Wammy Passion X with Octa core costs Rs 17,990+
The new Samsung Galaxy S5 is waterproof, but you don’t have to spend
over Rs 50,000 if you want that feature. Indian mobile maker Wickedleak
has a new smartphone that survives water damage and costs just Rs
18,000. But that price comes at the cost of many sacrifices…
Quick Tech Specs: 5-inch IPS touchscreen with
DragonTrail scratch-resistant glass (1920×1080 px) | 1.7GHz octa-core
Mediatek MT6592 processor | 2GB RAM | 16GB internal memory, microSD up
to 64GB | 13MP rear camera, 1080p FullHD video recording | 5MP front
camera, 720p HD video recording | Dual-SIM (GSM + GSM) | 3G, Wi-Fi
802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4 | GPS with A-GPS | 2500mAH battery | Android
4.2 Jelly Bean
Price: Rs 17,990 excluding taxes
Design & Build: The Wammy Passion X looks
exactly like its predecessor, the Wammy Passion Z or Z+. I’m a fan of
the design, which is rectangular with slight curves at the top and
bottom—reminiscent of how the Sony Xperia Ray. Plus, the Passion X is
extremely light for the hardware it packs, including that big battery.
However, for all its looks, it feels cheap. And a closer inspection
of the design betrays why it is priced low. The back panel, for
instance, does not seal tightly and you can see gaps. The plastic
material is of a low quality and recesses when you press on any of the
sides. It uses capacitive touch buttons, making full use of its bezel,
which is always good—but in this case, there is no backlight for those
buttons. So if you are using the phone after switching off the lights,
you can’t see the buttons and will often press the wrong one. It’s a
frustrating experience.
Finally, the AquaProtect waterproof nanocoating does not do it any
favours as it looks like some sticky goo fell on the back of your phone.
With usage, the protection starts peeling so the edges don’t feel
refined either.
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Of course, this water protection is what the Passion X is all about.
And Wickedleak has treated every aspect, including the motherboard, so
that it doesn’t need to seal the ports shut, like Samsung and Sony
phones. This is more like the Moto G,
which features a similar nanocoating. We mimicked real-world scenarios
to test the waterproofing, like using it in a shower to simulate rain,
spilling cold water and hot coffee on it, and even dunking it in a
shallow pool of water for some time. The Wammy Passion X will hold up
under the usual water-based mishaps that are bound to hit your phone.
However, don’t expect it to be a functional device for snorkelling—the
idea here is to protect from water damage, it’s not a rugged phone for
adventure sports and the like.
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Screen: The Wammy Passion X has a stunning screen
that is bound to draw favour from anyone who looks at it. It has wide
viewing angles, accurate colour reproduction, and it displays sharp
images. The addition of scratch-resistant Dragontrail glass is welcome
because you don’t have to put on a screen guard, although that’s
packaged in the box.
Performance: For most purposes, the Wammy Passion X
runs as good as any other Android we have seen. Even high-end games
played well for the most part, but switching them to high quality did
cause frames to drop when we were multi-tasking. Still, at this price,
the Wammy Passion X is as good as or better than any of its competitors.
Memory: The 16GB of built-in memory is a nice touch,
since Android forces you to download apps and games to your internal
storage now. Plus, you can always expand it via microSD.
Connectivity: While you will get network in most
places, the Passion X has weak audio. In a crowded or noisy environment,
it’s difficult to hear the person on the other line unless they start
yelling—and even that’s not enough sometimes.
Software: This, for me, is the biggest problem with
the Passion X. The colloquialism of “Chinese maal” was never more true.
Out of the box, the phone looks like stock Android and has no issues.
But reset it once and it defaults to a new interface with the Chinese
language enabled. Even if you change the language, other parts like the
icons and the theme no longer look like Android. This isn’t friendly for
those who like to tinker around with their phone, which is something I
liked about the Passion Z+. If you think you’ll ever need to reset your
phone—and chances are, you might have to—you will need to get help from
Wickedleak service, it’s not as simple as any other Android phone.
Camera: The camera of the Wammy Passion X is not
worth the price it demands. Competitors like Micromax and Xolo offer
much better snappers at this price. The Passion X is fine when you are
clicking photos outdoors in the day, but as light gets dimmer, the noise
levels go up disproportionately. Taking photographs at night, even with
the LED flash on, is not a good experience. And during both day and
night, the images appear dull and the colours look faded. Finally, video
clips are not the Passion X’s stronghold, and there is more camera
shake than we have experienced with other smartphones. It’s a
disappointing rear camera. And while the 5MP sensor on the front cam is
welcome, the photos you click are still grainy and dark.
Battery: The Wammy Passion X lasts for around 15
hours of average usage and 6 hours of video playback—that’s good enough
for most people.
Special Mentions: The Passion X is the phone to
avoid if you like your music. First, there are no headphones in the box.
And we tried three different headphones, as well as a Bluetooth one.
The
Passion X has poor audio quality, with the bass sounding flat and
there not even being adequate volume to pump it up. If you care about
your music, don’t even consider this phone. The Atom Supremus is still the phone to beat in that aspect.
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Verdict: I have been trying to figure out why I
dislike the Passion X and it comes down to this: it feels like an
incomplete phone. While you get waterproofing, the build quality isn’t
great. Over usage, the edges become rougher and Aquaprotect isn’t pretty
to look at on the back panel. The fact that it resets to a different UI
is annoying. The lack of backlight on the capacitive touch buttons is
frustrating. And there are no earphones packed in the box.
The phone has some good points, like that fantastic screen, the good
performance and the water protection. But it doesn’t come together to
feel like a great device. Maybe if it was priced closer to Rs. 12,000,
this would be a decent purchase, but as it currently stands, the Passion
X is not worth your money. Even if waterproofing is something you
really want, the Moto G is a better bet at a lower price, and it even
survived a 30-minute underwater test.
