The Spice Stellar Xtacy is an Android smartphone that comes with the mid-range specs, but keeps itself low in some aspects and there are a few disappointments, as it is a step behind the lesser-priced siblings like the Stellar Buddy, which packs itself with a better battery and a similar processor. The Xtacy has got a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen and a glossy panel, which although looks neat for once but otherwise looks quite cheap in quality with the white glossy color having the irregular sides because of the headset jack and the speaker grill on the back panel.
Externally, the Spice Stellar Xtacy has got a thickness of 11.8mm, which makes it quite thick but given the complete size of the phone from all the sides, it comfortably fits into the hands of the user. The 3.5-inch TFT LCD screen has got a screen resolution of 480 x 320 pixels, and the display is quite neat with the touch navigation and touch response being pretty good, and there are no physical keys on the front bottom, as you can see three touch-sensitive buttons for Menu, Home and Back. The top has got just the 3.5mm headset jack which makes the back panel bulge out, and the right panel has got the single power/lock key, while there are volume rocker keys on the left side. The bottom holds the MicroUSB slot, and the speakers + camera are on the back panel.
Going with the specs, the device looks sub-standard with the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and the 1GHz processor still has got some power for the handset internally, backed by 256MB of RAM for the multitasking support. The good thing from Spice is the security, provided by the NQ Mobile app which comes with the 6 months of free subscription. There’s a vault in the interface where one gets to hide their SMS, Call logs, Contacts, Photos and the Videos which they want to publicly save in the normal gallery and the inbox.
Just like the several Stellar devices from Spice, the Xtacy has got the Documents To Go application, which would do the job of opening the documents, like the PDF files, Word, XLS and PPT files etc. while an upgrade would be needed if someone wanted to edit these documents directly from the phone, though we are sure the device won’t be able to handle that much load of opening and then editing the heavy documents, with just the 256MB of RAM in it. The other pre-installed tools and apps that are seen in the Xtacy include the Clock, Calendar, Calculator, Currency/Unit converter and the PC Sync apart from the various Google-based apps.
The camera in the Stellar Xtacy is too basic, with just a single 3-megapixel camera on the rear side having no flash, doing no good quality capturing except when in very bright conditions where the capturing can be called a bit decent. The connectivity in the phone includes the 2G and 3G HSDPA and HSUPA network with the Dual-SIM capability with the active stand-by, and apart from that, the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth etc. are the other given options in the Xtacy, while there is the GPS integrated for the location based services and apps.
The battery is quite a disadvantage, when comparing it with the one in the other Spice Stellar phones where even the Spice Stellar Buddy, a phone with lesser specs than this one, has got a 1400 mAh battery, and does provide longer time of usage but the Xtacy comes with a 1300 mAh battery, and for those who wanted to do some normal usage apart from the calling etc., they will have to charge the phone again in a few hours.
Final Verdict
The Spice Stellar Xtacy, priced at around Rs. 4500 in the Indian market is a decent phone, with one of the best parts being the 1GHz processor and a neat 3.5-inch touchscreen, but does have got the disadvantages with the camera and the glossy design that makes the device look cheap, but it has got enough to compete with the higher-priced devices from the other brands, like the Samsung Galaxy phones which have got a lower processor even at a price of around Rs. 7000, but one should do a proper comparison between the Stellar Xtacy and the Stellar Buddy before they choose one, based on the budget and the pricing of the handsets.
Specifications of the Spice Stellar Xtacy Mi-352 Android Phone:
- Screen: 3.5-inch TFT LCD touchscreen
- Display: HVGA Display with resolution 480 x 320 pixels
- Processor: 1GHz
- RAM: 256MB
- Storage: 100MB user available, Expandable to 16GB using MicroSD card
- OS: Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS
- Camera: 3-megapixel rear camera, Video recording 30 fps with 4X digital zoom
- Connectivity: Dual-SIM, 3G HSDPA and HSUPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS
- Battery: 1300 mAh capacity
Pricing of the Spice Stellar Xtacy Mi-352:
The phone has got an MRP of Rs. 6999, but it is available for Rs. 4500 in the market.
