Motorola Quench XT5 : Fabulous got fatabulous!

Motorola Quench XT5 is launched in India. XT5 is launched with a bundled offer from Aircel for a cost of Rs. 13990. Motorola Quench XT5 is an improved version of Motorola Quench XT3, which was launched earlier. The difference between Quench XT3 and Quench XT5 is the availability of 5 megapixel camera with fixed focus and FM radio on XT5. Nice little bump. Quench XT3 is a fabulous Android phone. XT5 has taken it up a notch.

Screen, Camera, Audio and Video

XT5 comes with 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with 320×480 pixel resolution. A 5 megapixel camera is on-board. Video recording of 15fps is possible with the camera. XT5’s video player plays all popular video formats including MPEG4. It has an audio player and FM Radio.

Processor and Memory

XT5 is powered by 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM 7227 processor, 256 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM. A 2GB card is bundled for free with the phone. The phone can read microSD cards up to 32 GB.

Connectivity

XT5 has all the good stuff. It’s a GSM single SIM phone with 3G,  Wi-Fi, A-GPS and Bluetooth.

What’s missing?

A dual camera would be nice but even more important let down is the Android version. XT5 runs Andrioid 2.1. Google’s latest is Android 2.2. LG Optimus One, which costs Rs. 12799, is running Android 2.2. If XT5 can be upgraded to 2.2, then this would be the hottest Android phone in the market.

Caveat

Flipkart has listed a phone with similar specs under the name, Motorola Zeppelin Lite Xt5 Xt502. Zeppelin is comparable to XT5 on every spec. The cost of Zeppelin is Rs. 13990. The only difference between Zeppelin and XT5 is the Qualcomm’s processor. Not the speed but the model. Zeppelin has it as MSM7201A and XT5 (as per TechTree) has it as MSM7227. My hunch is, both are the same. One of the source got the processor wrong.

Verdict

Price range of 10K to 15K is very hot and very crowded. Motorola is undermining its own product by launching a superior product in the span of two months. Quench XT5 has to compete with the likes of LG Optimus One, Quench XT3, Motorola Charm and Dell XCD28. XT5’s 5 Megapixel camera gets it past the phones mentioned above. That would put XT5 in the league of HTC Wildfire and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini. That’s is down to just two. By now you know what the verdict is.