With all the smartphones I’ve been playing around for the past months, I always bring along the Cherry Mobile One with me whether as a secondary phone or a spare phone in my bag. No, it’s not separation anxiety, but I will explain in my Cherry Mobile One review why I love recommending one of Google’s Android One smartphones in the Philippines.
SPECIFICATIONS:
OS: Android 5.1 Lollipop
Processor: 1.3 GHz MTK6582 Quad-Core processor
Display: 4.5-inch Scratch Resistant Display
Wireless Connections: 3G, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS
Memory: 8GB Internal Storage expandable with a MicroSD card up to 32GB, 1GB RAM
Connectors: Micro USB port
Camera: 5.0 Megapixels with BSI (Main Camera), 2.0 Megapixels (Front)
SIM Card Slot: 2x Micro SIM Card Required
Battery: 1,780 mAh (removable)
SRP: Php 3,999.00
– FREE under SMART’S Android Plan 499 http://smart.com.ph/postpaid/plans/android-one/androidplan-499/
– Initial cash out of Php 500 under SUN CELLULAR’S Plan 399 http://suncellular.com.ph/personal/android-one
THE UNBOXING
The package includes the unit, USB cable, USB Charger head, in-ear earphones and battery. It comes with a FREE 8GB Micro SD Card if bought from the retail stores.
THE LOOKS AND FEEL
During the launch of Android One, people preferred the design of the Cherry Mobile One over the MyPhone Uno. They liked the grey backcover which kinda complements the black bezel of the One. Though I liked the design of the Uno more, I also agree with the comments on the design of its Cherry Mobile counterpart.
Holding it is a different story though. I noticed that the edges of the One’s bezels are not curved and I can’t help but compare it with the MyPhone Uno which has a curved design which is really a delight to hold. The One doesn’t cause any discomfort when holding the device so that’s still good news for everyone.
THE DISPLAY
The Cherry Mobile One has a 4.5-inches screen with FWVGA display (resolution of 854×480.) Given its price point, we shouldn’t expect for this to have a Full HD display. However, you’ll be surprised that it can produce nice colors when watching videos or playing games.
THE PERFORMANCE
Now I’ll explain why the Cherry Mobile One is always in my gear bag. The specs of the One can be considered already a year old, but it tells a different story with Android’s latest operating system: Android 5.0 a.k.a. Lollipop. The performance of the MTK 6582 chipset was given a boost by Lollipop, making it really silky smooth to navigate the phone. Even with 1GB of RAM, the Cherry Mobile One doesn’t bog down with all the apps opened. This experience is unparalleled with all the other Android phones in the same price range.
The Antutu Benchmark score showed a result of 20,027. Not bad at all. If another smartphone with similar specs but with Android 4.4 KitKat as the OS is tested with Antutu, the results will be definitely lesser than this.
What about gaming? I still wouldn’t recommend playing graphic-intensive games on the One in spite of my praises. Having said that, there are some other games that would stutter on an Android 4.4 MTK 6582-powered smartphone that can be played really well on the One. Real Racing 3, for example has a very smooth gameplay on the One. I’ll be very honest with you guys, I’ve never played so much Real Racing 3 except on the Cherry Mobile One. I wanted to see if the phone will give up everytime I play it, but it wouldn’t crash! On the other hand, I found myself winning every race on the game.
Don’t believe me? Here’s a video of our episode of the The CP Republic where we reviewed the Cherry Mobile One:
THE CAMERA
Google added a 5.0 Megapixel camera on the Cherry Mobile One. Most people I know expected that since the camera was chosen by Google, it would take better pictures than the other phones of its class. It does take good photos outdoors and I didn’t notice any areas which looked washed-out. Even photos taken indoors were good enough. It’s not that great but nevertheless acceptable.
BATTERY LIFE
Another thing I love about the Cherry Mobile One is its battery life. Upon hearing that the battery capacity of the One is only 1,780 mAh, I almost pulled my hair in frustration. However, with Android 5.0 Lollipop, my battery usage is surprisingly long! I average around 13 hours per day of using the phone. WiFi/3G, phone calls, social media, Spinnr, Real Racing 3 or NBA2K14, YouTube – I usually get the same results at 13 hours with either 20% or 10% of battery juice left. Lollipop’s low power consumption truly works with the Cherry Mobile One!
DR’S CONCLUSION
In my opinion, the Cherry Mobile One is the best smartphone to buy for its price range. Since this is an Android One smartphone, the One is guaranteed of real-time software updates from Google, and if I’m not mistaken, it may reach up to the 2nd major OS update after Lollipop (might start with the letter N as the OS starting with letter M will be the first major OS update.)
It may not have the best processor nor the best camera, but its performance will never put you down and the battery life is damn impressive! The Cherry Mobile One will work well with beginners or intermediate users and even advanced users will appreciate it.
Just for the record, this is a constructive criticism we have so many cherry mobile phones from chery moblite d15 tv, flare, flare S, Cosmos, even the tablets etc. Calling Cherry Mobile we should be given loyalty reward or even simple discounts on our next purchases or even tokens, dont you think? But this Cherry Mobile One should be the best because it is with collaboration with Google so we expected better results but disappointed that the apps , photos from camera(that is too slow to shoot), and even files can not be transferred to the SD card, i had used 2 units already, the first and the replacement unit both can not even take photos and save to SD card(it says “Operation Failed” even though I downloaded File Manager which Cherry Mobile forgot to include out of the box). This really failed miserably! This is not an isolated case. Cherry mobile better fix this through updates or give us solution ASAP or Myphone Uno and others will beat you!