Spice Stellar Buddy is a low-end Android smartphone that comes in a very comfortable pricing with the low-end features, but good enough to compete with the devices from other brands which are priced almost the double of this one. The Stellar Buddy has got a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, and the Dual-SIM compatibility with the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS installed in it. This phone is available for the price of Rs. 3500 in the Indian market, although the actual MRP was Rs. 4999. The TFT LCD screen of the Stellar Buddy is not so good with the graphics output but the touch response was quite neat.
Internally the Stellar Buddy is powered by the 1GHz processor having backed by 256MB of RAM for the multitasking and interface looks easy to use but a little disappointment is with the Android version, which is still the Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and we do not expect an ICS or Jelly Bean update to it. Externally the phone has got much except the power/lock key on the top and the volume rocker key on the right side panel, while on the MicroUSB slot is on the left panel. There’s a 3.5mm headset jack located on the top, and the back panel has a dotted structure from one side till a centimeter away from the other, which although doesn’t look that good, would provide some grip to hold the small handset.
The rear side of the Stellar Buddy has got a 3.2-megapixel camera with a flash, but without or without it, the capturing isn’t that good at all and after a few continuous captures, the lag is felt already although there’s a good processor included. The built-in memory included in the phone is 512MB, so one has to consider using a MicroSD card to have a good storage, expansion possible to 16GB.
Although the interface looks dull because of the old OS version, the notification panel still is the same like the one in the Stellar Virtuoso with the Android ICS, having the sections with options of connectivity, brightness/auto-rotate/gps etc. and the user profiles.
One good thing about the pre-installed apps in the phone is that, apart from the Google based free apps you get to see two excellent applications – Documents To Go, and the NQ Mobile Security app. The Documents app does a neat job in viewing the PDF, Doc, PPT, XLS files by syncing them from the computer, from the Google Drive account etc. and an upgrade is needed if someone wishes to edit these documents directly from the phone. The NQ Mobile Security app secures the phone by scanning it and keeping it safe from any attacks or phishing attempts, and the app comes with 6-month free subscriptions for the new handset buyers.
The battery included in the Mi-315 is the Li-ion polymer battery with the 1400 mAh battery capacity, that does a good job of providing a talk time of few hours, and that for sure would be good as there is just 2G network connectivity possible with the maximum of Edge network. The build of the Stellar Buddy looks a bit poor with the plastic feel and the white color making that look more prominent.
The connectivity options available in the phone include the 2G network connectivity, through one of the two SIM cards, and there’s Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and the inbuilt GPS locator to work with the Location-based apps and even Google Maps.
Final Verdict
With the device available in both White and Black colors, we would prefer the black one here and the processor, screen size and the camera are pretty much comparable to the Samsung Galaxy Y which was available for the price of Rs. 7000, exactly the double of this one and having a lower processor and a 3-inch touchscreen. Even Karbonn, Micromax, Celkon have got similar priced devices with the Android OS, but Spice has been a brand with some sturdy performance compared to the counterparts, even in the non-Android phone range. The Stellar Buddy can be choice for us when compared to the Stellar Xtacy which is priced higher but has got a 1300 mAh battery and no much difference in the processor.
Specifications of the Spice Stellar Buddy Mi-315 Android Phone
- 3.2-inch Capacitive TouchScreen with TFT LCD Display
- 1GHz processor with 256MB RAM
- 512MB Internal Storage, Expandable to 16GB
- 3.2-Megapixel rear camera with Flash
- 1400 mAh Li-ion Battery
- Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread operating system
- 2G EGDE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, MicroUSB, GPS Connectivity
Pricing of the Spice Stellar Buddy Mi-315 Android Phone
In the Indian retail market, the Stellar Buddy has an MRP of Rs. 4999, but is available for the price of Rs. 3499 and is available in the online as well as the offline retail stores.
