Spice Mi-310 - The Mi-300's younger but better Android 2.2 Froyo sibling [Review]

The Mi-310 is solidly built with due credit to its all-metallic body with aluminium finish on the front and back-panels. Owing to its sturdy build, it also grips nicely in your palms. The volume rocker button and camera button are outdented on its left side panel. Meanwhile the power button is etched onto its top surface, which could be easily missed. It also includes a 3.5mm audio jack on the top for the music buffs. The trackball has been replaced with an optical trackpad from its predecessor – Mi-300. The microphone retains the same location below the display, which is quite convenient during voice calls. The four touch sensitive buttons take identical positions on the display, as that of its elder sibling. The battery cover fits snugly into the grooves provided in the battery compartment and there is no loose play. The QWERTY touch-keypad is quite ergonomic and best suited for dual-hand operation in landscape mode. However, the touch-keypad is cramped for space in portrait mode, and might lead to accidental input errors with the hyper-sensitive touch buttons at the bottom of the display. Though the display is quite stylish and portrays expensive looks, its glossy surface makes it vulnerable to smudges.

Features

The noteworthy features on the Mi-310 include the proximity sensor, optical trackpad and the Wi-Fi tethering capability. The proximity sensor is meant to turn off the display and the touchscreen input when the phone is held close to your cheeks during phone calls. Unlike the jerky movements of the trackball, the optical trackpad provides smooth navigation across the menus and also enhances the web browsing experience. The Wi-Fi tethering capability is its main USP, which serves the purpose of creating a USB tethering (connect via USB) or Wi-Fi hotspot on your cellphone and share the access point with laptops & netbooks. This allows you to connect the laptop to the Internet through the mobile data connection. In other words, the cellphone can be setup either as a portable Wi-Fi hotspot or enable the USB tethering to connect a laptop through the USB port. It includes four customisable home screens, where you can shortcuts, widgets, personal folders and wallpapers of your choice.