Cherry Mobile One Review, The Affordable Nexus

Cherry Mobile One Review, The Affordable Nexus

INTRODUCTION:

The Cherry Mobile One is the first Android One device from Cosmic Technologies and one of the two smartphones to have that platform, a system that was initiated and formulated by no other than Google.

CPU Z Info

The CM One sports a 4.5-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen display powered by a 1.3GHz MediaTek MT6582 quad core processor bundled with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of ROM. It runs on the latest Android software, which is Android 5.1 Lollipop and it will continue to receive updates directly from Google for two years.


UNBOXING:

Unboxing Video

Retail Package

The retail package consists of unit, battery, charger, USB cable, headset, warranty card and user manual. To learn more about the phones' physical attributes, please kindly watch the unboxing video above.


HARDWARE:

Front

The front is mainly occupied by the screen, the left and right bezels are not that thin, but still pretty much acceptable. The top bezel holds the notification light, hidden sensors, secondary camera and the circular earpiece grill. Meanwhile, the bezel below the screen has nothing on it, which is why we hoped that it could be thinner, since the buttons are now on-screen.

Back

The back has a metallic finish, it is not shiny in nature, which helps keep away smudges and fingerprints. The Android One logo is located on the lower part, directly beside the loudspeaker grill while the Cherry Mobile logo is placed slightly above the center. On the other hand, the camera and its accompanying LED flash are both located at the top near the edge towards the left side.

Related: Cherry Mobile TV Box Review: Values Your Home Entertainment

Back without cover

Removing the back cover reveals the two micro SIM slots and the micro SD slot, none of them is hot-swappable since the 1780mAh battery is blocking the way.

Top

Bottom

The top side holds the 3.5mm audio jack while the bottom side has the micro USB port.

Left

Right

The left side has nothing on it while at the right side you can find both the power button and the volume rocker.

The overall build quality of the Cherry Mobile One is quite good, it looks and certainly feel sturdy. In addition, the hardware components are pre-approved by Google, which means that its qualities are acceptable by their standard and expected to have a very low return rate. In terms of physical appearance, it may not be a head-turner, but it still has the charm.


DISPLAY:

4-point touch

It has a 4.5-inch display with IPS technology for better viewing angles and has FWVGA resolutions, which translates to 196 PPI. The overall display quality still looks good and color reproduction is still accurate and sharp. In addition, it supports up to 4-finger touch.


 SENSORS:

Sensors

The phone is equipped with several sensors that help it to function better, namely accelerometer, proximity, light, gyroscope and magnetic. When you lay down the phone flat during accelerometer test, you will notice that the "ball" goes straight to the top (near the secondary camera), this means that it is not properly aligned to the center. I do not know if this is limited to my unit or an issue to all CM One.


BENCHMARKS:

Antutu

Quadrant

NenaMark2

Vellamo

As you can see on the above screenshots, the benchmark scores are pretty much similar to other devices that has MediaTek MT6582 chipset and with this, we can easily gauge that the performance will be on the same level.


INTERFACE:

Start-up

Upon first boot, you will be guided to set-up your phone, from choosing the system language up to creating and restoring your account.

About phone

The Cherry Mobile One runs on the latest Android 5.1 Lollipop and as an Android One device, it will continue to receive updates directly from Google for at least two years, including the upcoming Android M. Speaking of update, we already received one recently.

Interface

The user interface is the stock Android, no customization of any kind. In fact, the brand/manufacturer is not allowed to do so, this is needed in order for Google to send timely software updates. In addition, the pre-installed applications are also limited, there is not even a file explorer and also the Cherry Mobile eWarranty, which is the only third party app, is not working.


BASIC FUNCTIONS:

Basic functions

All the basic phone functions are working properly, no issue or problem encountered. In terms of email, all accounts go to Gmail, if you open up the stand alone email app, it will just redirect you to use Gmail.


MULTIMEDIA:

Gallery:

Photos

There is no such app as a gallery, the images and videos can be opened using the Google Photos. It offers basic editing tool and can automatically back-up your files on Google Drive.

