When it comes to buying a feature phone with 4G VoLTE support there are few options available in the market. Here is one such handset the Micromax Bharat 1, a feature phone that supports VoLTE and it is a better option when compared with the JioPhone.
All the key features that you wished the Reliance JioPhone had, you will find that on the Micromax Bharat 1 handset. This feature phone like the other feature phones come with alphanumeric keyboard, supports dual SIM and houses a 2000 mAh removable battery.
Performance is good, this is a basic phone but it does offer access to Facebook, YouTube and even whatsApp. But there is more to it, read this Micromax Bharat 1 review to know more. This feature phone is priced at approx Rs. 2,200.
Micromax Bharat 1 specifications
Processor : Qualcomm Snapdragon
Screen : 2.4 inches with QVGA resolution
SIM Type : Dual SIM
RAM : 512MB
ROM : 4GB
Box content : Handset, charger, battery, earphone and user manual
Features : Wi-Fi (Hotspot), Bluetooth and GPS
Other : Supports Facebook, YouTube and Whatsapp
Battery : 2000 mAh (removable)
Performance
The display quality is good, this is not a touch screen. You will need to use the navigation buttons to navigate through the menu. Overall performance was good, don’t expect much out of a feature phone.
However it does come packed with apps that one simply cannot live without – you can use Facebook, Youtube and even Whatsapp on this handset. Apart from this in settings you also get Wi-Fi Hotspot option which means you can share the data from this feature phone with other devices via Wi-Fi Hotspot.
Battery life is very good. You will easily get 1 to 2 days of battery life on a single charge depending on your usage. It takes about 2 hours to charge the battery. There is 2MP camera on the back and a VGA camera on the front – ignore the camera they are no good.
Micromax Bharat 1 Vs Reliance JioPhone
There are 3 things that make the Bharat 1 a better option.
- Micromax Bharat 1 supports dual SIM and you can use any SIM from any service provider. Whereas the JioPhone comes with a single SIM slot and you can only use a Jio SIM on the JioPhone.
- Bharat 1 supports whatsapp, JioPhone for now does not.
- Bharat 1 supports Wi-Fi Hotspot whereas there is no such option on JioPhone.
Verdict
As you can see in the Micromax Bharat 1 and Reliance JioPhone the Bharat 1 is a much better option. It comes for a good price tag of Rs. 2,200 (approx). There are some offers you can avail – BSNL Rs.97 unlimited.
Rating 4 out of 5
You can buy the Bharat 1 smartphone from official site.
Pros:
1. Smooth interface
2. Battery backup is fine.
3. Has 4G native Video calling (ViLTE)
4. Both sim supports LTE(only one at a time!)
Cons:
1. ViLTE clarity is pathetic and so is the UI/UX
2. Display is also bad
3. Camera clarity is pathetic
4. WhatsApp video calling lags. Feels like you are still in 2001!!!
5. Buggy dialler. Very difficult to use. So many issues while scrolling the call log
6. KitKat version
7. Won’t be able to clear the cache/ram
Whatsapp video calling using 3G or 4G SIM works flawlessly. I had observed Super and smooth quality video call in daylight and also in night near the artificial light source ,
One more good thing is this phone also support native video calling from dial pad also
Yes , I noticed that but I got ‘Video call’ options only if I insert JIO sim card in any slot otherwise video call option is not available there, and also after getting that option if click and choose 2ND SIM (Idea 4G sim in my case) sim for video calling I had seen that the call was automatically started by SIM 1 (JIO Sim) , and in the call history that call was termed as 4G Voice Call ..
As I did not recharge my JIO sim so My call got disconnected every time ,so I want to know how does it work actually ? Do you able to video call any non-jio caller ??
Didn’t try from other Sim cause I’m using jio only
Can you please let us know, who are the other service providers with 4G video calling facility!!?
Sir, I had purchased this phone from snapdeal as did not find in local store and using since 3rd December 2017, I must say at this price point this phone delivers really good , android in keypad phone is a different and nice experience, not just for senior citizen I would recommend it to everyone who does not need apps and games but needs the basic things like 4G VoLTE, Hotspot, Wifi, Whatsapp,facebook, few TV channels.
Anyway I also should talk about the problems I had found on this phone and What Micromax did to solve that so far.
1. In photo viewer you can not zoom Pictures ( But within whatsapp you can zoom )
2. In defalut video player and also in Youtbe or in any other Online video streaming websites I did not find any options to rotate the video to play in landscape mode. ( But Inside Micromax LIVE TV App all the TV channels and Videos are loaded in landscalpe mode by default )
3. A major bug I found – If you use PIN Lock mode and whenever your phone get locked while you are inside Whatsapp applications then the locked screen gets overlapped with Whatsapp screen so that after entering PIN the phone can not be unlocked and nothing worked , you must reboot phone.
4. In Micromax TV all the channels are not playable such as Zoom , Aaj Tak , Food Food TV etc.
Well, Micromax actually fixed two issues (Problem number 3 and 4 both ) with another update. I got that 2nd system update of 41 MB on 6th December 10 pm. This Update also slightly improves the response and speed of phone. But This Update created another issue – though all the Live TV channels work smoothly but now they are only played in portrait mode and I can not find any options to rotate the video similar to normal video player, Micromax should fix this by pushing another update because Videos can only be enjoyed in landscape mode, also now in portrait mode It’s hard to read the news headlines on News channels. I don’t know why micromax did that suddenly.
Sir, is it possible to give this feedback directly to micomax team for fixing those issues in the phone ???
