| Rating | Where to buy |
 | Amazon.com *Same or similar item |
Symphony is not a household brand in the world of mobile phones. Recently, it introduced Android OS in its phones. The latest Symphony W50 Android Gingerbread phones are available at a price of $120. Though our initial interest was on reviewing Symphony W100 that features Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS, but we decided to review Symphony W50 which is available at half the price of W100.
What is in the box?
Symphony W50 comes in a colorful box. The box contains Symphony W50 mobile phone, a universal battery charger with LED display, 1300 mAH Lithium Ion Battery, a headphone, USB data cord, user manual, and warranty card.
Design and features
Symphony W50 comes in glossy black color. The body is made of hard plastic with nicely curved corners and smooth edges. It felt nice and durable. W50 features a 3.75-inches TFT capacitive multi-touch screen, and a 0.3 mega pixel secondary camera on the front. The top edge sports the 3.5mm audio out port. The mini USB port, and Up/Down button is located on left and right respectively. On the backside, W50 has a 3.0 mega pixel primary camera, the loudspeaker, and attractive logo on the battery cover. On contrary to our primary assumption, Symphony did not look or feel anything cheap.
The SIM card slots and memory card slot are located under the battery cover. It was easy to insert SIM cards, and memory card on their respective slots. We placed the battery inside, placed the battery cover back, pressed the power button, and we were ready to judge its performance.
Performance
Symphony W50 sports an 800MHz CPU, 256MB RAM, and 512 MB built-in ROM with 180 MB of it free for use. We did not expect W50 to boot up in any less than 45 seconds. Surprisingly, it took only 30 seconds to load for the first time. We found the display not as gorgeous and as appealing as an Amoled; nevertheless, it was good enough to surprise us again. The icons were colorful, bright, and clear. W50 took a couple of seconds to find the phone networks. Once it did, both networks were live and active. To check the basic phone features, we tried making and receiving calls using both SIMs. The voice was clear on both the dialing and receiving ends.
The secondary camera is no good for taking pictures, but the primary camera is 3.0 Mega pixels. We could take a few good photos with it. Like other Android phones, W50 incorporates a few camera features too. The headphone that comes bundled with it was not good enough, giving us a false impression regarding W50’s music output quality. However, when we replaced the Symphony headphone with Bose headphone, it did produce deeper base, and clearer sound.
There are five different pages, each with a nice looking menu with colorful icons. The screen was very responsive, and the multi-touch feature worked well. We could play games like Angry Bird, Fruit Ninja without any lagging or delay. The animations ran smoothly.
Internet browsing with Symphony W50 was not a bad experience. W50 features Wi-Fi 802.11, and Hotspot technology. It also supports EDGE, GPRS technology. W50 also features Proximity Sensor, G-Sensor, and a flash light.
Negative side
Symphony W50’s battery runs out of juice rather quickly, partially due to its large TFT capacitive screen. TFT screen consumes more power than Amoled Screens. Secondly, the App stores were not available, so we had to root W50 for Android App markets. However, the process of rooting gave us a very hard time. We would love to share the experience, but discussing the rooting process of W50 is out of the scope of this review.
| Pros | Cons |
| Affordable android smartphone, features dual SIM card slots, dual cameras, Wi-Fi, EDGE, up to 32GB memory card, proximity sensor, G-sensor, GPS, Skype. | Though the battery charger has a display and it looks attractive, but 1300mAH battery proved to be less than enough for this phone. |
Conclusion
Symphony W50 features Android Gingerbread. This Smartphone features dual SIM cards, dual cameras, Wi-Fi, EDGE, 3.8-inches multi-touch supported screen. You can use up to 32 GB memory card in it. It is available for $120, which is what makes it a very alluring choice!
We would have given Symphony W50 a 3.5 rating if it had better battery life. Nevertheless, we recommend Symphony W50 to anyone who is running short of cash, and wants to switch to an Android phone for the first time. You might also like our post on Latest smartphones.
Specifications
Android OS: 2.3 Gingerbread
Display: 3.75″ TFT Capacitive Multi-Touch
Camera: 3MP Primary, 0.3MP Secondary
Data Services: Wi-Fi, EDGE,GPRS
Bluetooth: yes
Display Resolution: HVGA(320X480)
Internal Memory: Available RAM 180MB (Total 256MB)
Storage: User available ROM 180MB (Total 512MB), Memory Card Extended up to 32GB,
Battery: 1300 mAH Lithium Ion Battery
Stand by time: 120 hours
Talk time: 4 hours 30 min
CPU: 800MHz
USB Modem: Yes
Built in Applications: Angry Bird, Fruit Ninza, Office Suite 6, Facebook, Skype, Youtube, Maps, GPS, Gmail.
Special Features: Proximity Sensor, G-Sensor, SNS Application, Flash light
Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 802.11, Wi-Fi Hotspot