Following the success mantra of Micromax, Karbonn, Motorola, Xiaomi and Lenovo (to name a few), several mobile manufacturing companies are now trying to impress the budget smartphone consumers in India. The companies are coming up with inexpensive devices that offer decent price-to-specifications ratio. And this year, the competition is turning out to be more gripping with the release of each handset.
In the beginning of the year, Lenovo launched its budget 4G smartphone A6000 at CES 2015. Following the release, Motorola brought its Moto E successor with Android Lollipop. Later, Xiaomi also launched its Redmi 2 and now, Infocus. The US-based company, known for producing projectors, has launched M2 in India. Available at Rs 4,999, Infocus M2 offers decent specs and also has 8MP rear and front camera with flashes on both end.
Design & Built
Available in White and Black, Infocus M2 looks a lot like the earlier Moto G with a curvy back, rounded corners, and is a little taller than usual devices in its range. Although it looks quite common in shape, the rounded corners and curvy back helps the device with regard to grip. It is also easy to carry the phone in pockets. The major portion of the front has been occupied by the display by sharing its top space with the camera, diffuser flash, speaker and a few necessary sensors and three capacitive buttons at the bottom. The buttons are not equipped with any backlight or haptic feedback. The front flash has been covered with a white rounded plastic which acts like a diffuser and comes in handy for clicking selfies, but usually it looks very distracting to eyes.
The metallic finished power/sleep button sits on the right side, while the volume rocker sits at left. The Micro USB and 3.5mm Audio out has been housed at the bottom and the top. The primary camera and LED flash has been featured at the top rear, while the Infocus logo and the single speaker mesh housed at centre and bottom of the rear. The Rear camera looks highly inspired by the Moto G design by featuring a metallic ring around the sensor.
The 2 Micro SIM Slot and the Micro SD card slot has been hidden under the back cover, though M2 features a non-removable battery. The back lid is prone to fingerprints and smudges, hence we recommend to use a back cover.
Display
Infocus M2 boasts a 4.2-inch WXGA TFT LCD display with 768x1280 pixels resolution at 355PPI pixel density. The extra pixel count makes the display wider than the unusual aspect ratio 16:9, but equally it makes sharp with crisp text and colours offering ample brightness. The viewing angle of the screen is great and it also remains readable in direct sunlight.
In our extensive use, we found M2's display better than several competitors in its price range.
Performance
Powered by a 1.3GHz Quad-Core MediaTek MT6582 processor, the Infocus M2 comes equipped with 1GB RAM and 8GB in-built storage expandable up to 64GB via Micro SD card. It is great as most of the budget smartphones support up to 32GB only.
In our synthetic benchmark test, the Infocus M2 scored 18944 in Antutu Benchmark v5.6.2. The score is almost at par with Xiaomi which achieved 20736 in the same test. It also achieved 7346 in Quadrant Standard test and in GeekBench 3 test, M2 managed to achieve 354 in single-core and 1171 in multi-core testing.
In our real life test, the device performed well with most of the tasks we assigned to it. We tried running multiple apps, opened browser with numerous tabs and also played light games like Temple Run, Angry Birds and Candy Crush and didn't notice any lag in the device.
Infocus M2 is also capable of running plethora of media file formats and it also offers a decent viewing experience.
Running on Android Kitkat 4.4 OS overlaid with proprietary Inlife UI skin. Like most of the Chinese smartphones, the interface lacks app drawers and puts everything right on the home screen.
Camera
InFocus M2 equips two 8MP camera and flash on both sides. Though most of the budget smartphones feature similar rear camera, they pick a less powerful camera for the front and also mostly skip the flash on the front; and we're sure the selfie-loving consumers will definitively welcome this step by the manufacturer.
The stock camera app offers a variety of scene modes for shooting in different environments. The app also features manual controls including ISO, White Balance etc. It can also click selfies with voice control. The post-processing app also features several filters for skin lightening and applying makeup.
In real life testing, we found the focus and the automatic detection of exposure lags a bit. But otherwise both the cameras are power performers and able to provide quality images with balanced colours and good detailing. The low light performance and closed shots were particularly excellent. Considering the price we would say both the cameras did outstanding job.
Infocus M2 Low Light Image SampleIBTimes India 
Infocus M2 Ambient Light Image SampleIBTimes India 
The Rear sensor is quite big hence is quite impressive too with the result images. The result images features great colour balance and over saturation. The result images doensn't have any tint as well like most of the budget device camera has.IBTimes India 
Unlike most of the under Rs. 8,000 smartphones (for whom 2MP front camera has become a standard), the M2 features a 8MP camera with an impressive snapping capability. We tested the camera in the evening without flash and found it focuses quick and produces apt colours and saturation.IBTimes India
Battery
Infocus M2 packs a 2010 mAh battery. The volume might sound less but it's actually perfect for the display size and configuration. In our video loop test, Infocus M2 survived around seven and half hours. In our real life test, it managed to achieve around a day in mixed usage. Fair enough!
Verdict
The specification and performance offered by Infocus M2 is really great in its price. All it's competitors like Moto E2, Xiaomi Redmi 2 and Lenovo A6000 cost at least Rs 2000 more. And even the Android One phones that feature almost similar specs, cost higher than M2 and also packs less powerful front camera.
If you're looking for a smartphone under Rs 5000, Infocus M2 is the best smartphone your money can buy. If you're able to spend little more, then you can also check Moto E2, Xiaomi Redmi 2 or Lenovo A6000.
