The Micromax Canvas Fun A74 is the latest entrant into the mid-range dual-core smartphone segment that’s booming in India at the moment. We have benchmarked the Canvas Fun A74 on a variety of available tools, including Quadrant, AnTuTu, Vellamo as well as NenaMark 2. The benchmarking video is embedded below and then we have the detailed scores of the various benchmark tests done alongwith comparison with the Galaxy Core, Xperia M and the cheaper Lava Iris 402 which uses the same chipset but with 256MB RAM.
Hardware Overview
The Canvas Fun A74 features a 1.3 GHz dual-core Cortex-A7 processor based on the MediaTek MT6572 chipset with 512MB RAM. The phones runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. There’s a 4.5-inch FWVGA (854 x 480 pixels) display and three capacitive buttons at the base of the display which are well lighted.
The Micromax Canvas Fun A74 has a 5-megapixels primary camera with single-LED flash along with a front-facing VGA camera. The phone also has some sensors, namely:
- 3-axis Accelerometer – To detect the change in motion from the initial configuration of the device, i.e. laid flat on a surface.
- Proximity Sensor – As the name suggests, it checks how close objects are. The proximity sensor is calibrated in such a way that while you are in a call the screen goes off as the sensor detects that your face is close to the device.
- Light Sensor – Used to detect change in ambient light, helps to automatically adjust brightness.
Benchmarks
Quadrant
Quadrant is a CPU, I/O and 3D benchmark app for Android, which provides total as well as separate scores of the tests it conducts. Based on the total score, a graph is generated to show where the phone lies wrt to other devices.
The Canvas Fun A74 got a total Quadrant score of 3478. If we move into the bifurcation of scores, Canvas Fun A74 got a CPU score of 7105, Memory 3404, I/O 4403 and 3D score of 1985. The Samsung Galaxy Core on the other hand got a score of 3116 on Quadrant, which is way inferior to the Canvas Fun A74 although both have dual-core processors, and the Canvas Fun costs about Rs. 5000 less.
AnTuTu 4
AnTuTu is a comprehensive benchmarking tool, which tests the complete hardware of the device including the CPU, GPU, RAM as well the storage attached to the device. Its an additive benchmark which adds component test scores rather than taking their average as Quadrant does.
The Micromax Canvas Fun A74 scored 11,166 on the full AnTuTu benchmark, some categorized scores are given below:
- CPU 1660
- GPU 3714
- RAM 1303
- I/O 1488
These scores are not only respectable but are great for a mid-range device like the Canvas Fun A74 and rivals the likes of the Galaxy S II which too was powered by a dual-core processor. Seeing these scores we believe that the 512MB RAM coupled with the new MT6572 chipset is working in favor of the new mid-ranger.
AnTuTu 3D Rating
This is a new benchmark and is making its ground, the Micromax Canvas Fun A74 scored 1868 on this benchmark which is acceptable given its average value is around the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S2.
NenaMark2
NemaMark is primarily a graphics benchmark which uses real rendered screens to check the performance of the GPU of the device.
We got a Nenamark2 score of 40.5 FPS on the Canvas Fun A74, which is a good score and makes us believe that even high-end games might be playable on this device. This score too is way better than the 32.4FPS scored by the Samsung Galaxy Core.
Vellamo
Vellamo has several chapters, we tested the HTML5 chapter which checks mobile browser performance, which includes SunSpider JavaScript and V8 benchmark. The Metal chapter measures CPU performance.
The Canvas Fun A74 scored 1652 on the Vellamo HTML5 test which put it at the top of the pyramid, even higher than the quad-core HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S3. It scored 480 on the Metal benchmark putting it between the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note, which is admirable for a device available for just Rs. 7500.
Multitouch Test
We tested the multitouch capabilities of the Micromax Canvas Fun A74, and found that the display supports three points of touch, which is a really odd number.
Therefore it is able to detect 3 individual touch inputs at once, which again goes to show that for the price you get a much better performing device and is definitely a good buy for someone looking for a branded mid-range device on budget.
Benchmark comparison of the Micromax Canvas Fun A74 with Sony Xperia M and the Samsung Galaxy Core.
As you can see in the benchmarks above, the Canvas Fun A74 stands its own ground in benchmark scores among other dual-core offerings which are way costlier.
Conclusion
The Micromax Canvas Fun A74 might just be the all-rounder Android smartphone we have been waiting for in the entry level dual-core segment. It certainly lives upto the promise in benchmark scores, but the sub-par display and hard to press buttons can be a minor nuisance. We’ll have a gaming review shortly where we’ll push the phone as far as it can go. Stay tuned! If you have any questions just hit us in the comments section below or on the YouTube video.
