Comio S1 Lite and C2 Lite First impressions: Focus on selfies and storage

Comio S1 Lite is priced at Rs.7,499 and C2 Lite will sell at Rs.5,999 Both the smartphones will be available in offline market.

| Updated: Friday, February 16, 2018, 15:36 [IST]

Comio, a subsidiary of Topwise communication from China has unveiled two new smartphones S1 Lite and C2 Lite for the Indian market. The Chinese manufacture debuted recently in the Indian markets and focuses majorly on the budget smartphone category. The new budget smartphones are priced at Rs. 7,499 for the S1 Lite and Rs 5,999 for the C2 Lite model.

Comio S1 Lite and C2 Lite First impressions

The budget smartphones will be available at the offline store and ships with a tempered glass along with earphones and a protection case. Without further ado, let us quickly get to know about the new devices and see if they could survive the competition in the Indian market.

Design and Display

The S1 Lite features a 5.0 inch HD IPS display and Comio claims to have used tough glass for protection. Although the glass feels quite tough, the display quality seems average. The display on Comio S1 Lite is quite reflective.

The C2 Lite also features the same 5.0 inch HD IPS display with similar brightness levels and contrast ratio. Sadly, both the smartphones offer 16:9 aspect ratio screens, which seems dated when you compare the handsets with some of the recent budget smartphone such as Infocus Vision 3 and iVoomi i1. Design wise both the smartphones are average looking phones and look decent. The S1 Lite with its circular camera module at the rear panel reminds us of Motorola's budget smartphones.

When we talk about the build quality, Comio S1 Lite is made up of plastic,whereas the C2 has a metal back. This is a bit surprising as C2 lite is priced lower than the S1 Lite. Both the smartphone are slim and not bulky which I appreciate.

Selfie camera with flashlight

Comio C2 Lite houses an 8 MP AF rear camera. The smartphone sports a 5MP front-facing camera with a dedicated flashlight, whichmight impress selfie enthusiasts. The front camera has the feature where it shows the age of the user along with gender identification, something we have seen in Xiaomi smartphones As far as cameras are concerned, both the handsets will only do well for basic photography in daylight. The image output from the front and rear camera sensors is pretty basic.

Software and Hardware

The Comio C2 runs on Android 7.0 Nougat. There is no official information if the devices will update to Android Oreo or not. Comio C2 is powered by a 1.2GHz Quad Core MediaTek processor and is coupled with 1.5 GB RAM and 16GB ROM. This is entirely an entry-level chipset and the market offers better specifications at same price-point. Comio should have provided at least 2 GB RAM.
Thankfully, the S1 Lite comes with a 2GB RAM and 32GB memory. It is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MTK6737 SoC. processor. The performance of this hardware combination will be further clear when we will use the handset for some time. Like C2 Lite, the S1 Lite also runs on Android 7.0 Nougat. Battery and Connectivity

Connectivity

In terms of connectivity, Comio C2 Lite supports OTG (On The Go) and so does the S1 Lite. Both the smartphones come with an inbuilt Venus Browser which hosts 200+ Top Apps. Both the smartphones features separate card slots for SIM card and microSD card. At least the company did smart work by providing the dedicated microSD slot and SIM card slots .

Availibility

The smartphones will be available for sale at offline stores. Comio S1 Lite and C2 Lite's box include earphones, M Wall (Tempered Glass and Protection case). Launch offers
Exclusive to the Reliance Jio subscribers, cashback vouchers will be credited to the customer's account and will be visible under "My Vouchers" in MyJio app which can be redeemed, one at a time, against recharges of Rs. 198/299 plans, via MyJio app. Customer will also get Rs. 2200 cashback (44 vouchers worth Rs. 50) at the time of 1th successful recharge of Rs. 198/299 monthly plans, which can be redeemed from 2nd recharge onwards. Each voucher of Rs. 50 will be credited in MyJio app which can be redeemed, one at a time per recharge, against subsequent recharges of Jio plan of Rs.198/299.

Conclusion

Comio S1 Lite and C2 Lite comes in a budget price range and only offers entry-level hardware Both the devices will face a tough competition from Xiaomi, Infocus, Micromax, and even Intex which has recently launched Elyt Dual, a dual-lens selfie smartphone in budget price-point. We will spend some more time with the handsets to find out their true potential;.