Cherry Mobile Flare 3 Unboxing, Preview And Initial Impression

Cherry Mobile Flare 3 Unboxing, Preview And Initial Impression

INTRODUCTION:

The Cherry Mobile's Flare Series has come a long way and recently they announced its newest  and most anticipated member - the Flare 3.

It sports a 5-inch IPS OGS touchscreen display with scratch-resistant glass on top. Underneath its skin is a 1.3GHz quad-core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage plus micro SD expansion slot up to 64GB. To make it sweeter, it runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat for a more seamless and smooth experience.

CPU-Z

If my memory serves me right, the Flare 3 is the 8th member of the family, the other 7 are the Flare, Flare 2, Flare 2.1, Flare 2x, Flare HD, Flare S and Flare S2. Among these previous models, the original Flare is the most successful one and until now people can still recall how it shaped the local mobile industry.

Will the Flare 3 achieve the same triumph and popularity accomplished by its oldest predecessor? For now, we can not really tell, but based on the traffic that my blog is getting, I can say that it is starting to get there.


UNBOXING:

Unboxing Video

Retail package

The retail package consists of the unit, battery, charger, USB cable, wired headset and user manual. However, you can have a free power bank, flip case and screen protector if you will be one of the first 100 to purchase it today (August 2, 2014) at SM North, Robinsons' Place Manila or in Cagayan de Oro.


HARDWARE:

Front

The front is mainly occupied by the 5-inch display, the bezels are of just the right size. Below the screen is the usual capacitive touch keys while the above holds the hidden sensors, earpiece grill and secondary camera.

Back

The back is made of plastic with matte finish, it is quite prone to smudges and fingerprints, but they are hardly noticeable. The 8MP BSI main camera sits in the upper portion, directly below it is the LED flash. The Flare marking is comfortably printed at the center while cherry mobile branding is at the lower portion.

Back without cover

Removing the back cover reveals the 1980mAh battery, the micro SIM card slot, the regular SIM card slot and the hot-swappable micro SD slot.

Top

Bottom

The top holds the 3.5mm audio jack while at the bottom you will find the micro USB port and the microphone pin hole.

Left

Right

The left side was kept bare, one the other hand, the right side is busy with the power button and the volume rocker.

Design wise, the Flare 3 carries similar looks with other Cherry Mobile devices, a bar phone with rounded corners and closely resembles the Omega Spectrum. In terms of build quality, it has a nice and solid feel, no creaks or cranks will be heard when using it.


DISPLAY:

Landscape

Portrait

5-point touch

Although the screen resolution is only qHD, the Flare 3 has a display that is bright, clear, sharp and wide viewing angles, thanks to the IPS technology and the one-glass solution. It also supports up to 5-point touch.


SENSORS:

Sensors

The Flare 3 is equipped with basic sensors, namely accelerometer, light and proximity. All of them worked fine during test, however, in actual use, the automatic brightness is not working, the brightness remains the same no matter what.


BENCHMARKS:

Antutu - 17655

Quadrant - 7264

NenaMark 2 - 60.9 fps

Vellamo, HTML - 1605 and Metal - 587

The benchmark scores are typical for a device with 1.3GHz quad core processor and 1GB of RAM. However, it scored the highest in Quadrant among other smartphone with MT6582 chipset, I believed the more optimized Android KitKat OS helps to achieve that.


INITIAL VERDICT:

The Flare 3 is a self-proclaimed "Phablet ng Bayan" and I can say that it has the bragging rights to do that. It retails for only 3,999 pesos, yet it sports specifications that are truly amazing, it is undoubtedly the best device in its is price point.

Specifications:

• Dual SIM dual standby, supports HSPA+
• 5-inch capacitive OGS IPS qHD (960x540) touchscreen display, scratch-resistant glass
• Android 4.4.2 KitKat
• 1.3GHz Quad Core Cortex-A7 CPU, Mali-400MP2 GPU, MediaTek MT6582 chipset
• 1GB of RAM
• 8GB internal storage, expandable up to 64GB via micro SD card
• 8MP BSI main camera with LED Flash,
• 3MP secondary camera
• Multimedia Player
• FM Radio
• GPS with A-GPS and EPO assitance
• 3.5 Audio Jack
• WiFi  802.11 b/g/n
• Micro USB 2.0
• Bluetooth
• 1980mAh battery
• Sensors: accelerometer, proximity, light
• Price: Php3,999

What we like so far:

5-inch IPS OGS scratch-resistant display
Quad core processor
1GB RAM
8GB storage

What we do not like so far:

Automatic brightness not working