Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Review; Setting the Bar High for Budget Phones

Ciara Alarcon
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Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Review; Setting the Bar High for Budget Phones
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Review; Setting the Bar High for Budget Phones

INTRODUCTION:

CloudFone is now the top 4 smartphone brand in the Philippines, according to market intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC). The firm addressed that its partnership with NBA and PBA has helped the brand to gain more fans. In fact, they also teamed up with Microsoft, Google, Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney.

But for fans, it’s the brand’s effort in offering budget phones without compromising its quality, specs and features that they appreciate the most. On that note, the local smartphone manufacturer recently launched the CloudFone Excite Prime 2, a premium-looking smartphone that delivers higher specs compared to other devices in its price range.

Is it worth the hype? We’ll answer it here.


PHYSICAL:


CloudFone Excite Prime 2 Unboxing and Hands-on

The Excite Prime 2 is encased with a plastic frame that is complemented with a removable metal casing. The device can easily battle out the brand’s older models when it comes to its build quality, too. Knowing its price, you’d also be surprised with its design. It has no fancy things to boast with, though. But still, we personally think it’s the classiest Cloudfone smartphone up to date. Meanwhile, the device is big enough to not let you use it with just one hand, or solid grip must be considered.

Cloudfone Excite Prime 2's Front
Front

The front is dominated by the 5.5-inch screen, 8-megapixel front camera, and LED flash. It has no capacitive controls for navigation.

Cloudfone Excite Prime 2's Right Side
Right Side
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2's Top
Top
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2's Bottom
Bottom

The volume rockers and power/lock button are located on the right side of the CloudFone Excite Prime 2. At the top, the 3.5mm audio port is situated, while the microUSB port is placed at the bottom.

See Also: CloudFone Next Infinity PRO; 5.7-inch Infinite Vision Display, Octa Core, Dual Front Cameras

Cloudfone Excite Prime 2's Back
Back
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2's Loudspeaker
Loudspeaker

The branding is thoughtfully designed at the back, sporting a not so attention seeking size. You’d also see the 13-megapixel main camera, LED Flash, and back-firing speaker at the back of the device.

Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 supports 3-point touch
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 supports 3-point touch

The Excite Prime 2 sports a 5.5-inch capacitive IPS OGS HD touchscreen display that has 1280 x 720 resolution. It has a decent display at 267 pixels per inch, too. It also has Corning Gorilla Glass protection. Apart from these, the device has impressive viewing angles. True enough, we never had a problem with its brightness even when we used it under sunlight. If there’s such, issues were acceptable. Unfortunately, it only scored 3 on multi-touch test.


SOFTWARE:


Cloudfone Excite Prime 2's Software
Software


The Excite Prime 2 runs on Android 7.0 Nougat. Wisely enough, we would choose this device over more expensive smartphones that run on dated operating system. It comes with some pre-installed software, including Lazada, PawnHero, Spotify, UC Browser, and EA Games. It is equipped with Cloudfone App Shop, too.


PERFORMANCE:

The CEP 2 is powered by 64-bit MT6737 quad core processor clocked at 1.3GHz, and is paired with a Mali-T720 GPU. It is complemented with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage, a “wow” for its price. Truly, Cloudfone could impress not only the fans, but also its rivals.
Giving us a decent performance, with a speedy one most of the time, we still ran it on our preferred benchmark apps and here are the scores it got.

Cloudfone Excite Prime 2's Benchmark Results
Benchmark Results
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2's PC Mark Results
3D Mark Results
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2's NeMark2 Score
NeMark2 Score
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2's Geekbench Scores
Geekbench Scores

  • AnTuTu – 28,298
  • Quadrant – 10,533
  • Geekbench – 511 (Single Core)
  • Geekbench – 1,354 (Multi Core)
  • 3DMark – 4,519 (Ice Storm)
  • 3DMark – 2,453 (Ice Storm Extreme)
  • 3DMark – 156 (Sling Shot)
  • 3DMark – 108 (Sling Shot Extreme)
  • NenaMark2 – 55.8fps
  • Work2.0 – 2,618

To better test its performance, we used the device as our primary phone. With social media apps set as its basic tasks, there’s no doubt that the device could give us a smooth experience. With heavy usage, it lagged several times when we ran apps simultaneously. Good thing, all you need to do is to close the background apps to boost its speed again.

