Cherry Mobile Flare 3 Announced, Unboxing and Hands-On Impressions

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10 months after the resounding  success of its predecessor, Cherry Mobile launched the 3rd iteration of Flare in celebration of their 5th anniversary at the #3Peat media event at Bayview Salon, Hyatt Regency Hotel and Casino. Coming from its “quad-core ng bayan” monicker, the new Flare now bears a new title, “phablet ng bayan”.

Experience Power at a Budget

Flare 3 sports a shiny plastic casing with 5-inch qHD IPS OGS display and scratch resistant screen. The screen is a bit larger than its predecessor – 960 x 540 vs Flare 2.0’s 800 x 480 resolution. I would have preferred it to have a much better resolution but what the hell – it only costs PhP4,000 and performs just right.

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The screen’s multitouch capability has also improved to 5 vs Flare 2.0’s 3 multitouch points.

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Obviously, viewing angle is impressive thanks to its one-glass solution screen setup and very bright LCD. This is by far the best screen I’ve seen for a phone priced this much.

Perhaps, Flare 3’s asset isn’t just its impressive screen quality. We’ve got to count in what’s under its plastic case! The new flare is now powered by a Mediatek 6582 quad-core processor. It has 1gb RAM, a tad higher than last year’s Flare with 8gb internal storage. Usable memory from fresh boot with very minimal bloatware is around 600mb, and storage internal storage is around 5 – 6gb.

With MT6582 as its SoC, with Mali 400-MP2 as GPU, Flare 3.0 performed really well on games. Playing Riptide GP2 is almost lag free, with acceptable graphics rendering. Its Antutu Benchmark below clearly shows how powerful and capable this phone is.

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Flare 3.0 also has an 8 megapixel main camera (with LED and Autofocus) and a 3 megapixel front facing camera. I still have yet to test it fully to give you a more definitive review. Take a look at 2 photos I took below.

Kitkat Flavored Flare

Flare 3.0’s OS is stock Android Kitkat, with no lockscreen replacement installed. It performs and feels like a vanilla Android, and that’s something that I’m really happy about.

There are bloatwares though like its recently announced Pinoy App Shop, which features homegrown applications and games. Consider it local developers’ market to offer their applications and games.

Apart from Pinoy App Shop, other pre-installed Cherry Mobile proprietary apps include Cherry Fun Club, Cherry Play and SIM toolkit.

Cherry Mobile Flare 3 Specifications

  • 5-inch qHD IPS OGS Display
  • 1.3GHz MT6582 Quad-Core Processor
  • 8GB Internal Storage w/ MicroSD card slot
  • 1GB RAM
  • 8 Megapixel Rear Camera with LED Flash
  • 3 Megapixel Front Camera
  • HSPA+
  • Dual SIM
  • Android 4.4 Kitkat
  • 1980mAh
  • P3,999

To complement the launch of their newest phone, Cherry Mobile also introduced its anniversary promo that includes four other best selling phones coupled with irresistible discounts. Joining the Flare 3, priced at 3,999, in the Awesome 5 ng Bayan group will be the Fusion Aura at 1,999; Ruby at 2,499; Life 2.0 at 2,999; and Omega Icon at 4,999.

Now Taking Your Questions (Iterative updating)

Cherry Mobile Flare 3

Here are answers to questions we’ve gather from our Facebook page. Thank you to all those who asked valid questions.

  • [From Wilson Aguila] Antutu Score po? 17, 539 on Antutu
  • [From Albert Discaya] uhm eto ba or zenfone 5? If your budget is more than 8k, get Zenfone 5. There is no contest as Flare 3 is intended for those who have lower budget.
  • [From Frodito Blas] san pong store available si Flare 3 ? Flare 3 Day will be available on Saturday, August 2.
  • [From Psyruz Heyz] standby time, talking time? We’ll be able to answer this soon on our review.
  • [From Ryan Marinay Dejarme] Front flash? None
  • [From April Millena] Ano b ang kaibahan ng flare3 sa flare dash? Flare 3 is faster, has bigger screen, better camera, larger ROM, but more expensive by PhP300.
  • [From Jayson Evangelista] Multitouch? Yes. 5 points.
  • [From Bhen Mendoza Cuerdo] OTG? Unfortunately not.
  • [From Mirasol Ghaladi] anong specs ng batt Sir? 1,980 mAh
  • [From Chad Alberio]
    • android version (4.4 or 4.4.2 or kung anu man) Android Kitkat 4.4.2
    • otg capable? No.
    • long lasting battery life? Can’t say yet. But it’s been on and fully charged since this morning. 5:30am to 10:53pm, at very usage with 35% available “juice”.
    • autofocus at malinaw ang rear camera ? Front cam malinaw din ba? With Autofocus. Camera is clear enough, but I’m a bit disappointed with my shots being grainy even I’m on a well lighted environment. It’s acceptable though. Take a sample photo above. Front camera is acceptable for a 3mp.
    • malaks ba yung flash? Malakas!
    • matte ba yung back cover nia? Glossy.
    • ppi ng screen? 220 ppi
    • interpolated cams? It looks like it doesn’t because I don’t see any traces of software interpolation.

 

Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.

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