Auxus Linea L1 Review - The Sensation Queen

iBerry, a little known brand that believes in sensationalizing market with their phones/tabs carrying god-awesome specs. Their products undeniably send jitters in fellow competitor's camp and make the customer go mad with their choices.
For example:
They launched a tab Auxus Core X4 3G in late 2012. Specs goes something like this:

• Exynos 4412 (Samsung) quad core processor running at 1.6 GHz - when dual core was in vogue especially with tabs, and quad core was perceived as something only a prerogative of Samsung (introduced in legendary Galaxy S3) and Google (Nexus series) 
• Android 4.0 ICS
• 9.7" 1024X768 IPS display, 2 MP rear/VGA front camera
• Mali 400 GPU
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB inbuilt memory, expandable upto 64GB
• 3G Tablet, Bluetooth v4.0
• 7200 mAH battery under the hood

However, how many of them stand the test of time is another matter to discuss or ponder over. Reportedly, owners of those yesteryear's tablets are still having a good time and like many others, most of them have moved onto different companies.

Old habits die hard.

Continuing the same legacy, iBerry recently launched the AUXUS Linea L1 4.4 Kitkat Quadcore smartphone with following specs, which again at the price of $115 seems another sensational sleeper hit.

• 4.5" Gorilla Glass screen, 854x480 resolution at 217 PPI
• Mediatek MT6582 Quad core processor clocked at 1.3 GHz, Cortex A7 architecture (Launched in 2013 and recently made compatible with KitKat)
• ARM Mali 400 Graphics Processing Unit 
• 1 GB RAM and 4GB ROM, microSD supported till 64GB with apps on SD card functionality
• Android 4.4 (KitKat) with OTA updates supported
• Unlocked bootloader (if that matters to anyone)
• Dual SIM (GSM + GSM)
• 5MP rear camera with LED Flash, 2MP front-facing camera
• 2000 mAh Li-ion battery

Now the question remains whether these specs live upto the hype they've produced? Let's see. 

Performance

Antutu score - 17936

3D Mark - 10889

Quadrant - 14321

Vellamo (HTML) - 992

Benchmarking churns out good figures. There are no visible lags whatsoever even with 3 simultaneous games running at a given time. A consistent 25-34 FPS was recorded during the 3D Mark test which is commendable for a phone at the price of just $115. 

Wifi reception is strong. It catches the signals and stays stable even when the wifi connectivity is mediocre to average (1-3 bars).

Call quality is again good. Even in basement, two stories down from ground level, the signals remained stuck to 2 bars and call quality was excellent with no audible noise or distortion with each side getting crystal clear sound. 

Gaming: Well, during the test, I downloaded Asphalt 8 over the wifi and played it without a hiccup. However, the device became heated up after half an hour of play but I guess this is perfectly normal, given the specifications this averagely built phone houses inside its casing, heat should be like second nature to these phones. 

Display: A vibrant 4.5" display with a 217 ppi (854x480) is a good, if not great, for the normal viewing purposes. Only upon a closer inspection, one would see the minute difference between the Samsung super AMOLED screens and the lesser mortal Linea L1 screen. Human eye can't differentiate beyond 250PPI so for day to day purposes it's good enough, unless you step out in harsh sunlight where it feels malnourished due to poor contrast ratio, and lesser gamut of the colors produced. For normal daylight viewing, it is again good enough for the price. 

Cons: 

Battery: Let me be frank. I am still impressed with its battery life. It lasts me a day of heavy usage (atleast 18 hours if not a day) and during normal to low usage, 2 days are often possible. But what bothers me is the drainage level of the battery. Charge it to 100% and start pressing the processor by playing games or surfing net for, say one hour. The battery will fall down to atleast 70-75%. Those who think of using it as a traveler phone are better off having a powerbank as well. Those who look forward to utilize the specs to the fullest, they should be well aware that this is not the phone that will stand their whole day of abuse. A removable battery also ensures, you can buy another one and can keep it as a backup just in case. 

Audio quality: What made iBerry skip this important feature is beyond me. But the audio quality on this phone, seriously gets beaten by my Nokia 108. Flat and muddy sound, which somewhat improves upon tweaking equalizers, nil to low bass, shrill treble...Linea L1 can be anything but an audio lover's delight. Using a quality headphone may result into some relief but the stock headphones are as good as nothing.

Camera: Below average strictly. Under indoor lighting conditions, you can kiss goodbye the chances of having a decent photograph even with steady hands. Flash is namesake and helps only little to save the otherwise dead photograph. Various filters are useless, unless there happens to be a good lighting setup which is why outdoors shots are of some respite, still they aren't upto the mark to which the camera has been hyped to. Colors are faded, pictures are smooth/smudged due to noise reduction, and let's not talk about selfies with this one. A damp squib for those who are looking forward to buy it keeping camera in their mind. Better go with Lumia 520 for camera quality. 

Build quality: Though the perforated back of the Linea L1 certainly puzzles the making them think you're holding a Samsung Galaxy S5 (unless they notice AUXUS), the back is of shoddy plastic quality, though rest of the build is of somewhat acceptable, if not good, quality. 

User Manual: Though it hardly matters, but it was surely written by a student, as a response to exam test conducted by an English teaching institute, seeking admission into it. 

Conclusion:

At the price, you can't go wrong with the device.
For those users who are facing heavy battery drainage and poor backup problems, please don't forget to use JuiceDefender and Advance Task Killer app to have a better control over the running apps which in turn take a toll on the battery life and performance overall. 

Also, do calibrate your battery once in a while by battery calibrator app, that resets the battery cycle to stock, removing any orphan electron links from the battery and giving it a booster shot.

This device is a STEAL for a price around 5500/- ($90 - the price at which I got it) but nonetheless a recommended product even at the current price.

Overall rating 8/10.