Also Read: Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Pro Now Official; Coming This October 21 for Php9,999 

Meanwhile, with continuous usage, including watching videos, playing games with light graphics, and browsing social media apps, we noticed that the phone heats up, so, we’re bit frustrated about this issue because it didn’t happen just once.


CAMERA:


Cloudfone Excite Prime 2's Camera Interface
Camera Interface

Here comes the exclamation point for the Excite Prime 2! We all knew that the camera features suffer when a smartphone has an inexpensive price tag, but, this is not the case with the Excite Prime 2. Its rear camera is equipped with 13-megapixel Sony IMX135 sensor with f/2.0 aperture, and is paired with LED flash. Meanwhile, its front-facing shooter offers an 8-megapixel resolution with f/2.0 aperture, and is matched with a softlight LED flash. Both cameras give great photos and come with various settings to enhance your images.

Sample Photos:


Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Main Camera Sample - without HDR
without HDR
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Main Camera Sample - with HDR
with HDR
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Main Camera Sample - Indoor
Indoor
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Main Camera Sample - Outdoor
Outdoor
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Main Camera Sample - Outdoor (with HDR)
Outdoor (With HDR)
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Main Camera Sample - Night
Night
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Front Camera Sample - Selfie
Selfie
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Front Camera Sample - Portrait Mode
Portrait Mode
Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Front Camera Sample - Night (Selfie)
Night (Selfie)

See Also: CloudFone Next Infinity PRO; 5.7-inch Infinite Vision Display, Octa Core, Dual Front Cameras


CONNECTIVITY:

The Excite Prime 2 is a dual-SIM device that supports LTE connectivity and dual standby. During our tests, it has a good signal reception for SMS and calls. It also has the 700MHz frequency, so, we’re not surprised that it has good LTE connectivity, even indoors. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS also work well.


BATTERY:


Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 PC Mark Battery Test
Battery Test

The Excite Prime 2 is powered by 3,000mAh battery. When we ran it on PCMark, it scored 4 hours and 22 minutes. As our primary phone, we noted that it could only accompany us for almost five hours of continuous usage. But on days when we’re not using the phone, battery still drops even when idle. However, when we did our video loop test, the device lasted for almost eight hours.


CONCLUSION:

No doubt, Cloudfone is now a serious contender in this very competitive market. With the release of the Excite Prime 2, the brand just proved that a good design, great cameras, and decent performance could still come with a reasonable price tag. Priced at Php5,999, the Excite Prime 2 is highly recommended if you’re considering to buy a new smartphone.


Cloudfone Excite Prime 2 Specs:

  • Dual SIM, dual standby, supports LTE connectivity
  • 5.5-inch capacitive IPS OGS HD (1280x720) touchscreen display, Corning Gorilla Glass protection
  • Android 7.0 Nougat
  • 64-bit 1.3GHz quad core Cortex-A53 CPU, Mali-T720MP2 GPU, MediaTek MT6737 chipset
  • 3GB RAM
  • 32GB internal storage, expandable up via micro SD card, uses dedicated slot
  • 13MP f/2.0 Sony IMX135 auto focus main camera with LED flash
  • 8MP f/2.0 secondary camera with softlight LED flash, portrait mode
  • Multimedia player
  • 3.5mm audio jack
  • FM Radio
  • GPS with A-GPS
  • WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Bluetooth v4.2
  • Micro USB 2.0 with OTG function
  • Sensors: accelerometer, light, proximity, gyroscope
  • Battery: 3000mAh
  • Colors: black, gold, silver
  • Price: Php5,999

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