Nowadays, front camera of a smartphone has become one of many things to consider before buying a smartphone, especially for those people who like to take selfies. You are maybe one of those people. As an Indonesian brand, Advan does not want to let global companies to dominate Indonesian market. That is why they always try to compete global products. One example of their effort to compete global brand is to provide selfie smartphone. To meet the desire of people, enter Advan Barca S4X, which comes with a uniqueness in its front camera. Despite the uniqueness of front camera for selfies, is this smartphone worth a recommendation? Read more the review to find out!
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| Advan Barca S4X |
Strengths:
ü Inexpensive cost
ü Front camera
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Weaknesses:
x
Battery capacity
x OS
version
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Price:
IDR 700,000.00
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Screen and Design
You better not wish a luxury design for this smartphone.
The Barca S4X adopts a very familiar
candybar design with curves on its corner. The whole body are plastic, making
you able to predict that this phone cost cheap. Touchscreen panel, front camera, ear-speaker,
and virtual keys reside the front part of the phone. At its back, you can find
main camera with the flash, and loud speaker. The back cover has a rough
texture, making it comfortable to hold.
At the top, you can find a 3.5 jack audio port. The USB port can be found at the bottom. Volume and power buttons are put at the right side of the phone. It is not a good idea putting those two buttons at the same side because you will need to use both hands to capture screenshots.
Advan Barca S4X has a 4-inch qHD IPS LCD display which is well known for its ability in providing brilliant combination of colors. Yet, it uses a hi-tech LCD, its resolution is only 854 x 480 pixels. But, that’s likely enough for a smartphone with 4-inch screen. The colors are quite sharp with controllable brightness level, thanks to IPS Technology. For your information, there is screen protector like Gorilla Glass or even Dragon Trail Glass implemented to protect the touchscreen panel. So, if you buy this phone, I suggest that you also buy screen protector for protecting the screen.
At the top, you can find a 3.5 jack audio port. The USB port can be found at the bottom. Volume and power buttons are put at the right side of the phone. It is not a good idea putting those two buttons at the same side because you will need to use both hands to capture screenshots.
Advan Barca S4X has a 4-inch qHD IPS LCD display which is well known for its ability in providing brilliant combination of colors. Yet, it uses a hi-tech LCD, its resolution is only 854 x 480 pixels. But, that’s likely enough for a smartphone with 4-inch screen. The colors are quite sharp with controllable brightness level, thanks to IPS Technology. For your information, there is screen protector like Gorilla Glass or even Dragon Trail Glass implemented to protect the touchscreen panel. So, if you buy this phone, I suggest that you also buy screen protector for protecting the screen.
Software and Processor
The Barca S4X runs an old Android Kitkat which is fully modified. It means that you will be presented user-interface that is developed by a third party. The user-interface applied in this smartphone is called IDOS. It is developed by a local developer. Be proud! Don’t worry! The user-interface is not confusing, just like pure Android Kitkat. There are several bloatwares – pre-installed applications - found in the device. Some of them are removable.
Its processor is an old 1.2 GHz Spreadtrum SC7371. It is an old processor for smartphones nowadays, but don’t worry! The performance is okay. The processor is supported with 1GB RAM. That processor and RAM combination can let the smartphone to do multitasking. For your gaming pleasure, A Mali-400MP4 is ready to run quite heavy games available in Play Store. In conclusion, The Barca S4X is good for standard daily use.
The Barca S4X runs an old Android Kitkat which is fully modified. It means that you will be presented user-interface that is developed by a third party. The user-interface applied in this smartphone is called IDOS. It is developed by a local developer. Be proud! Don’t worry! The user-interface is not confusing, just like pure Android Kitkat. There are several bloatwares – pre-installed applications - found in the device. Some of them are removable.
Its processor is an old 1.2 GHz Spreadtrum SC7371. It is an old processor for smartphones nowadays, but don’t worry! The performance is okay. The processor is supported with 1GB RAM. That processor and RAM combination can let the smartphone to do multitasking. For your gaming pleasure, A Mali-400MP4 is ready to run quite heavy games available in Play Store. In conclusion, The Barca S4X is good for standard daily use.
