After almost 2 weeks of engagement to the country’s most affordable quad-core smartphone so far, I already had my review to Cherry Mobile Life 2.
DESIGN AND UI:I already said this to my coverage of the Cherry Mobile Ultra launch but like I said, the back cover of the Life 2 has a little diamond cut which adds more grip and prevents finger print magnets. The metal like-sides reminds me of the Omega HD 1 while the front minus the metal part brought some memories of the Ultra.
PHONE AND MESSAGING:
The phone app is not like the usual stock phone app for the Android 4.3. The messaging has the TouchPal X keyboard which gives you the option the type ala Swype. When you’re on dual sim mode, you have the SIM1 and SIM2 touchscreen buttons as your send button. I got no problems overall on receiving and making calls as well to receiving, typing and sending texts.
APP AND PHONE STORAGE:
The device doesn’t have a unified storage as you will get less than 1.2 GB in app and over 1 GB in phone storage. At least, that less than 1.2 GB app storage a bit bigger than other phones with only less than 1 GB app storage. One disappointing point for me is the actual RAM which has 404 MB RAM compared to the specs of 512 MB RAM. Without rooting, I cam only free about more than 120 MB RAM but once I can only ran about 2 to 3 apps, it goes down to 90 MB RAM. That point is another reason that it is not a recommended device to heavy games unless you’ll root it.
MUSIC AND VIDEO:
Listening to the music is a-ok without using the Snapdragon Audio+ equalizer. This is the second device that I encountered with the said exclusive Qualcomm equalizer and I’m not still a fan of it. Sad that the default music volume as it is still not loud for me even at max. volume of 15 and using the stock earbuds. Too bad that it is not CTIA complaiant plus some newly-released earphones might have some problems to compatibility. Given that it has a quad-core chipset, it can play Full HD videos.
BENCHMARKS:
These are the following benchmarks for Life 2. In Android Sensor Box, the accelerometer and gyro sensors are not working.
CONNECTIVITY:
The sim1 only has the 3G connectivity. Even though that I’m near with a Globe HSPA+ signal, the phone will only show it as 3G. I wonder if it is only on it’s UI but no problems in mobile internet for me. Bluetooth pairing is quite fast. WiFi is a-ok when I had it inside a mall, an office and a WiFi tethered Android device.
BATTERY TEST:
I looped some HD mp4 videos using MX Player with 33% phone brightness, 10 in MX Player brightness, 15 in volume, One sim on 2G/3G mode, no bluetooth, 3G mobile internet and WiFi and I got only 5 hours and 8 minutes. In my real life usage by texting, calling, 3G mobile internet, photo editing, blogging, camera usage, some music and video I got a max. at 16 hours.
CAMERA:
The 8 MP rear camera is one of the valuables to this device minus the flash. It can really performs well on good lighting as taking pics is also fast. The VGA front camera is acceptable for selfies on a good lighting environment. One thumbs down for me based on my unit is the flash as it a got a bit of yellow orange instead of the normal white color. The flash is also not strong.
EXTRAS:
The built in screen protector is a-ok. When I tried to charge the device via a powerbank, I got some trouble as it is kinda choosy in terms of the type of micro USB cable that I’m using. I only got successful on charging when I tried to insert the stock micro USB cable. Coz it is a quad-core phone, I can really feel the speed on app transitions plus a number of apps that you can’t run on a normal Mediatek quad core device. During my video battery test, I felt a bit of heat on the back which is kinda not that normal compare to my previously reviewed dual-core phone which has no heat at all.
VERDICT:
For a less than P3,000 quad-core device, the Cherry Mobile Life 2 is a value for money despite of some weaknesses. This is a device is not recommended to those heavy gamers but you really want to have a quad-core performance on a budget then go to this one. The biggest issues for me based on my reviewed unit are the 3.5 mm audio jack and powerbank (or the cord) compatibilities. I’ll go for 3.75 out of 5
1 reactions:
reactionsI've got this one and I’m very disappointed, my Flare S100 is better than Life 2.0
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