Cherry Mobile Cosmos One Plus Hands-On First Impressions

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[su_dropcap style=”flat” size=”4″]S[/su_dropcap]hortly after the successful launch of Selfie and G2 last December, Cherry Mobile shocked us with a new flagship model that’s worthy of praise – the Cherry Mobile Cosmos One Plus.

[alert variation=”alert-info”]Read our Cosmos One Plus news here.[/alert]

Cosmos One Plus, hereby referred to as C1+, bears a lot of resemblance from last year’s Cosmos One but with a bigger build and monstrous specs. While I find ‘monstrous specs’ as an understatement, it’s always best to subject it to initial and rigorous test. This time, allow me to give you my initial impressions, which can hopefully give you an idea whether this smartphone has all the right to be your next device or not.

Unboxing

[alert variation=”alert-info”]Look at our unboxing photos here.[/alert]

C1+ is placed in a premium black box with gold plated brand marks and prints. It clearly sent me a message that there’s a bad-ass inside. The box includes all the usual stuff you can find inside Cherry Mobile’s retail boxes except for the free Smart Cover.

Let me give you a quick tour of the smartphone:

C1+ features a 5.5″ LTPS Corning Gorilla Glass 2 screen with 1920 x 1080 resolution screen. It’s screen to front-plate ratio is insane and has ultra thin bezels. If you’re really intro consuming media contents and playing games, this simply the best that Cherry Mobile can offer. More on its performance later.

The Cosmos One Plus.

The Cosmos One Plus.

Just above its screen are the earpiece, notification light, light and proximity sensors and its 8mp camera. Below its screen are the Menu, Home and Back keys with the following functions:

  • Menu Key – Quick access to wallpapers, widgets and system settings
  • Home Key – Returns to the main screen in one touch; Tap and hold to view recently browsed/accessed/used applications
  • Back Key – Makes the screen go back one level

Volume rockers may be found on its left side while its sleep/wake button and dedicated camera button are located on the right. Yes, there’s a dedicated camera button, and it’s something that shutterbugs would definitely love to use.

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The device has 2 microphones – one located on top of the phone almost near the 3.5mm headphone jack while the other one is located at the bottom beside the microUSB port.

You can find the speakers at the back and its 14mp camera with LED flash.  C1+ also has an NFC chip located underneath the back panel. While it isn’t mentioned in the specs, C1+ also features HotKnot technology, which is similar to NFC but a proprietary of Goodix and Mediatek. It does not require any NFC – although the C1+ has one – but approximates the functions of NFC technology.

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[blockquote right=”pull-right” cite=”Digitimes”]The technology, which transmits data through projected capacitive touch panels, was actually developed by China-based touchscreen IC designer Goodix, in which MediaTek holds a major stake.[/blockquote]

It’s plastic all over except for its alkali-aluminosilicate sheet toughened glass screen. Its back panel is plastic with a texture and feel akin to the previous Cosmos One.

It’s also a bit thick, so if you’re into thin devices, this could be an issue. Below is a photo of C1+ compared to the iPhone 6 Plus, which has the same screen size for comparison purposes.

Cosmos One Plus v iPhone 6 Plus

Monster Hardware Specs

This is undeniably the most powerful smartphone that Cherry Mobile launched. With a processor clocked at 2.0Ghz and 3GB RAM, Cosmos One Plus is simply the best in a lot of fields – gaming, productivity and media consumption.

I downloaded Real Racing 3 and it opened without any issues and lags. Navigating through its UI was a breeze, and playing through was smooth. In so far as gaming is concerned, I can initially report that the Cosmos One Plus is capable of getting into beast mode. [INSERT TITO COSEJO’S FACE HERE]

I was also able to play Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic with minimal frame rate issues.

Screenshot_2015-01-16-15-46-27

Cosmos One Plus’ score on Antutu is 45,782.

Cosmos One Plus Benchmark

Software

C1+ is pre-installed with Android Kitkat 4.4.2, and upgradeable to Android Lollipop. Cherry Mobile didn’t mention about the schedule of the Lollipop OTA, but it’s something that I really look forward to.

Cosmos One Plus Lollipop

Cosmos One Plus will soon be upgradeable to Lollipop soon.

Cherry Mobile implement minimal skinning on its UI. Icons are not stock Android, and there are additional bells and wishes tucked into its settings like:

  • Hotknot
  • Gesture Sensing
  • Smart Wake, which allows you to do several screen gestures to wake the screen, unlock or even open applications while the screen is shut off. For instance, you can simply draw ‘C’ on its screen to awake the phone and open the Camera application

C1+ is also pre-installed with applications:

  • 100% Games! by Gameloft
  • BLE Manager
  • Cherry Fun Club
  • Cherry Play
  • eWarranty
  • NFCTagMaster
  • Pinoy App Shop
  • TouchPal X, and;
  • Wireless Update

Camera

Other than its monstrous processor and RAM, camera is one of C1+’s crowning glories. Armed with Sony’s new sensor, Sony IMX 214. It’s the same sensor that can be found in Nexus 6.

Cosmos One Plus’ camera is a mobile photographer’s bliss. It takes amazing photos with great detail and color precision. It also supports HDR video imaging at full resolution (30fps).

I believe that the best way to show how how great this camera is, take a look our sample photos below. For better loading, we compressed the images, but all uncompressed and untouched photos may be downloaded from this link.

What’s our initial verdict?

It’s less expensive than the recently announced Starmobile Knight X. It is decently priced vis a vis its monstrous specifications. It is battery user-replaceable. It also has the fastest octa-core processer released by a local company – 2.0Ghz Mediatek Octa-core processor. You can also take great photos with its 14mp Sony IMX 214 sensor. What more can we ask for?

While it’s too early to give verdict, we can initially say that this one’s truly a beast – specs-wise; and a worthy contender in the smartphone “arena”. There are tons of devices, even from international brands, that can go head to head with C1+. Let us fiddle with this device a little more time so we can further test it and give you an even more detailed field report.

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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