Olive Pwrr (V-G200) and Msgr (V-G8000) Review

Olive is one of the few mobile handset players that has positioned its devices according to user’s needs and that too at very affordable prices. They have their hybrid cell phone for those who’re always on the move or a triple SIM device for those who have more than a single number but don’t want to carry more than a single handset. Olive has more to offer, like the Pwrr (V-G200) and Msgr (V-G8000) that goes for those consumers who want a mammoth battery life and an easy way to type messages respectively. We tried out Olive’s both these handsets for a considerable amount of time and this is what we think.

Olive Pwrr (V-G200)

Packaged Contents: Given the minimalistic nature of the device, the packaging is simple too. All it includes is the handset, AC charger, earphones, manual and USB cable.

Design: Olive Pwrr has a simple design. The front part is taken by its 2.2-inch TFT display and large keypad. The back side packs the VGA camera whereas the left has a mini-USB port that doubles up as a charging port as well as a port to insert headphones.

Display: As mentioned earlier, it packs in a 2.2-inch display and supports touchscreen interface. Although the touchscreen support is a welcome addition, the fact is that you won’t use it much since the large keys easily help to do whatever you want. The touchscreen feedback is decent but you can’t really expect the accuracy of a capacitive one in this low-budget device.

User Interface: Thanks to its touchscreen display, Pwrr supports drag-and-drop widget interface. If you’re confused, imagine Samsung’s widgetized TouchWiz UI on a smaller screen. Users can drag the widgets from the side of the screen to the main area. There are few widgets you can choose from like a music player, clock, profiles, games etc.

Dual-SIM: In addition to the huge battery, the phone’s another selling point is its dual-SIM capability. The SIM slots are located beneath the battery and the phone supports dual-standby, which means you can keep both the numbers active at the very same time. Good thing about the device is that both the SIMs are operated as two different entities. The phonebook contacts are separated; the SMS inbox is segregated into two for both SIMs and the phone even has two call buttons denoting the SIM number.

Media: The phone comes with FM Radio, music player and video player and to be honest, the first two options fare well as compared to the last one. Playing videos on a small screen is not recommendable. However, if we’re concerned about the audio quality, we can say it was pretty decent for a phone at such price. The loudspeakers were audible enough to be heard in a small room.

Camera: Pwrr has a VGA camera that takes acceptable pictures in broad daylight but lets you down under low light conditions. On the upside, the camera has various features to jazz up the images with different color modes and camera settings. Its camera is also capable to record videos.

Other features: Pwrr includes a Puzzle game, a voice recorder, GPRS and Bluetooth that doubles up as remote control. The remote control does work as intended and allows you to control the PC, music player or acts as a remote to change presentation slides.

Battery Life: Pwrr’s battery is rated at 2000mAh which is huge by most smartphones standards. And since Pwrr is not exactly a smartphone, the usage is expected to rise significantly. Olive touts a 30-day standby time and in our usage with two SIMs, calling of approx.. 2 hours gave us a battery life of about 3 days.

Olive Msgr (V-G8000)

Moving onto Olive’s next offering, Msgr is yet another simple candybar device but sports a full QWERTY keyboard to appeal to avid texters.

Packaged Contents: Just like Pwrr, the box contents of Msgr remains the same. It contains a handset, an AC charger, USB data cable, earphones and manual.

Design: Despite Msgr’s cheap price, Olive has tried to give it a premium look. The front side comes in a glossy finish which looks good but is very much prone to fingerprint smudges. Other than that, the only thing you’d find is the USB port that is used to charging and earphones. It’s a pretty low-end phone that does not have a camera or volume buttons on the side.

Keyboard: Msgr’s USP is its keyboard and the price at which the phone goes, it’s one of the good ones we’ve used. The keys are a bit small but are well spaced out giving a good typing pleasure.

Performance: We’ve talked about its appearance as well as the keyboard but how does it fare when it comes to day to day operations? Olive Msgr runs on a proprietary OS and is basically a feature phone that is meant to do nothing but SMS and talk. While SMS functionality works like a charm, the call quality was hindered due to very low volume coming out of earpiece. It could be a one-off instance with our unit but the voice from the other end was totally inaudible, even in less noisy environment.

The phone’s few remaining features include a calculator, calendar, alarm, FM Radio and 2 games.

Battery: Olive Msgr has a 1500mAh battery and if the phone’s considered only for messaging, calling and sometimes listening to FM, you know the battery’s gonna last long. Msgr gave about 2 to 2.5 days of battery life with about 5 hours of calling, hour of messaging and couple of hours with FM Radio.

Conclusion: Olive Pwrr and Olive Msgr goes for two different set of consumers and though both devices have their share of flaws, we think it could work out well for those who’re looking for a cheap solution.

Olive Pwrr sells for Rs. 3,899 and Olive Msgr for Rs. 2,599.

Product Page

Rating: (Pwrr)
Rating: (Msgr)