We tested the Micromax Q7 recently, and while its compact profile and features, like Wi-fi, amazed us, the not-so-comfortable keyboard, weak build quality and absolute lack of any sort of multi-tasking kept us from dethroning our current favorite QWERTY phone under Rs. 5,000. Today, we take a look at its younger cousin, the Q5fb. It covers some of the flaws of the earlier model and also comes a grand cheaper. Is this a good inexpensive QWERTY to buy?
Design and Build
The Micromax Q5 isn't as thin and light as the Q7. But what it loses in leanness, it gains in brute strength and feel. For the price that you pay for this phone, it has got to be one of the best built phones I've seen till date.
It feels nice and sturdy in the hand; there's a nice metallic rim covering the front face. The materials used to make the battery cover have a velvety premium feel. There's a 2.2-inch QVGA resolution screen but we feel the body could have occupied a slightly larger 2.4-inch one. The quality isn't much to speak of, but we're glad at least text is fairly readable. We think the Q7's display was a slightly better in quality than this one. Like the Q7, the Q5fb too has a trackball that we felt was a notch better than the Q7's, which was at times jumpy and would select unwanted adjacent selections.
Below that is another treat; a well-sized and well-designed set of QWERTY keys. The buttons offer good tactility and are a pleasure to type on, even for people with big fingers. However, some of the illogical aspects of keyboard design found on all cheap phones we've seen still remains. For example, the full-stop does not have a dedicated button. But by now I've become adapted to using the alt+symbol key combination.
There's a miniUSB port and a 3.5mm earphone jack at the bottom. There are no volume buttons to the side, which is awkward, as you have to take the phone away from your ear to adjust the volume every time.
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