Try in social media
Does contacts from google account gets added automatically as in android phones.
Out of stock in Snapdeal e-commerce site; many people buy as secondary phone which can we used after battery running out of primary device.
I don’t understand why everyone is hating on the jiophone now. Jio delivered what it promised. Nothing more, nothing less. They make limited number of jio phones based on the number of pre-bookings, so it is quite obvious they won’t refund the rs 500 paid during pre-booking.
This Bharat 1 phone is showing “out of stock” in Snapdeal…
I purchased this phone from sñapdeal .But it has not included the sim.So I cannot avail the BSNL offer.Offlline retailer sell the phone with sim which is to be activated at the BSNL center.So if you want BSNL 97 offer avoid online purchasing.
Will it be possible to side load truecaller
Hahahaha lalch buri baat hae
lalach ek kala hai.
Hi hi. We can always hope for more.
I bought it from Snapdeal but how to avail ₹97 offer as no sim was given
I bought sim from local shop but a message showing please insert valid sim
Micromax provide sim with phone. The sim is to be activated at the BSNL center to avail the offer. But online seller does not provide the sim . The offline seller sell the hanset with sim. You cannot avail BSNL 97 offer with other sim.
I am using about 12 days. Good basic phone with basic features and I can Use Whatsapp, Facebook and Youtube. Good battery backup. Also can use Wifi and Wifi hotspot. Far better than Jio Phone.
What internet speed are you getting using the WiFi hotspot..? Can anyone clarify.. plz
I have used Idea 4G sim , with USB tethering and Hotspot tethering I got very good download speed.. sometimes 2mbps but mostly below 1 Mbps , it depends upon the network but overall it delivers same speed as another good dongle or smartphone does…
I forget to tell that with Bluetooth tethering I did get more than 200 KBPS download speed in Idea 4G network
This is the first review by u when u didn’t say about playstore and video calling. What about playstore and also native video calling supported or not.kindly let us know about the upper subjects also , gogi sir
native video calling and playstore not supported , in fact no third party apks are allowed to install. only through system update Whatsapp and facebook can be installed, well whatsapp video calling works great, the caller from opposite side got surprised by the video call quality I must say.
Got surprised or scared…Any way thnx for ur information.have already ordered it on 6th of dec. After review of gogi
no, the video call quality is actually good in daylight and near light source in night time..
Yeah true …In day light it’s good ..Have gote it yesterday I’m happy with this mobile . Only cons is battery backup is not good as lava 4g connect N1 …I’m having both of these phones
Native video calling is available there . U just need to press ok button u got some menu in which voice calling and video calling is also there
Bro is this 97 rupees plan for everyone or it’s for this phone only?
97 rs. plan is only for this phone. This recharges are available for only one year.
Gogi sir,
I purchased jio phone. If I use the sim with some other set then what will be plan. Will the plan of Rs. 153 pm continue. In this case after 3 yrs, will I get refund if I return jio phone.
One more thing where can I see my answer.
Hi Anil,
If you use the sim in another phone, You need to recharge with regular phone. 153 will only work in jiophone. I verified with customer care. If you recharged any plan total amount should be 1500rs for one year. totally you need to recharge 4500rs to get the refund.
How to cancel the Jio phone? customercare is saying that it cannot be cancelled and asking me to gift the phone to anyone
haha..You fell for it.. now u got to live with it
–JioPhone
Yeah fell for it! It is certainly not as good as I thought it would be! Atleast they must stop the constant calls so that I can live in peace LOL
Can I use jio sim on this phone. What will be the plan of jio will work for this phone.
Yes, Jio SIM works in this phone. Using Jio SIM for WiFi hotspot.
I got it in first sale from Snap deal at 2400. its kitkat customized phone. wifi tethering is good. signal reception is good. only con is battery.
can anybody tell how to cancel vibration on dial number in micromax bharath1
go to settings > Sound > scroll down and uncheck Keypad Vibrate . done
does it support usb tethering facility?
Yes…that’s why it’s better than jio phone.
Hi Gogi, I am looking for a feature phone with ViLTE feature. Could you please suggest, if you know any? Thank you.
All VoLTE phones are capable of doing native video call ( ViLTE )but only if your network provider support that feature , In india only with JIO 4G you can do that though airtel also has started VoLTE service in selected areas. and FYI this Micromax Bharat 1 also support native video calling but with JIO only ,,
To be frank, we got cheated by booking Jio phone. While booking the phone, the new rules were not told to us. After collecting several crores, they changed the rules. They are not willing to refund Rs500. When the rules are changed, they should have given us a chance, do still want our services Yes or No. They have taken us for granted. They are making so many phone call, sending several SMS. They got Rs500/- from all of us just like that. They should be happy. Why are they keep on disturbing us.
Same here, I wanna to cancel jio and wanna to get mmx b1.
In the 1st place I can’t understand why Indian public fell into the trap of so called “Free Phone”…
Please don’t comment whatever you want, as through you have jumped from another planet. If something is good, we would grap it. Did you understand what was in mind when I ordered. I ordered it on behalf of my maid, who could not use internet.
Truth hurts my friend.BTW you could have added few more bucks and gifted her a smartphone which would allow her to experience internet far better than JIO phone.
It was a general comment not directed towards you.
Rest in peace Jiophone .
how can I get the phone
Bharat 1 smartphone from official site . From here
Hello Gogi…Bro….As always Great Review…Where did u buy this phone Bro..help me….need to buy
Available on snapdeal