Symphony Z10

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The Z10 is Symphony's range topper at a very affordable price bracket. It heads straight to the likeable side of the equation by focusing on the tried and tested design elements. Rounded edges and a 2.5D curve to the edges of the glass give it a contemporary look. The designers were very particular about alignment it seems. Flip over and everything is placed centrally. That includes the camera lens, LED light, fingerprint scanner, logo and speaker grill: all line up along the centre of the device. Neat.

The back is a removable cover housing two SIM slots, a microSD card slot and the removable battery. It's a plastic cover with what appears to be a thin, inlaid metallic surface. In all respect it appears to be a metal phone but the top and bottom strips along with the surrounding edges are plastic.

DISPLAY

One of their key selling points is the Full Vision display. Full Vision promises to give you maximum screen space with minimum bezel interference.  Mostly coined by LG, this type of screen offer a 18:9 aspect ratio. For Symphony this may very well be their narrowest bezel phone. This 5.7 inch screen doesn't take up much space in your hand while the 1440x720 display puts out 282.45 PPI.

OS & UI

 It comes straight out of the box with Nougat 7.1 running. The UI is a custom blend Android with a skin reminiscent of iOS. All icons are on the homescreen. Android fans will appreciate that bloatware is kept low at about 5-6 apps with one being that of Pickaboo. That's a lot lower than most Samsung units.

PROCESSING

The quad core Cortex-A53 1.4GHz, 64-bit Snapdragon processor is supported by an Adreno 308  GPU. 3GB RAM and 32GM on-board memory should keep you rolling. AnTuTu scores come to 34782. The juice is enough to keep you entertained. The screen is reasonably sharp and the processing power will let you easily play games like Walking Dead and CarX Highway Racing. Load times were a little long on some but overall gameplay was smooth even for more demanding games like Asphalt Airborne. The 308 is standard fare in many mid rangers and serves well for causal to moderate gaming.

CAMERA

Both front and rear are Samsung sensors with the rear being a 13MP unit. Unusually, the front is a 16MP unit probably taking into account how often people upload their selfies these days. But, megapixel count does not account for everything.

The lenses apparently have f.20 aperture so low light photos should come out good. Despite that, you get some grain even in lit indoor conditions. Edges of objects in the distance are jagged.

The colours on the other hand are mostly very accurate except for an occasional slight reddish tint on some images. Most yellows and reds do come out accurate meaning a little tweaking with a filter will get you the 'instagrammy' look you prefer.

It will easily serve all your social media needs. It quickly latches onto faces offering minimal lag. That's good when you are outside and want to snap shots of friends doing very objectionable things.

BATTERY

The 2900mAh battery was good enough to carry me over an entire day of moderate to heavy usage courtesy of the screen. But make sure your GPS isn't always hunting for your app related queries. That and Facebook will quickly eat up your power. I used the Z10 as my secondary phone for more than a week and I didn't have any complains about the battery. 

SPECS

Display: 5.7" Full Vision HD+ Narrow Bezel

CPU: 1.4 GHz 64-bit Quad Core

RAM: 3 GB

ROM: 32 GB

Back Camera: 13 MP, f/2.0, auto-focus

Selfie Camera: 16 MP

Battery: 2900 mAh

OS: Android Nougat 7.1.2

Price: Tk 15,990/-

VERDICT

It's build quality is excellent with the phone feeling sturdy and comfortable to hold. The smooth surfaces allow it to easily pass our pocket tests, slipping quickly in and out of tight jeans pockets. Young students, who will probably be the majority of the buyers, will find it an easy, rugged device that can take a bit of abuse.  For the price, it offers very decent processing and battery power with a lot of screen in a little bit of space. The camera department is only good for casual social media uploads.  Overall, it is a very smart looking device with a capable set of skills.