Video Player, Music Player, FM Radio:

Video player, music player and FM radio

The videos stored on your device, whether side-loaded or taken using the camera, will be played using Google Photos. There is a Play Movie app, but it can only be used when you rent or purchase a movie. Meanwhile, the songs and audio files are played using Play Music, it offers basic controls, has an equalizer and supports album art. Lastly, there is also an FM radio, which you can use to listen to your favorite stations on the go. By the way, the loudspeaker is capable of producing loud and audible sound.

Camera and Video:

Camera and video

Google Camera is the main UI for this section of the Cherry Mobile One, it has simple and yet intuitive interface and offers several useful and fun features, such as Lens Blur, HDR+, Wide Angle Panorama and Photo Sphere. It can also shoot videos and captures photo at the same time, plus the option to control it from a distance using a Bluetooth connection.

Sample Photos:

Day

100% Crop

Day_1

100% Crop

Night without flash

Night with flash

Night HDR

The phone is equipped with a 5MP auto focus camera, it may not be much, but it is more than good enough for day to day photo shoot. In fact, it captures as much detail as many devices with 8MP camera do, especially in good lighting condition. During at night, the resolved details are lesser, the color reproduction is a bit washout and the digital noise is evident, but nonetheless, the image produced is still usable.

Browser:

Browser

The default browser is Google Chrome, but if you need a different one like Firefox, Opera or UC, you can simply get one from the Play Store.

Games:

Asphalt 7

Temple Run 2

As mentioned in our Sensor section, the accelerometer is always inclined to the top, this affects games in landscape mode, since the character (such as the car in Asphalt 7) tends to move by default to the left instead of the center. On games in portray mode like Temple Run 2, the accelerometer is not an issue. One more thing, some games do not fully occupy the whole display as some portions are reserved for the on-screen keys. Nonetheless, it can still handle casual games and some graphics-intensive games smoothly.

Related: Cherry Mobile Cosmos One Plus Review: Extra Attraction

Storage and install location

It has unified internal storage, a total of 5.75G and can be expanded with the use of micro SD card, however, the apps and games can only be installed on the internal storage and not on the external storage.


CONNECTIVITY:

Connectivity

It supports dual SIM dual standby, however, only SIM 1 has 3G/HSPA+ connectivity, the SIM 2 is only 2G. If you have no data plan or want to have a more reliable connection, you can always opt to use the WiFi. There are also WiFi tethering, wireless display support, Bluetooth and 3.5mm audio jack.


PRODUCTIVITY:

Productivity

The productivity and organizing tools include a calculator, calendar, clock, Google Drive and Notes. If you need PDF viewer and document editor, you can just download one from the store.


GPS:

GPS

With GPS mode set to high accuracy and A-GPS data preloaded, it was able to get a satellite lock in less than 30 seconds with an accuracy of 12 feet.


BATTERY STATS:

I used it as my secondary driver and it lasted for more than 3 days, usages are about 10 to 15 SMS and less than 5 minutes of calls per day. We will do our usual gaming and video loop tests soon, once done we will update this section.


OTHERS:

Google Apps

eWarranty, Downloads and SIM Toolkit

The other apps that we did not discuss above are mostly from Google, the rest is Cherry Mobile eWarranty, Downloads and SIM Toolkit.


CONCLUSION:

The Cherry Mobile One may not have the best specifications in its price bracket, but its hardware is pre-approved by Google and expected to lessen the rate of return. In addition, it will have software updates directly coming from the software giant for two years, including at least one major update, which is Android M. With these reasons, it simply separates itself (for good) among its competitors, it is like having a Nexus device for a very affordable price tag.

PROS:

Android Lollipop
Software updates directly from Google
1.3GHz quad core processor
1GB RAM and 8GB ROM
Decent build quality

CONS:

No USB OTG
Apps cannot be moved to external storage

Cherry Mobile One Specifications:

• Quad band 2G, dual band 3G
• Dual micro SIM, dual standby
• 4.5-inch IPS FWVGA (854x480) capacitive touchscreen display, 4-point touch
• Android 5.1 Lollipop, confirmed update to Android M
• 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
• 5MP main camera with LED flash
• 2MP secondary camera
• Multimedia player
• FM Radio
• 3.5mm audio jack
• GPS with A-GPS
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Micro USB 2.0
• Bluetooth v4.0
• Sensor: accelerometer, light, proximity, gyroscope, magnetic
• 1780mAh battery
• Price: Php3,999