Unveiling the Spice Stellar 509 Specs Prices Benefits & Drawbacks

Overview

The Spice Stellar 509 (Mi-509) is a smartphone that was launched in May 2014. It features a balance of performance and affordability, making it an appealing choice for budget-conscious consumers at the time. Below is a detailed look into its specifications, performance, and unique features.

Design and Build

The Stellar 509 sports a compact design with dimensions of 145 x 79 x 9.5 mm, making it comfortable to hold despite its sizable 5.0-inch display. Weighing only 120 grams, it is fairly lightweight. The device is built with plastic, which was a common choice for budget devices during its release. It accepts Mini-SIM cards, adding to its originality from those earlier smartphone days.

Display

Featuring a 5.0-inch IPS LCD screen, the Stellar 509 offers a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels. The display’s pixel density of approximately 196 ppi was adequate for standard daily usage such as browsing and social media interactions. Although not the sharpest display available, it provided reasonable clarity and color representation for its class.

Performance

Under the hood, the Spice Stellar 509 is powered by a Mediatek MT6582M chipset built on a 28 nm process. The quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU, coupled with a Mali-400MP2 GPU, allows the device to handle basic tasks efficiently. With 1GB of RAM, multitasking capabilities were limited but sufficient for light usage, including running simple apps and executing typical smartphone functions without significant lag.

Storage

The device comes with 4GB of internal storage, which is quite limited by today's standards. However, it also offers a dedicated microSDHC card slot, allowing users to expand their storage to accommodate more applications, media, and data.

Camera

The Spice Stellar 509 features an 8 MP autofocus main camera with LED flash, capable of panoramic and HDR photography. While it can capture video at 720p@30fps, its photographic capabilities are geared more toward casual photography. The 2 MP selfie camera allows for basic video calls and selfies, albeit with limited quality given the resolution.

Battery Life

Powered by a Li-Ion 2000 mAh battery, the Stellar 509 offers a standby time of up to 170 hours and a talk time of up to 4 hours and 30 minutes. Although modest, these figures are reflective of its hardware requirements. With a music playback time of up to 30 hours, it was designed to cater to the needs of average users who require decent battery performance during their day-to-day activities.

Software

The device runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat, an operating system known for its user-friendly interface and optimizations for older devices. Offering a good mix of features and performance improvements from its predecessors, KitKat was an ideal choice for budget devices at the time.

Connectivity and Sensors

Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n with dual-band support and hotspot functionality, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, GPS, and an FM radio. For interfacing with other devices, the Stellar 509 provides a microUSB 2.0 port. It lacks NFC, which was not uncommon among budget smartphones of that era. The phone is also equipped with essential sensors like the accelerometer and proximity sensor.

Network and Communication

The Spice Stellar 509 supports GSM and HSPA technologies. The 2G network covers GSM bands 850, 900, 1800, and 1900, while its 3G capabilities are confined to the HSDPA 2100 band. With network speeds reaching up to 21.1 Mbps on HSPA, it suffices for general browsing and social media use.

Conclusion

At the time of its release, the Spice Stellar 509 offered a comprehensive package for its price range. Its balance of features, performance, and simplicity made it an attractive entry-level smartphone especially suited for users transitioning from feature phones. Although it has been discontinued, it remains a testament to the evolving nature of technology and the progress made in smartphone development.