Fly MC 170 Review

Vinod Yalburgi

 The Fly MC 170 is a dual-SIM, camera phone targeted at the social-networking segment. It has a sleek and stylish body design. It is coated with a glossy metallic finish on the front, running across the body contours of the LCD screen and the edges of the keypad. The LCD screen ships with a scratch proof sticker which should be a norm today, but many phones miss out on.

The Fly MC 170 incorporates an USB port and a hot-swappable microSD slot concealed on the lower left side, which can be accessed by flipping the latch door. It also includes three multimedia control buttons (play/pause, rewind and fast-forward) on the top right side and a 3.5mm audio jack at the lower right side. The multimedia control buttons come in handy while playing music or video. The dual-SIM card slots can be accessed by removing the flexible battery cover. An arrow mark indicating the nail grip, provides a convenient way of opening the battery cover.

The selection and navigation buttons are sandwiched between the call answer and call disconnect buttons, at the top of the keypad. The keys on the keypad are closely arranged with fine ridges separating them, and this space constraint leads to inaccuracy and is un-intuitive while typing. As a result, we had to repeat the inputs multiple times, for it to register successfully.

The MC 170 includes a few interesting features up its sleeve. It doubles up as a web-cam, when connected to the PC through an USB port, and one can shake the phone sideways to enable the motion sensor to switch the wallpapers sequentially. The built-in accelerometer does a fine job in rotating the display horizontally, while viewing a video in full-screen mode and thereby providing a neat wide-angle view to the user. It also supports motion sensor games.

Performance:

The Fly MC 170 delivered a modest overall performance in the signal reception and call clarity test. The voice clarity sounded choppy in the zone two, where we exposed the handset to background environmental noise. However, it yielded pretty good voice clarity and audibility with ear-phones plugged in, due to the noise isolation technology incorporated into the earphones. At the same time, we experienced mediocre loudspeaker performance with very choppy and wavering voice clarity. It did a modest job in the Bluetooth transfer test delivering a speed of 55.8 Kbps. We were extremely disappointed with its poor and distorted image quality in the captured video test. The clusters of pixelated artefacts were very evident in every frame of the video. Although, it had a good outing in the video playback test with consistent image clarity and crisp colours. Overall, the Fly MC 170 revealed itself as a very decent performer.

Conclusion:

The Fly MC 170 is a feature-rich multimedia phone, which yields good value for money. Its main selling point being the reasonably good ergonomics and the support for motion sensor games. Not to forget the motion sensor based wallpapers and its ability to double up as a web-cam when connected to a PC through the USB port. It is a good buy at Rs. 5, 399 and gives you a hefty bang for buck!

Specifications: Dual-SIM (GSM+GSM); Display: 2.4-inch TFT screen (240 x 320); Camera: 3 megapixel (2048 x 1536 ); Memory: microSD slot expandable up to 8GB; Battery: 1000mAh; Weight: 95grams;

Accessories: charger, USB cable, hands-free unit

Ratings:
Features: 7
Performance: 6
Build Quality: 7.5
Value for money: 7
Overall: 6.5

Contact: Meridian Mobile Pvt. Ltd.,
Phone: 0120-6667770
E-mail: flycare@meridiantelecom.in
Website: http://www.flyphone.in/
Price: Rs. 5, 399

• Dual-SIM (GSM+GSM);
• 2.4-inch TFT screen (240 x 320);
• 3MP integrated camera (2048 x 1536 );
• microSD slot expandable up to 8GB;
• Battery - up to 8 hrs talk-time and up to 250 hrs standby-time;
• Weight - 95grams;