Finally some news from the Karbonn brand, the Karbonn A18 is now available for a price tag of Rs. 9,790. This is a dual SIM single core ICS powered handset with a WVGA IPS screen.

Karbonn A18 – a dual SIM dual standby ICS phone can compete well with the Micromax A100, though the A100 does have that 5 inch advantage. But with the entry of A18 the older handsets namely the Spice Mi-425 and the Karbonn A9 will soon be pushed to the brink of extinction.

Processor and Display Screen
Though not much info about the processor is known however for the price it is safe to assume it will be a single core, but we do know that it is clocked at 1GHz possibly with a GPU similar or equivalent to what we have seen on Mi-425 and A9.

The display screen is with a WVGA resolution i.e. 800×480 pixels. It is IPS capacitive touchscreen, even better than the Karbonn A9. The display screen on the Karbonn A18 is 4.3 inches in size (diagonally).

Memory and OS
Memory does play an important role and for this reason the A18 comes loaded with 1GB RAM (users are saying its 512MB RAM not 1GB – confirmed 512MB) along with a 1GB of internal storage. This combination is the perfect ingredient for the ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) or Android 4.0 OS. Add to it microSD card is also supported of up to 32GB.

Connectivity
The Karbonn A18 comes powered with all the features found on its competitor phones like 3G (HSDPA – 7.2 Mbps), 2G (EDGE / GPRS), Wi-Fi / USB with tethering support, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 and a 3.5mm audio jack.

Karbonn A18 review dual SIM 1GHz processor

Multimedia
Like every android phone this one too can entertain. The stock media player can play many supported audio and visual formats with easy.

Pre-installed apps
The A18 comes loaded with some games like Angry Birds, 3D games, live motion wallpaper, Kingsoft office tool and with customizable home screen. Social networking apps like Facebook, Twitter, Gtalk, Y Messenger, whatsapp etc too comes pre-loaded. You get full access to Google play from where many more apps can be downloaded.

Camera
The camera resolution is of similar specs when compared with other handsets in the same price band. It is with a 5MP resolution with LED flash and a 1.3MP front facing camera. This camera is enhanced further with added features like auto focus, burst mode and face detection.

Karbonn A18, spice Mi-425 and karbonn A9

Battery
A 1500 mAh li-ion battery powers the handset. This is too low as compared with Mi-425 or the Karbonn A9. But it should still give a better or equivalent standby and talktime.

Karbonn A18 key features and Specifications

  • Single Core (mkt6575) 1GHz CPU – GPU – Powervr sgx531.
  • ICS (Android 4.0).
  • 4.3 inch IPS capacitive touchscreen with 800×480 pixels resolution.
  • 512MB RAM , 1GB internal storage and micro SD support.
  • 5MP camera (burst mode 16 shots), quality just like on Spice / Karbonn.
  • 3G,wi-fi, Bluetooth 4, microUSB, 3.5mm audio port and GPS.
  • 1500mAh Li-ion battery.
  • UPDATE : Karbonn website says “Video Calling using SIM Card”.

Karbonn A18 review
The handset looks like an upgraded Karbonn A9. The design however is different but most of the hardware specs are similar to the A9 model. On some sites it is available for about Rs. 10,500 but flipkart is offering the same for as low as Rs. 9,790 with 1 year warranty.

Performance wise it should do better than the other models and should also get a higher benchmark score. But can the A18 compete with the Micromax A100 – let me know your views!

Updates
karbonn A18 price as on the karbonn website

Native video call supported on karbonn A18

 

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By Rajeev Rana

Founder and Chief Editor - gogi.in