A comparison: Micromax Canvas Doodle 2 vs Samsung Mega 5.8

New Delhi: After targeting Samsung's Note-series with its Canvas, Canvas 2 and Canvas HD smartphones, Micromax is now aiming at Samsung's Mega-series by releasing Canvas Doodle 2 (A240).Unlike the flagship Note series, the Mega devices are targeted at the mid-range segment, as an evolution of the Galaxy Grand, Samsung's large screen offering. The Mega 5.8 brings with it the same design seen earlier on the Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4, the Note II and even on some mid-range offerings like the Galaxy Grand. The Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 comes with a 5.8-inch TFT screen with qHD (540x960 pixels) resolution with pixel density of 190PPI. The smartphone runs on a 1.4GHz Cortex A9 Dual Core Processor, the likes of which were used in the previous-gen Galaxy S3. The Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and has 1.5 GB RAM, 2600 mAh battery, 64 GB expandable storage slot, and 8 GB internal memory etc. Currently, it is available for around Rs 23,500.On the other hand, the Canvas Doodle 2, the successor of Micromax A111 Canvas Doodle, has a bigger 5.7 inch display with a 720 x 1280 pixel native resolution and capacitive touch input, along with stylus functionality. The Doodle 2 is based on a Mediatek Quad core processor running at 1.2 GHz along with a 1 GB of RAM and 12 GB of onboard storage out of which 10 GB would be available to the users. The Micromax Canvas Doodle 2 has Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system along with Micromax's custom user interface layer on top of it. It also has a 12 megapixel camera at the back and a 5 megapixel front facing camera. Micromax's Canvas Doodle 2 A240, is now available for Rs 19,990 on flipkart.com which makes it the costliest phone of Micromax.Let us do a detailed comparison of these two smartphones:Design and BuildThe Canvas Doodle 2 has a slightly smaller 5.7 inch display as compared to 5.8-inch TFT screen of Samsung Mega 5.8. At first glance, the Galaxy Mega 5.8 looks pretty much like a big Galaxy S4. The Samsung Mega 5.8 comes with the same design as seen on the Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4, the Note II and even on some mid-range offerings like the Galaxy Grand. The Mega 5.8 is built from polycarbonate (read plastic) materials and is available in Black and White colour variants. On the front screen you'll find the physical Home button and capacitive touch buttons. The earpiece grill, sensor array and the front facing camera lens are located above the display. The phone's front panel is surrounded by a chrome frame, which gives a premium feel. The power button is on the right, a volume rocker on the left, a 3.5mm headset jack on the top and a Micro-USB port at the bottom. The back cover is removable and hides the two Micro-SIM card slots, microSD card slot, and battery.The Doodle 2 also looks like any Micromax device. The smartphone is made of polycarbonate plastic, but is less shiny as compared to earlier phones. DisplayThe Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 sports a 5.8-inch TFT screen with qHD (540x960 pixels) resolution with pixel density of 190PPI. The Galaxy's Mega 5.8 display offers vibrant colors and very decent contrast. Although some may opt for a 1280×720 display (minimum), even if they have to pay more, but your priorities may be different. The Mega 5.8's display is based on an LCD technology, but the colors are good. Things are pretty okay for movies but for still photography having more pixels would be much better. In contrast, Canvas Doodle 2 features a massive display of 14.4-cm (5.7-inch) IPS with resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. That means it is good enough for multimedia consumption. Processor and RAMThe Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 does has a decent dual core processor with 1.4 GHz clock speed and 1.5 GB RAM. Surprisingly, the dual core processor may look ordinary in an era of quad core processors. It has 1.5GB RAM, and a Broadcom VideoCore IV chip for processing graphics. In terms of performance, the smartphone is considered to be somewhere between the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy S3.Here the Canvas Doodle 2 scores given that it is powered by a quad-core processor. The Doodle 2 is powered by quad-core MediaTek MT6589 chipset. The RAM is 1 GB and has 16GB of internal storage (only 12GB available for users). The internal structural design of Doodle 2 will be comparable to Canvas 4. CameraThe Canvas Doodle 2 comes with a 12-mega pixel rear facing camera with Auto Focus and LED Flash. The camera is capable of recording videos in Full HD format. The Galaxy Mega 5.8 features an 8-megapixel rear camera that takes good quality shots when the light is good, but as the light levels drop it does not take long for significant levels of noise to come in to the picture. The overall color balance and restitution is good and photos look life-like. Although, the Mega 5.8 is does not offer the same resolution as the Galaxy S4 (8MP vs. 13MP), the Mega 5.8 is still at par with mid-range smartphones. StorageThe Mega 5.8 offers 8 GB of internal storage out of which 5.39 GB is available for users. There is an external card slot though which could accommodate up to 64 GB of micro SD card.The Doodle 2 comes with 12 GB of internal storage. Nothing much about the exact user available memory has been revealed but it is expected to provide around 10 GB. Software The Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, the latest iteration of the OS and TouchWiz Nature UX, Samsung's own UI that includes custom apps in addition to a skinned interface. While some people may prefer stock Android to any kind of skinning, Samsung's TouchWiz UI gives users big, glossy and cartoon-like icons and menus. With Android 4.2, the device gets lock screen widgets. Users can also enable lock screen shortcuts that allow them to unlock directly into their respective apps. The device offers a choice between the familiar Ripple effect and the new Light effect for the unlock animation. The phone offers up to seven home screens that can be populated with widgets and app shortcuts or folders. The pinch-in gesture lets you add or remove home screens. The app plus widgets drawer lets you arrange app shortcuts as per your own preference or alphabetically.The Doodle 2 runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. It's possible that the UI is more like Canvas 4. Battery The Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 comes with a huge 2600 mAh battery that looks very good. But with medium usage involving an hour of calling, half an hour gaming, and for an equal duration of web browsing, the phone hardly manages to last for a day.The Doodle 2 though has a big 2600 mAh battery, it said to provide only eight hours of talktime that too on 2G networks.