iBall mSLR Cobalt 4: Brilliant camera let down by average performance

The journey of having a camera in a smartphone has been exciting to say the least. It started with the VGA camera and went on to 1.3MP, 2MP, 3MP, 5MP, 8MP and so on. Along with the megapixel count, some even focused on the software techniques and added dual camera for better imaging. But iBall has adopted a different approach with its mSLR Cobalt 4 by adding four additional lenses to this smartphone, which is already equipped with an 8MP rear camera.

These four lenses are compact, yet competent enough to offer what they promise. There is a zoom lens for capturing long-distance shots. Just like a DSLR lens, one can adjust the focus while using list lens. The phone is accompanied with a cover, where these lenses get attached. However, while using the long zoom lens, you will have to keep your hand stable. I relied on a chair or a tablet while testing this lens.

The other three lenses include fish eye lens, macro lens and wide-angle lens. The macro lens has been attached to the wide angle lens and latter needs to be removed to use the macro lens. The macro lens works brilliantly, capturing great amount of detail. The wide angle lens captures a much wider image over the phone's default camera. Fish Eye lens is for fun as it captures slightly circular images. Overall, using these lenses is fun and a pleasant experience. There is also an additional clip that helps in mounting these lenses to the front camera. But if you are capturing images using the phone's default camera minus these lenses, the image quality is just about average.

The Cobalt 4 has a curved design that covers up for the thickness. There is a 5-inch display with 960x540p resolution and still the screen looks bright. It is powered by MediaTek octa-core processor and is paired with 1GB of RAM. It comes with 8GB of internal storage, of which only 3.5GB is user accessible.

It runs on Android 4.4 and I wasn't really comfortable with the user interface. The call clarity was decent and there wasn't much lag while browsing the web or downloading apps. However, the phone did slow down a couple of times due to heavy usage. The battery backup too was average, as the 2000 mAh battery failed to last a full day.

Bag it or Junk it: An average smartphone with some additional lenses enhancing the photography experience.

Rating: 3/5

Plus: Additional lenses

Minus: Battery, Performance

Price: Rs 8,499