a McKinsey Executive Panel Member. Also known as @v_shakthi on twitter. Been around Tech for two decades now.

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