XOLO launches Hive UI based 8X-1000 smartphone for Rs 13,999 in India, what's on offer?

Late last month, Lava's sub-brand XOLO had launched Win Q900s, its first smartphone to be running on the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system for Rs 11,999 in India. The company has now further expanded its range of smartphones in the country with the addition of 8X-1000. The device sports a 5 inch display and is powered by 'HIVE' user interface, which is built on Android operating system and offers a host of new features and enhancements.

According to the company, the UI also allows users to join in and become a part of the development team (taking a cue from Chinese smartphone sensation Xiaomi are we!). The smartphone is available for Rs 13,999 in the country.

What's on offer?

A made in India, made for India platform, HIVE offers a number of customised UI elements that include:

Connect: A platform where technology enthusiasts can partner with the company to make HIVE better by constantly connecting, collaborating and sharing new ideas. The best ideas that are voted up by the community are then rolled out as updates.

Edge: A personalisation and digital content delivery platform for emerging artists, musicians and photographers to collaborate with the company to design exclusive themes, ringtones and wallpapers.

Fusion X: Integrated with last.fm, Fusion X enables artist recommendations based on what the user is listening to. It is also tightly integrated with YouTube, wherein users can access trending songs by their favourite artist.

In terms of controls, the conventional straight line bar slider gives way to circular controls, while 'quick settings' include a toggle switch that lets you alternate between dual SIM cards for calls and messages. Contacts provide a unified view of the message threads and the call logs of every contact.

In addition, HIVE also has a built-in 'chameleon widget' that provides quick information on weather and calendar, apart from notifications regarding missed calls, SMS and email. Every time the wallpaper is changed, the widget picks the most prominent colour from the background and blends with it.

Here is a look at the specifications of the device.

The smartphone sports a 5 inch HD IPS capacitive touchscreen display (1280x720 pixels resolution) with 294 ppi pixel density and runs on the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system with Hive UI. It is powered by a 1.4GHz Octa-core MediaTek MT6592M processor and has 2GB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 16GB that can be further expanded up to 32GB with a microSD card.

XOLO 8X-1000 has an 8 megapixel autofocus rear camera (with Exmor R Sensor) with Flash that can also record full high definition videos (1080p) at 30 frames per second and a 2MP front facing camera for video calling. Additional features of the camera include scene detection & tuning, High Dynamic Range (HDR), vertical & horizontal panorama capture, geo tagging, live filters, face beautification, and voice capture, etc.

On the connectivity front, the device has Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi (with Wi-Fi Direct), 3G as well as a microSD card slot and a microUSB port. The dimensions of the device are 140mm x 70mm x 7.9mm, and it comes with GPS (with A-GPS support) and dual-SIM capability. The company has provided a 1,920 mAh battery in the device, which it claims will provide up to 11 hours of talk time, 31 hours of music playback, and 352 hours of standby time.