We might be late at the party for this one but hey, we will be reviewing this particular Cherry Mobile smartphone that was launched last October 17, 2016 but with it's given SRP online, our limited budget and getting most out of the specs for the price so I decided to do this Cherry Mobile Flare 5 unboxing and review for 2017
What made me decide to buy it (yes, I bought this one) as one of my relatives looked for a smartphone that she can use primarily use for receiving calls for Facebook messenger from some of my relatives overseas, uses Facebook app, has OTG support for a known DTV dongle and watching some Youtube. She has small hands so a 5 inch phone is better than a 5.5 inch phablet and has LTE. From the budget of Php 3,500, there are almost no options on international brands so from the local brands, Cherry Mobile Flare 5 has the best specs that the said budget can buy.
I bought this review unit thru Lazada Philippines (at that time, it was at Php 3,499 and I got a discount voucher plus I applied the Php 29 express delivery for a grand total of Php 3,378) and here is the box. Quite neat and thin
The front has 8 MP selfie cam with LED flash and LED notification plus a 5 inch AMOLED display (that was already a winner for the price). As you already it's app drawer, it offers almost stock Android Marshmallow
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The back has 16 MP AF BSI camera with flash, Cherry Mobile logo and removable cover. The internals have 1.3 GHz Mediatek MT6753 octa-core processor, 3 GB RAM, 16 GB ROM, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, OTG, dual micro SIM, micro SD slot and 2,500 mAh built-in battery. Another bonus is the 700 MHz LTE band support which is true based on the box and when I checked it inside the engineering mode. When you expose it on a light, it has the same circular effects from a global competitior. Finger smudges can be easily obtained here and the box does not have a protective so buying at least a simple version can help it
It is rare time that I can see the 3.5 mm. audio jack and micro USB port in one side as they placed it on the top. The right portion is busy as it has the slider function which acts in 3 ways to open apps or gestures. Coz of that, the power/unlock button and volume rocker moved bit below on the said side. The slider key was very useful (I set it up for flashlight) which I hope they put it in instead on the left side
The back cover was delicate and difficult to remove so they included a pryer. The rest goes with 5V 1.2A travel chager, cable, earphones and user manual inside the box. The phone does not come with a pre-applied screen guard but good thing the display has Gorilla Glass protection
Before I began to full throttle this device, I knew from a number of complains of the pop-up ads that you may see on the phone mainly coz of some Cherry Mobile apps so I quickly uninstall or disable those related apps. The UI was a-ok for my liking and good thing that I got almost 11 GB out of 16 GB ROM for the app space. It was a blessing as it can take more than enough on those big apps like Facebook and FB Messenger apps.
Connectivity was a-ok from SMS, calls, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS especially mobile data as the 700 MHz bands support was a great help as somehow the Smart LTE signal that I am getting inside the house is around 20% than my usual expectations
On battery, the video battery rundown test gave us at 10 hours and 5 minutes which is pretty good for the given battery capacity. It also passed on my expectations on this in a typical 16 hour workday on mixed usage and 4 hours of screen on time, display brightness set at 15%.
Games were also pleasurable enough for games like Modern Combat and Asphalt 8. The Antutu score of over 33,000 is a thumbs up too. Expected numbers from a MT6753 processor
The camera UI was old school indeed, the same that I saw from Cherry Mobile Infinix Pure but I have no complains as it has good output and image processing time. Of course, you will gonna miss the pro mode here. The front flash is good enough as I even had a pic sample in total darkness
Cherry Mobile Flare 5 rear camera samples
Cherry Mobile Flare 5 front camera sample
Cherry Mobile Flare 5 front camera sample with flash on total darkness
Flashback from October 2016, Cherry Mobile Flare 5 has an SRP of Php 5,499 but a year after I was able to get it at over Php 2,000 pesos off. Yes, you may be thinking that the cons of this device is one Android version behind of Android Nougat and a bit old processor. Well, for me MT6753 SoC is quite better than today's budget phones to compare with MT6737 quad-core processor (do not include on the number of cores). Imagine for the price that I got, LTE phone with front flash, AMOLED display, almost stock Android, OTG, 700 MHz LTE band and pretty good camera - a lot of pros indeed for Cherry Mobile Flare this 2017 (quite good timing as later they will gonna launch the Flare S6 and Flare S6 Plus) . Pricing at Lazada Philippines may vary (as I posted this review, it went up a bit to Php 3,799 which is still good compared to a bit more expensive Flare P1 w/o LTE and less RAM and ROM) . Indeed, I will gonna drop a 4.5 out of 5 for Cherry Mobile Flare 5 this 2017. Bettter to buy it here on Lazada Philippines before stocks ran out and definitely a better deal compared to some dealers and stores that are selling this one still a it's October 2016 SRP
