Kult Impulse review: Great battery life, decent camera but price could have been better

7/10

Everyone wants a share in India's booming smartphone market. Kult is no different. Kult who? Glad you asked. Kult is not as well known as Micromax or Xiaomi but it is a company making affordable smartphones for the last three years. So, here's a quick background. Kult launched its first phone back in 2015, and since then the smartphone maker has mostly focused on bringing pocket-friendly handsets to the consumers. The idea is to offer decent hardware at great prices. The subject of today's review, Kult Impulse, is one such product, at least in its promise.

The Kult Impulse is a big phone. It comes with a 5.99-inch HD+ display with thick bezels all around. And inside its hulking body, there is the MediaTek 6739 processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB of internal storage and 13MP rear and front cameras. Then there is the huge battery. The phone comes with a 4000 mAh battery that -- and I can let you in on the secret early -- it lasts really long.

The Kult Impulse is an online-exclusive phone and sells on e-commerce sites at a price of Rs 8,999. Now that is the kind of price that puts the Impulse up against some popular -- and capable -- phones like the Redmi 5, the Redmi Y1, the Honor 7A, the Honor 7C, the Moto E4 Plus and the Nokia 3. And therein lies the rub. Those other brands have a more recognisable name and although the Impulse is not a shabby phone, a lower price would have been better for it.

BORING DESIGN, GOOD BUILD QUALITY

If looks matter to you, the Kult Impulse will not impress you. Overall, as far as the design is concerned, the Impulse looks boring. Although, boring is normal in this price range, except for a handful of phones like the Nokia 3. From the front, the Kult Impulse looks like any other phone in this price range - it comes with all screen and thick bezels -- while, from the back, at least to me, the phone looks a lot like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5. Unlike a few other phones, the Kult Impulse comes with a metal rear cover, although there are plastic inserts -- again a common practice for phones under Rs 10,000 -- that help in antenna and signal performance.

The phone has a round fingerprint sensor on the rear cover, another similarity it shares with the Redmi Note 5. The back cover has a matte finish but it still shows fingerprint and smudges very easily, and which means either you will have to use it in a cover or you will end up losing its shine quite fast.

Although there are a number of phones in the market right now that can be used with one hand despite their big screen size, the Impulse is not one of them. The phone has thick bezels on top and bottom of the screen, which is probably the reason why despite its 5.99-inch display it feels extremely big in hand. The Impulse uses on-screen navigation buttons, and -- for a change -- this is a phone that comes with support for microSD card.

BIG DISPLAY, SUFFICIENT BRIGHTNESS LEVEL

The large screen of the Impulse comes with HD+ resolution of 1440 x 720 pixels and an aspect ratio of 18:9. The display is covered with a layer of 2.5D curved glass on top. The phone comes with what Kult calls a TruView Technology, which according to Kult delivers a "cinematic experience". I found the display of the Kult Impulse to be quite good, but not great (Kult will disagree I am sure). The Impulse shows colours that are vibrant and punchy. The phone also has a display that is very bright. Indoors, keeping the brightness level to minimum worked well enough for me. While under the blazing sun, keeping the brightness level to around 30 per cent is good enough to read emails, watch videos or chat on WhatsApp. I don't recall any other phone in this price range that has such bright display.

But if the display is one area that Kult gets right with the Impulse, performance is something where it falters. Kult Impulse is powered by a MediaTek 6739 quad-core processor paired with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage which is expandable up to 64GB via microSD card.

The core hardware sadly struggles to cope up with day-to-day use. So, you will find the performance lacking even while making a call, or sending a message, or writing a tweet or a Facebook post, or even during reading emails. The phone lags while multitasking. It takes that extra bit of time when switching between apps. The Impulse also takes a lot of time while opening apps, whether or not there are other apps opened in the background. The scrolling in apps like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp is sluggish.

Given the performance of the phone, if you're a gaming enthusiast, skip the Impulse. The phone is definitely not for you. It not only struggles with demanding games like Asphalt 8: Airborne or Super Mario Run, but also with basic games like Subway Surfers and Temple Run 2.

The Kult Impulse is an online-exclusive phone and sells on e-commerce sites at a price of Rs 8,999. At this price it goes up against some popular phones like the Xiaomi Redmi Y2

The software inside the Impulse could have also been better. It uses now outdated Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system. The phone also comes pre-loaded with apps like Amazon Shopping and BHIM -- wonder if the Indian government is paying Kult for bundling the app? And sadly, these apps can't be deleted from the phone, which is disappointing.

CAMERA CAPTURES GOOD COLOURS

When I started using the Impulse camera I had moderate expectations given the phone's price. I ended up being surprised by it. But, before I go on to talk about the picture quality, here're a few words about the camera hardware in the Impulse. The phone comes with a 13-megapixel rear camera, which is paired with a lens that has F2.0 aperture. There is also a dual-LED flash accompanying the rear camera. On the front too there is a 13-megapixel camera, paired with an F2.0 lens. And, this is surprising, on the front too you get a LED flash, although single-LED flash.