It took for us for a while for securing the review unit of this phablet from Cloudfone but you will still see something new which I hope the local smartphone brand will improve. This is my Cloudfone Excite Prime review.
The phone has some resemblance to the MyLauncher of another local phone brand which means it has no app drawer (but you can put in your fave launcher with ease). The faux leather textured back cover and the overall appearance is definitely better for the price range and to compare to the previous Excite 501o. The display is also a-ok as they chose an IPS HD OGS set-up for it's 5.5 inch display.
I got no problems in calls and texts. The tricky part for a bit is the mobile data as it does not have 2G/3G mode so if you are heavy on mobile internet, you need to stick it in 3G only connection. Sometimes, I felt the mobile net signal drop from 3G to 2G at my hub which I hope they will improve a bit. WiFi reception is good.
On benchmarks, it has the battle tested 1.4 GHz Mediatek MT 6592 32-bit octa-core processor which is my choice over the 1.7 GHz variant of the said SoC. It scored at over 27,000 on Antutu. It has 5 point multi touch and has plenty of sensors. I just noticed a bit of lag on switching from the app drawer and main page and vice versa. On gaming, it was fine on Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt 8 on medium settings.
On audio, the output seems average as I already encountered the same scenario with budget Mediatek based handsets. You only need to adjust the equalizer via Google Play Music and you are good to go.
In my video battery rundown, it survived at 11 hours and 20 minutes from 100% to 2 in battery saving mode. In reality, I can manage to use this phablet for under 30 hours with 5 hours of screen on time which is pretty impressive for it's 2,820 mAh battery inside
Camera output was one of the best so far that you can find in a local smartphone in the Php 3,999 price tag. You can check out my samples but it is always best on daylight and indoors. Selfies are also a-ok
Extras: I hope that CEP has over 10 GB of app storage out of 16 GB ROM and most of the pre-loaded apps can be removed. What I really hate (which I already brought this issue to a Cloudfone official) is the activation of slow charging capability once you charge this phone either by a third party charger or powerbank. The provided charger can fill this device for around 165 minutes but once you go for a powerbank, it will be as slow as 4.5 hours.
If the LTE connecitivity is not your priority and you are looking for a budget yet capable phablet then the Cloudfone Excite Prime for me is "A-OK under 4K" for the built, overall performance, battery life and camera (except for the charging issue). I will gonna give it 4 out of 5.
