Cherry Mobile Flare 3 - You Get What You Didn't Pay For

Image courtesy of yahoo.ph

Local smartphone giant Cherry Mobile launched the third incarnation of their popular Flare series and this time they may just have a winner in their hands. The Cherry Mobile Flare 3, dubbed as the "phablet ng bayan" could be deserving of its monicker. People (myself included) who were terribly disappointed by the first Flare smartphone may find themselves wary of the Flare 3 but given its impressive price of just php3999 (for its high-end specs), it's difficult not to get tempted. The question is, should you?

Here my initial review of the device. Bookmark this page as I will update this entry with more observations as I get to spend time with the unit.

What's Outside

Image courtesy of yahoo.ph

Like the previous Flares, Flare 3 is primarily plastic sporting a 5 inch qHD IPS OGS scratch-resistant screen. OGS (One Glass Solution) is a technology that eliminates the thickness of the phone's touchscreen display. This is done by removing a layer of glass and replacing it with a thinner insulating material. This may sound technical but OGS simply makes the display thinner removing unnecessary weight and thickness. The OGS and the IPS technology transform the Flare 3s touchscreen into a beautiful work of art- texts and images look sharper, viewing angle is better, etc.

The Flare 3 is available in 5 colors; red, blue, white, and silver in high-gloss, sports car finish, and black in matte finish. The colors are limited to the back cover because the device will always have a black front display. Compared to Flare 1, the build feels better, not cheap but it's in no way premium. It feels very light and almost toy-like so depending on whether you like your phones paper-light or rock-heavy, that could be a pro or a con. It's worth mentioning that the phablet's rounded edges has a positive effect on how you hold and handle the device.

image from onetechavenue

You’ll find the power button and the volume rocker on the right side of the device, with the 3.5mm jack resting on the top, while the USB port is located at the bottom. The Flare 3 has 8 megapixel BSI rear camera and a 3 megapixel front camera. As mentioned, the phablet's display is nice and bright, the colors are vivid and the viewing angle is exceptional.

Under the Hood

The Cherry Mobile Flare 3 is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MTK 6582 processor and Mali-400MP GPU. Now, I'm a bit bias with Mediatek's processors but benchmark tests suggest that the phablet has a capable hardware combo. It carries 8GB of storage space and 1GB of RAM. I subjected the phablet into a series of rapid app launches and extensive browsing and there was no noticeable lag. I would have wanted to try playing some high-requirement games but I'm not a huge mobile gamer so that would have to wait.

Cherry Mobile Flare 3 has Kitkat version 4.4 out of the box so that's a good thing. What's doubtful is its 1980 mAh battery. My first Flare lasted only me around 4 hours of combined gaming and browsing so I'm hoping this one would last longer. Now, that most of us are very dependent on our smartphones, it would be a shame if the Cherry Mobile Flare 3 delivers the same battery power as the previous Flares.  One other thing I need to mention is that my Flare 1 would get hot really fast and I will update this entry should the same issue be present on this new Flare.

image from matt's cradle

Personal Thoughts

Overall, the Flare 3 is gearing up to be a capable device but only further usage will tell if that would be the case in the future. I'm not really a fan of its plastic built and most definitely not thrilled with the paint job (I have the Blue one). Of course, with its price, it's hard to nitpick because as it is, the specs are impressive. Buying the Flare 3 made me feel like I needed to pay more (not that I would) and huge props to Cherry Mobile for bringing the phone to the Philippines and hopefully, it continues to perform well.

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