Very slim, decent spec, good battery life
So-so camera
Every time a smartphone claims to be the thinnest in the world, we take notice. And at just 5.15mm the Kazam Tornado 348 would appear to be this week's slimmest smartphone. But is the British-based firm's pride and joy slim in body, but also slim on features?
Actually, the Tornado 348 already has a rival in the Oppo R5, which claims to be 4.9mm-thick -- good luck checking the 0.2mm difference between them with the naked eye. But the Tornado is undoubtedly very slim indeed (a good 1.75mm thinner than the iPhone 6) and slips easily into virtually any pocket with a minimum of VML (that's visible mobile line, don't cha know).
It's also extremely light at 96g and while that enviable thinness has its drawbacks -- there's certainly an unseemly amount of flex in the metal-sided casing -- it seemed to stand up well to general wear and tear, though we didn't attempt to put it under enough pressure to crack it. Despite its Gorilla Glass covering, Kazam offers free screen replacement if it's damaged in the first 12 months -- which is nice to know.
Screen & Chassis
The 4.8in screen falls short of full HD but the 720p AMOLED display still packs a bit of punch, with bright, vibrant colours and rich, deep blacks.
Sad to say there's no sign of the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system but we have more or less the next best thing with 4.4.2 KitKat, though there's no promise of an imminent upgrade. It looks much like standard Android, with little in the way of bloatware, though Kazam has added a few extra features, like Smart Answer, which lets you accept a call simply by putting the phone to your ear. And if you've just written or received a text message, when you bring the phone to your ear, it will automatically dial the number.
Software & Processor
Nice to see an octa-core processor here for improved power and efficiency, though it's a shame its 2.7GHz is backed by just 1GHz of RAM. It performed reasonably well however, never showing any significant sign of lag, even when running HD games or multi-tasking with several apps open at once.
Photography
The 8-megapixel camera is a bit of a disappointment. It has autofocus and LED flash, as well as a few extras including HDR and Auto Scene. But colours tend to lack vibrancy and look a little washed out, there's a tendency to excessive noise and it struggles to to bring out detail even in fairly straightforward shots. The half-decent 5-megapixel camera on the front shows that selfies haven't been ignored, however.
There's 16GB of memory on board, which isn't a lot, but it's all you're gonna get, since there's no option to add more via microSD card.
The battery held up surprisingly well for such a slim device --
Kazam has packed a 2050mAh power pack in there and it comfortably delivered a good day and a half of steady use.
Conclusion
The Kazam Tornado 348 is an enviably slim smartphone and feels very well built too. Its specs are resolutely midrange but it's a decent performer and if it's let down a little by its under-par camera, at least the price is reasonable.
Software: Google Android 4.4.3 KitKat
Processor: Octa-core 1.7GHz MediaTek True Octa MT6592
Memory slot: Yes
Display: 4.8in AMOLED, 1280x720 pixels
Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports: microUSB, 3.5mm headphone jack
Camera: 8 megapixel; 5 megapixel front-facing camera
Radio: Yes
Battery: 2050mAh
Size: 140x68x5.15mm
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
