Cherry Mobile teamed up with Heart Evangelista, one of the most prominent fashion artists in the Philippines. Through this partnership, the local tech brand launched its Love Marie Collection, which includes the Cherry Mobile Flare S8 Prime edition. However, on paper, the device simply sits between the Flare S8 Pro and Flare S8 Plus.
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| Cherry Mobile Flare S8 Prime (Love Marie Collection) Review: Fashion Meets Tech |
Aside from its artsy approach, what more it can offer to consumers? Let’s see!
PHYSICAL:
The Flare S8 Prime Love Marie Collection Edition comes with a unique, hip design. Unlike other smartphones available today, Cherry Mobile dumped the usual gradient colorway to settle for more. As mentioned before, the company has teamed up with Heart Evangelista to dress its phone with the icon’s paintings. Hence, the device will be available in Gaea and Rainbow Seas variants.
To say that it’s sophisticated is an understatement. Having this physique, Cherry Mobile was able to drop a jaw-dropping smartphone, which looks so premium than its actual price. At first glance, you won’t even think that the device is manufactured by the local brand.
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| Pop-up Camera |
Meanwhile, its front is dominated by a 6.53-inch Full Screen display, made possible by its pop-up front camera. With this, the device offers an immersive screen with thin bezels and a slightly thick chin. Its volume keys and power/lock button are placed on the right side, while its left cheek accommodates its SIM card tray.
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| Volume Keys and Power/Lock Button |
Its bottom part, on the other hand, houses its speaker grilles and USB-C port. Unfortunately, it has no 3.5mm audio jack.
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| Back |
On the flip side, you’d be greeted by its dual-rear camera, LED flash, and fingerprint scanner, which are all aligned vertically.
DISPLAY:
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| 6.53-inch Full Screen |
Moving on to its display, the Flare S8 Prime flaunts an immersive 6.53-inch IPS screen with an FHD+ 2340 x 1080 resolution, and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Having a full screen, the device is definitely good for watching videos and playing games. It can surely elevate your experience too, as it comes with good viewing angle, plus users can also adjust the video by pinching it in and out to fit its screen.
However, we felt like it lacks some colors, sharpness, and details. It’s still acceptable though.
SOFTWARE:
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| Running on Android 9 Pie OS |
The Flare S8 Prime runs on Android 9 Pie operating system. Since it has stock Android, its interface appears simpler than its rivals. Navigating the device is easy, too, although we’d like it better if we can also organize our apps in its app drawer.
For security purposes, the phone sports a fingerprint scanner located on its rear, which is responsive enough to unlock the device in just single tap.
Cherry Mobile loaded it with just 64GB storage. The phone also comes with numbers of pre-installed apps, including Google native apps, AppCoins BDS Wallet, Cherry Fun Club, and Chums Live. Good thing, users can expand it up to 128GB storage via microSD card. But by doing so, consumers need to give up their SIM 2 card slot.
PERFORMANCE:
The Flare S8 Prime is powered by a dated yet still capable Helio P23 octa-core processor, paired with Mali-G71 MP2 graphics. It boasts 4GB of RAM to handle mobile activities, too. Without having too much expectations, we still ran it on various benchmark apps to give us a preview about its performance.
Here are the results:
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| Benchmark Scores |
- AnTuTu - 112,392
- 3DMark - 11,968 (Ice Storm Unlimited)
- 3DMark - 775 (Sling Shot)
- Geekbench - 180 (Single Core)
- Geekbench - 900 (Multi Core)
- PCMark Work 2.0 Performance - 5,344
Tapped as our main driver, the Flare S8 Prime seemed to be a downgrade for us. Don’t get us wrong though, as it is packed with underwhelming offerings for people who are used to flagship smartphones. But to be fair, the device can still handle heavy mobile activities such as multitasking and gaming with just minimal lags.
On the other hand, switching from one app to another was still smooth, but it is not as fast as its rivals. Nevertheless, it can still give you decent performance – which will be enough for people who don’t usually use their phones intensively.
CAMERA:
Cherry Mobile equipped the Flare S8 Prime with dual rear cameras, consisting of a 16-megapixel main shooter and 5-megapixel secondary sensor. For selfies, it is geared with a 16-megapixel pop-up snapper. Its photography department comes with basic camera features including flash, FaceBeauty, and Portrait.
Sample Photos:
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| Outdoor |
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| Nature |
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| Food |
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| Night |
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| Selfie |
The Flare S8 Prime can take decent images in places with good lighting, but photos become too soft in low-light settings. There are visible noises, too. Meanwhile, taking selfies is pretty impressive as it can give you natural-looking images. However, just like its main camera, it also has poor low-light performance.
The device can give you social media-ready photos, so, if you’re looking for an affordable smartphone with great photography department, the Flare S8 Prime is one of the best options you can get.
See Also: Cherry Mobile Flare J3s, Omega Lite 3s Now Priced at only Php1,799!
CONNECTIVITY:
The Flare S8 Prime is a dual-SIM device that comes with basic connectivity features, including LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. We never had a problem sending and receiving SMS, as well as taking and making calls. Obviously, the phone has good signal reception.
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| USB-C Port |
The handset is equipped with an USB-C port, but it lacks a 3.5mm audio jack. This might be a turn off for people who still prefer using a wired earphone.
BATTERY:
Cherry Mobile packed the Flare S8 Prime with a 3,300mAh stamina, so, if you’re looking for a device that can last for a day, this phone might disappoint you. Our actual usage suggests that it can run up to 9 hours – which is still acceptable for its price.
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| PCMark Work 2.0 Battery Life Test |
Our mobile activities include basic communications, social media browsing, and casual gaming. Meanwhile, it got 9 hours and 54 minutes when we ran it on PCMark Work 2.0 battery life test.
VERDICT:
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| Cherry Mobile Flare S8 Prime |
The Cherry Mobile Flare S8 Prime is a chic smartphone that will unleash your inner fashionista. The device sports an impressive display, decent camera features, and good overall performance. It might not be the best phone you could score at its price point, but it can still satisfy your mobile needs.
Consumers can get the Flare S8 Prime for the price of Php7,999.
So, are you getting one? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!
Cherry Mobile Flare S8 Prime Specs:
- Dual Nano-SIM, dual standby, supports LTE connectivity
- 6.53-inch IPS FHD+ (2340 x 1080) Full Screen Display, 19.5:9 Aspect Ratio
- Dimensions: 163.2mm x 76mm x 9.8mm
- Weight: 189 grams
- Android 9 Pie
- 2.0GHz 64-bit octa-core CPU, ARM Mali-G71MP2 GPU, MediaTek MT6763T Helio P23 chipset
- 4GB RAM
- 64GB internal storage, expandable up to 128GB via MicroSD card, uses SIM 2 slot
- 16MP + 5MP dual rear cameras with LED flash
- 16MP pop-up front camera
- Multimedia Player
- FM Radio
- WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band
- Bluetooth v4.2
- GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
- USB Type-C, supports USB OTG
- Sensors: fingerprint, accelerometer, gyroscope, light, proximity, sound
- Battery: 3,300mAh non-removable
- Colors: blue, red, purple, black
- Price: Php7,999