All the while we all know that the vibrant Cherry Mobile Flare 3 is the best bang-in-the-buck offering from the local leader. However, CM wrapped this quality product and made it a tad better. And when I say “tad”, I mean improved rear and front camera; and refined design in the same Php 3,999 price tag. As such, the Flare S3 is yet to become the most practical device of the year. Check out, right after the fold, our review of the Cherry Mobile Flare S3.
Design
The
device flaunts Samsung Galaxy Note 3-ish faux leather back that’s available in
black, white, blue, silver and red. You will see, Cherry’s “FLARE” branding
conspicuously at the center of the back panel. The 13-megapixel rear camera is
positioned at center top of the phone accompanied by the LED flash. Likewise,
the Cherry Mobile moniker is placed at the bottom of the panel together with
the speaker grills.
Flipping
the device, you’ll see the qHD display with the similar Android capacitive
keys. The front panel could’ve been perfectly presented if not for the tiny
hole in the lower-right portion of the glass which gives way to the microphone.
The handset has been put well together; I could hardly open the plastic back
the first time.
The
left side of the phone houses the volume rocker while the right side is the
home of the power button. The frame gives a metallic finish that highlights the
sturdiness of the phone.
Looking
at the device from a distance makes it look like a member of the later
generation of the Galaxy Note series. However, without knowing that the design
is a rip-off of the Note 3, the Flare S3 is a beautiful device from top to
bottom.
In
terms of design, this device leaps beyond any other Cherry Mobile handsets this
year. For you to get a good grip of Cherry Mobile Flare S3 check out our unboxing video below.
Display
The
Cherry Mobile Flare 3 display poses for a quarter high definition rating. This
means that it packs a 960 x 540 pixel resolution along the lot of the panel. The
difference between the screen qualities is unnoticeable comparing it to other
Cherry phones with 720p HD display, like Cherry Mobile Ultra.
Yes,
it is a legit screen I might say. The color reproduction is not oversaturated
unlike other 1080p offering of other local brands. However, it could be washed
out when placed beside qHD contenders with smaller displays. The viewing angle is
quite okay. Of course, it is not a great display. It’s just more than adequate
coming with an affordable price tag.
Performance
Flare
S3 is an upgrade to the popular Flare 3. It is definitely the best value-for-money
phone of 2014. The main worker in this handset is the MediaTek MT6582 which is
comprised of a 1.3-gigahertz quad-core CPU and ARM Mali-400 MP2. With my two
weeks of making this handset as my primary phone, I could say that the
Flare S3 could take in most of the tasks thrown at it. It is almost sufficient
to be your daily driver for the basic tasks. However, demanding games could
hammer the chipset making the device choke for a split second. Multitasking is
also not a pretty thought.
Likewise,
screen could be unresponsive at times. Though, I may not consider it as a
defect but it could hamper the way you input texts. It’s far different from
what I’ve experienced with the messaging prowess of the Cherry Mobile Ultra.
The
Cherry Mobile Flare S3 is also a worker as shown in both Antutu and Quadrant
benchmarks.
Camera
The
display panel might be sluggish in registering random taps but it’s a different
story when it comes to the 13-megapixel camera. It may not be as impressive as
Samsung’s 13MP offering but the Flare S3 has a capable mobile camera sensor.
Compared to other phones, the handset comes with a small difference (roughly 1
second) between the time you press the “shoot” button to the time it captures
the actual photo. Even though it is packed with plenty of pixels, it still
stumbles in getting lowlight shots.
Cherry
Mobile is also kind enough to offer a 5-megapixel sensor in the front panel.
Selfie shots are actually in good quality with great color reproduction.
Messaging, Call Reception and Multimedia
Inputting
of texts may be an issue for purist but the overall experience using the keypad
is just normal to any other locally-branded phones that I’ve used. The TouchPal
keyboard comes pre-installed along with other Google propriety apps.
Call
reception is quite noisy; I tend to use the loudspeaker
function just to hear the caller on the other side of the line. Speaking
of loud speaker, the Flare S3 has a legit speaker. Sounds are recognizable in
an earshot level. Video and music playback are also seamless.
Games
The handset could also handle graphic intensive games which is quite exemplary Likewise, Flare S3 is capable of good graphic performance as well as intensive audio and video combination.
Battery
One
of the good things about the Flare S3 is that it has a removable battery. Our
battery test shows that the 1800 mAh battery could take in several battery
demanding tasks and drop the meter to 35 percent of juice in the first two
hours of usage.
To
dig deeper, after first 30 minutes of graphic-intensive games like Turbo Racing
3D and Eternity Warriors 3, battery dropped to 77 percent.
The
next 30 minutes which were spent with Internet browsing via WiFi nailed the
battery to 59 percent. Afterwhich, 30 minutes of Spotify music and another 30
minutes of video streaming using YouTube left the battery at 33 percent.
If
you are a normal user, expect the battery to have a lengthier life. The
powerful cores and the RAM consume a lot of power; plus, knowing the fact that
the device heats fast could also contribute to the short battery life.
The Wrap
The
Flare S3 is no doubt the best phone priced in Php 3,999 or even a couple of
grand higher than that. The handset may be trying hard to imitate the Galaxy Note
3's design but the high-rated cameras and the fast performance make the previous
less offensive. The sub-4K price also makes this phone a runaway winner among
its peers.
In
fact it’s not just about the price, it is a capable phone in its own right. A phone that has a lot of power in its own right; and it feels like it should’ve been priced higher.
Cherry Mobile Flare S3 Specifications
GSM frequency
band
|
GSM
850/900/1800/1900MHz
WCDMA 2100MHz
|
SIM
|
Dual SIM (Regular and
Micro)
|
Display
|
5-inch qHD (540x960p,
220ppi)
IPS OGS
-scratch resistant
glass
|
Chipset
|
MediaTek MT6582
|
CPU
|
1.3GHz quad-core
processor
|
GPU
|
ARM Mali-400MP
|
Memory
|
8GB ROM, 1GB RAM
|
MicroSD support
|
Yes, up to 64GB
|
Main camera
|
13MP Autofocus, BSI,
LED flash
|
Secondary camera
|
5MP
|
Connectivity
|
3G HSPA+, 2G EDGE, GPRS
Networks
WiFi and WiFi Hotspot
Bluetooth v3.0
GPS with A-GPS
|
NFC
|
None
|
Miracast
|
Yes
|
USB-OTG
|
None
|
FM Radio
|
Yes
|
3.5mm Audio Jack
|
Yes
|
Sensors
|
Accelerometer,
Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor
|
Operating system
|
Android 4.4.2 (KitKat)
|
Battery
|
1800mAh
|
Suggested Retail
Price
|
Php3,999
|
What ROM did you use in that phone? The lockscreen looks pogi! :D
ReplyDeleteHey! Lockscreen pic comes with Google Now Launcher. You can download it free in Play Store. If you want a close-to-pure-Android experience, DL it now. Weeee.
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