The Karbonn A111 sports a 5 inch screen with 512MB RAM and 4GB internal storage. This dual SIM handset is powered by a dual core processor and comes for a price of Rs. 10,290 and definitely not worth it. Any MediaTek 6577 powered handset is much better than this one.

A111 Box pack
The box pack is impressive and gives you a feeling of a quality product. The handset looks good, it’s bulky and thickness is 12mm. On the first look it seems like the Karbonn A30, but with a smaller screen of 5 inches.

Inside the box there is the handset, USB to micro USB cable, earphone of a cheap quality, power charger, screen guard, user manual and warranty card.

Design
As mentioned it is a fat handset and a bit heavier than most handsets. There are 4 touch sensitive buttons on the front side.  On the top, next to in call speaker there is a front camera of VGA resolution and sensors (Light and Proximity).

The power button is on the right, volume rockers on the left, 3.5 mm jack on the top and micro USB port on the bottom.

The touch is smooth and this handset comes with GSensor, light and proximity sensors. Sar value : 0.49Watt/Kg.

Karbonn A111 box pack

Display
The 5 inch screen supports resolution of 800×480 pixels (187ppi). The screen looks good and the fonts much sharper because by default the fonts are set to a bigger size. The viewing angle is good.

Processor, Memory and OS
The Karbonn A111 dual SIM handset is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon dual core processor (MSM8625 SURF) with Adreno 203 GPU. There is 512MB RAM and 4GB internal storage.

  • Of the 512MB RAM, 204MB is available (first boot after Unboxing).
  • 581MB is allocated for apps of which 499MB is available.
  • 2.56GB is free internal storage space that is available.
  • You can select external SD as the default app install location.

The A111 runs on the Android 4.0.4 OS (ICS).

Karbonn A111 review

Performance
The handset is smooth and I did not experience any lags while performing the benchmarks and normal operations.

Benchmark Scores

  • Quadrant Benchmark : 2711.
  • Antutu Benchmark : 6596.
  • NenaMark2 : 32.4fps.
  • Linpack : Single 46, Multi 74.
  • Multi Touch : 5 point.

Entertainment
The Karbonn A111 cannot play 720p videos. I downloaded MX player and tried playing 720p video it looked smooth but audio was out of sync, this was with the S/W mode, the H/W mode is not supported.

Karbonn A111 apps

Connectivity
The handset supports 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, micro USB and 3.5mm jack. USB tethering, Wi-Fi hotspot and Bluetooth tethering are supported. There is also the Wi-Fi direct option.

Camera
There is 5MP rear auto focus camera with LED flash and a front VGA camera. The camera quality is not that good. Check the sample images at the end of the article.

As for video recording you can record at max 480p resolution which again is not that good. You can check the sample video too.

Gaming
I guess a lot of common games will work; I tried the latest game temple run 2 which worked pretty well.

Karbonn A111 temple run 2

Battery
The 2150 mAh battery is more than sufficient for this hardware and should easily last for over a day on a full charge.

Karbonn A111 review
This definitely is not a good buy. The price is high, the handset is heavy and the camera quality is pathetic. All this for a price of Rs. 10,290 (you can get it for as low as 9,300). There are many other handsets like the MMX A110, Lava IRIS 501, Xolo A700 and even the Celkon A200 / Micromax A89 which is in fact much better than this handset.

Image Gallery

Sample images shot using A111 5MP camera

Karbonn A111 unboxing and review

480p Sample video shot using Karbonn A111’s camera

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By Rajeev Rana

Founder and Chief Editor - gogi.in