Fly Snap unboxing and first impressions: affordable yet feature-packed

“At its price of Rs 2,999, the Fly Snap blows the competition out of the water”

As we predicted in our Mobile phone landscape report 2014, the Indian market is set to be even more action-packed this year with the entry of several brands along with incumbents fighting back hard to maintain their dominance. Just two months into the year 2015, we have already seen Taiwanese brand Verico making its debut, Micromax’s spin-off brand YU starting sales of its loaded Yureka (review | FAQs) and just today, Russian brand Fly, which already has a presence in the Indian feature phone segment, venturing into the smartphone category with a trio of offerings. Instead of targeting upmarket consumers, the brand is zeroing in on first-time smartphone users by pricing its devices affordably.

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The phone we’ll be focussing on in this article is the most affordable offering in Fly’s portfolio, the Snap. In fact, at its price point of Rs 2,999, one might dismiss the phone as just another entry-level option. But as always, before we check out the capabilities of the Fly Snap, let’s see what accompanies it in its sales pack. 

Like most retail boxes, the packaging of the Fly Snap is extremely compact. The front features the image of the device, while the rear details its specs along with key features on both of its sides. Opening the lid reveals the device itself dipped in black. You can also purchase the Fly Snap in a white option. Below the smartphone, the box packs in a wall charger with a 500mA rating, a micro-USB cable and a pair of earphones. The documentation is available in the form of a warranty card and user manual.

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Bringing our attention back to the handset, the first thing that took us by surprise is that it doesn’t look like a budget device at all – it sits well in the hands, is lightweight and quite slender too. The design language which Fly has opted for is also pleasing to the eyes. The fascia is dominated by the screen measuring 4-inches, along with an earpiece and a front snapper above, and the standard placement of three capacitive buttons below.

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The right spine is home to both the volume keys and power button, whereas the left is bereft of any elements. Up top lies a 3.5mm audio socket as well as a micro-USB port.

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At the back, the Fly Snap sports a smooth texture and hosts a primary camera along with an LED flash and a speaker mesh further below. Prying open the back panel gives you access to a pair of SIM card slots and a memory expansion slot.

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The 4-inch display of the smartphone sports a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, translating into a pixel density of 233ppi. While the display seems slightly reflective, it reproduces colours well and has decent viewing angles.

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The Russian brand has made sure that the device can take on any tasks you throw at it by equipping it with the MediaTek MT6582 SoC, offering four cores ticking at 1.3GHz. The processor is complemented by 512MB of RAM. Navigation between screens and opening or closing of multiple apps is a smooth experience, though the actual performance can only be known when we play a few 3D games on the device.

In terms of memory, the Fly Snap comes with 4GB of flash storage which is partitioned into two. While one partition offering around 1.5GB space can be used for installing apps, the other 0.9GB is for storing images and multimedia files. Thankfully, 32GB of additional storage can be added with the use of a microSD card.

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Android 4.4 KitKat takes care of the interface on the Fly Snap, and it’s available in a stock form. However, it does come preloaded with a few apps such as CallFireWall, FlashLight, and Tasks Manager, among others. What’s really interesting is that the device offers support for gestures, even when it’s in sleep mode. Double tapping the screen, for instance, will unlock the phone, while drawing ‘O’ will open the gallery.

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For photography, the Fly Snap has a 5-megapixel camera at the back, which is supplemented by an LED flash. At the front, it gets a 2MP shooter.

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Connectivity-wise, the dual-SIM smartphone supports 3G on its primary slot, while the other one connects to 2G networks. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. The Fly Snap sips juice from a 1,500mAh removable battery.

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The device has surely impressed us with its design and hardware, especially when we consider its sticker price of Rs 2,999. At this pricing, the device blows the competition out of the water, since most sport smaller screens and are powered by dual-core chips. We’ll have more to say on the Fly Snap in our review, so stay tuned.

Photos by Raj Rout. Video by Pratik Vyas