My New Phone: Spice CSL Mi410
*I supposed to write this article way back in September 2011. Pardon me for my such late post. Orz :-)*
Yeah. Finally, I have decided not to buy iPhone 4S yet.
The reason is very personal. I am not saying iPhone 4S is not good. It’s just that I was hoping for a redesigned iPhone and with a bigger screen, not just a bumped-up iPhone. And I also don’t want to pay for a phone that I will have to fork out another amount of money to buy a newer model with newer features such as LTE/4G, NFC or wireless charging next year.
So, what did I buy instead? It’s CSL Mi410. I am quite impressed with its specs and the price. It’s only RM799 in Malaysia and guess what, because I’ve covered CSL events before, bloggers are getting the special price. I will not reveal it here but it’s really a good deal. Thank you, CSL.
Here are the specs of CSL Mi410. Basically it is an OEM phone call Foxconn FB400 which Foxconn manufactured and being sold under different brand name across the world.
What’s my verdict? It’s a good buy. And if you are looking for a budget Android smartphone, this is really recommended.
| GENERAL | |
| 2G Network | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
| 3G Network | HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 / AWS |
| SIZE | |
| Dimensions | 122 x 66 x 10 mm |
| Weight | 143 g |
| DISPLAY | |
| Type | TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
| Size | 480 x 800 pixels, 4.1 inches |
| – Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate- Touch-sensitive controls
– Proximity sensor for auto turn-off |
|
| SOUND | |
| Alert types | Vibration, MP3 ringtones |
| Speakerphone | Yes |
| – 3.5 mm audio jack- Dolby mobile sound enhancement | |
| MEMORY | |
| Phonebook | Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall |
| Call Records | Practically unlimited |
| Internal | 512 MB RAM, 2 GB ROM (1GB for install apps) |
| Card Slot | microSD (TransFlash) up to 32GB |
| DATA | |
| GPRS | Yes |
| EDGE | Yes |
| 3G | HSDPA, 14.4 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, (DLNA – carrier dependent) |
| Bluetooth | Yes v2.1 with A2DP |
| Infrared port | No |
| USB | Yes, microUSB v2.0 |
| CAMERA | |
| Primary | 5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, autofocus |
| Flash | LED Flash |
| Video | Yes, 720p@30fps |
| Secondary | VGA camera |
| FEATURES | |
| OS | Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo) |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 1 GHz processor |
| Messaging | SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM |
| Browser | Yes |
| Radio | Stereo FM radio with RDS |
| Games | Yes |
| Colors | Black |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS support |
| Java | Via third party application |
| – Digital compass– Google Search, Maps, Gmail, Talk
– TV-out (720p video) via HDMI port – MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ player – MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264/DivX player – Organizer – Photo viewer/editor – Adobe Flash 10.1 – Voice memo/dial – Predictive text input |
|
| BATTERY | |
| Standard battery | Li-Ion 1500 mAh |
What’s your say?
I bought one for my son for RM700 this year as he finished his SPM. He asked my permission to overclock it and I said at your own risk. After following the steps at forum.lowyat.net, he succeeded and set it to 1.7Ghz (although it can be pushed to 2Ghz but shorter battery usage). I was so impressed last week, I bought one too at RM600 and already have it overclocked at 1.6Ghz and it’s fast. I watched him overclock the phone which is not difficult and it did not take long but has its procedure. For RM600, it’s extremely good value for money with outstanding looks and quality. You made a wise decision.
Hi,
Haha. You are really expert. I haven’t tried that. Actually, I am preparing a review for the phone. At the current price of RM600, it’s really a good buy for Android budget phone. 🙂 You too had made a very wise decision. 🙂
From my experience on my upgraded mi410 with some battery saver and performance booster downloaded by my son (haven’t check what yet), it takes slightly less than 2 hours to do a full charge with the battery charger which can last 33 hours but depends on actual usage so plan yourself well. I find my own 9-5 usage is adequate but start the day with a daily full recharge is compulsory and keep a spare charger or usb cable at office. To carry light, bring along the usb cable where you go also coz you can charge via computer. Last resort, mi410 can borrow Blackberry charger but to be safe once 100% full charge is achieved quickly remove it because don’t want to spoil battery life.Original screen protector makes gesture smoother and response time loss is very slight but phone looks much more outstanding and feels better without it. Once a webmail like Gmail has been syn, it is not possible to lock it unlike a notepad so be warn if you have confidential info in the webmail. So far only 1 solid day of usage to comment.
Hi Abbas,
Thanks for such a lengthy comment. Really appreciate that. You really motivate me to post more about CSL Mi410. It’s really a good phone. From my experience, the battery can last you the whole with a full charge in the morning. Once you activate the data plan, then the battery starts to lose out. With HSPA on DiGi network, CSL Mi410 barely lasted half day with Facebook, Twitter and occasional web browsing and YouTube. Finally, I learnt how to change to EDGE through SETTINGS –> MOBILE NETWORKS –> NETWORK MODE –> GSM ONLY (Instead of GSM/WCDMA Auto). At least with this I can last 3/4 of my whole day. Still quite disappointed with the battery life, still how can I complain with such a price, right?
Talking about the screen, it’s quite responsive at times except when your hand is a bit wet, maybe the humid weather or inside air-cond rooms or oily, the screen will start to lag or not responsive. I tried to unlock my screen with the gesture but it just won’t read or sometimes when I tried to slide to answer my call, it just won’t respond. Made me feel so frustrated. Maybe the phone screen must be layered with a screen protector.
Haha, you are really adventurous. Blackberry charger? 🙂 I know that all HTC and Samsung Android phone chargers can be used on CSL Mi410.
I have been using it for the past 6 months. Quite a few things to complain though. Do you find that your My Gallery app is very slow to show you the pictures? Mine take quite a while maybe like 20 seconds to load all the photos.