Camera
For your photography pleasure, The Barca S4X is equipped with a 5-megapixel lens and LED flash for its front and back camera. Well, 5-megapixel lens is standard for a back camera, but for a front camera, it is special. Both camera can take quite good quality photos with minimum noises when there is enough light. Compared with the camera lens of Oppo Joy 3, the picture quality taken by Advan Barca S4X is better. Why? It is because the Barca S4X’s camera has supported autofocus, while the Joy 3’s has not. That becomes a plus point for the Barca S4X.
As you can see, the picture taken by this smartphone is good enough. The autofocus of this smartphone is not the fastest, but it can detect the object perfectly. You can see the focus really well. The blur of the unfocused object is not too much, making it look natural. The weakness is the color which is not really sharp. But hey, at least the camera can capture your instagramable – great to be uploaded on Instagram – picture.
Front camera is the power of this smartphone. So, if you love taking selfies, this smartphone can fulfill your desire for that. Its front camera has only 5-megapixel lens as I have stated before. No autofocus, no filters, no features for selfie purpose, but there is an LED flash that can help you to take selfies in dark places. The quality of its front camera is not as good as its main camera, but for doing selfie, that quality is likely enough.
For your photography pleasure, The Barca S4X is equipped with a 5-megapixel lens and LED flash for its front and back camera. Well, 5-megapixel lens is standard for a back camera, but for a front camera, it is special. Both camera can take quite good quality photos with minimum noises when there is enough light. Compared with the camera lens of Oppo Joy 3, the picture quality taken by Advan Barca S4X is better. Why? It is because the Barca S4X’s camera has supported autofocus, while the Joy 3’s has not. That becomes a plus point for the Barca S4X.
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| Taken by the main camera (personal collection) |
As you can see, the picture taken by this smartphone is good enough. The autofocus of this smartphone is not the fastest, but it can detect the object perfectly. You can see the focus really well. The blur of the unfocused object is not too much, making it look natural. The weakness is the color which is not really sharp. But hey, at least the camera can capture your instagramable – great to be uploaded on Instagram – picture.
Front camera is the power of this smartphone. So, if you love taking selfies, this smartphone can fulfill your desire for that. Its front camera has only 5-megapixel lens as I have stated before. No autofocus, no filters, no features for selfie purpose, but there is an LED flash that can help you to take selfies in dark places. The quality of its front camera is not as good as its main camera, but for doing selfie, that quality is likely enough.
Storage and Battery
The internal storage of this smartphone is quite small for a smartphone in this era. It has a tiny 4GB internal storage. That kind of storage won’t be able to store many applications. You will need to get more storage. Luckily, you can expand the storage by adding a microsd card up to 32GB.
The Barca S4X can last less than 10 hours in normal use. It is because the device only adopts a 2,100 mAh battery. That battery is standard for an entry-level smartphone. Compared with Oppo Joy 3, Advan Barca S4X has less battery capacity than the Joy 3. If you often hangout with friends or travel, I suggest that you always bring a powerbank with you, so you will have additional power for your phone.
The internal storage of this smartphone is quite small for a smartphone in this era. It has a tiny 4GB internal storage. That kind of storage won’t be able to store many applications. You will need to get more storage. Luckily, you can expand the storage by adding a microsd card up to 32GB.
The Barca S4X can last less than 10 hours in normal use. It is because the device only adopts a 2,100 mAh battery. That battery is standard for an entry-level smartphone. Compared with Oppo Joy 3, Advan Barca S4X has less battery capacity than the Joy 3. If you often hangout with friends or travel, I suggest that you always bring a powerbank with you, so you will have additional power for your phone.
Conclusion
Advan Barca S4X comes with special front camera at inexpensive price. The little-bit-higher-than-standard front camera of the device can take a good quality picture that can satisfy your photography and instagramming pleasure. The internal storage is small for a smartphone under IDR 1,000,000., but that’s not really a big problem since you can still expand it by inserting an sdcard. For a smartphone immigrant who love selfies, the Barca S4X is a good start to owned.
Advan Barca S4X comes with special front camera at inexpensive price. The little-bit-higher-than-standard front camera of the device can take a good quality picture that can satisfy your photography and instagramming pleasure. The internal storage is small for a smartphone under IDR 1,000,000., but that’s not really a big problem since you can still expand it by inserting an sdcard. For a smartphone immigrant who love selfies, the Barca S4X is a good start to owned.
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