Meet the New Cherry Mobile Flare S6 Lineup
The Flare S5, for the better part of last year, conquered Cherry Mobile’s ad campaigns. The buzz about the Flare S5 family seemed endless, with an S5 variant for almost any need or function.
Upon first unboxing the device, I immediately noticed the smooth, shining finish on it that really made the product feel premium. The silver, textured look feels smooth on my hands, as if there was a clear plastic layer over the actual metal. Honestly, I feel that this is the best combo to go for when determining how a phone should feel in one’s hands, and what it should look like.
Upon unboxing the Cherry Mobile Flare S5, you will get:
- Cherry Mobile Flare S5 (1 pc)
- USB Charging Cable (1 pc)
- Travel Charger (1 pc)
- Earphones (1 pair)
- Flare S5 User Manual (1 pc)
- Cherry Fun Club Brochure (1 pc)
Side note: I admired the efficient packaging of the Flare S5. No space or material is wasted, as evidenced by the compact nature of the box. Cherry Mobile also made the right call, using gray and a dull red as the primary colors. It added to the ‘serious’ feel of the product. No extra fluff or filler, just what the consumer needs.
The phone LOOKS and FEELS expensive. But we all know that it’s really not (in a good way). Physically speaking, the phone is a delight to look at. The finish of the back isn’t too shiny, nor is it too flat. Also, I liked the layer of clear, plastic-like material as it prevented the body from being dull.
As to the outer layout of the phone, the front features a bottom and top bezel, and on the bottom bezel you can find a physical home button and two other icons on the left on the right. Upon trying the phone out, the physical home button struck me as a bit too ‘squishy’. However, it seemed to be something you can get used to over time. At the top bezel, on the other hand, you can find the front camera. For the bottom of the phone, we’re looking at a charging port for USB-C, and the phone speakers.
If I had to give a negative, however, I’d say that the Cherry Mobile Flare S5 feels a lot thicker than smartphone models that have come out recently. At times, it did feel bulkier, especially if I tried actually comparing the device with thinner and sleeker devices. But this could easily fall into a matter of taste more than anything else.
On that note, I do like the design of the Flare S5’s phone speakers, which struck me as minimalist. There are five small dots on the left and the right side for the speakers, making it look neat and organized. My only complaint is that, like the Cosmos Three, it situates itself at the bottom of the device, which means that my palms would sometimes block the speakers accidentally, muffling the sound. Suffice to say, it might not be the most ergonomic positioning.
Speaking of the speaker, the audio seemed fine, with no major problems arising during my use. I never noticed any anomalies during normal phone calls, and the people I conversed with did not express any problems during the call.
The camera specs are fine, but it’s obvious that it isn’t the main selling point. For the back of the phone, we have the main camera and the flash to its left. In previous PinoyTechBlog articles, we’ve seen the rundown of the specs of the Flare S5, so that means for this unit, the main camera is 16-megapixels. Meanwhile the aforementioned front camera rests at 8-megapixels. Additionally, it has HDR and Panorama modes, but only 9 filters. While the specs mostly scream ‘standard’, at least it doesn’t lag behind the cameras of phones in a similar price range.
Cherry Mobile Flare s5 Sample Photos:
100% cropped
Everything looks great–provided the lighting isn’t low. The output photographs looked crisp and clear enough for my tastes, but only to a certain degree. That’s the caveat of the Flare S5 camera, and to be fair, with a lot of other cameras with similar features and capabilities: low-light takes away auto-focus and detail. So if you’re planning on doing night photography without any sort of flash, be warned. All in all, however, the camera works for me, as a casual user with no desire to use the S5 as a photography phone.
Good performance, considering the low price. In terms of performance, the Flare S5 definitely beats out older Cherry Mobile models. For example, the Cherry Mobile Zoom clocks in at 1.0 GHz (Quadcore). However, the Cherry Mobile Flare S5 trumps this with a 1.3 GHz Octa Core Mediatek 6753. Additionally, it also sports 3GB RAM, 16GB ROM, and rocks Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. But what does this exactly mean in terms of real performance?
The Flare S5 excels at multitasking, so much so that I could switch between apps almost flawlessly. Especially notable and impressiave was the fact that I’d forgotten that I left a few apps open, and when I checked the Flare S5 ran Dead Trigger 2 without lag while I had almost ten other apps open! Of course, the S5 presumably has a limit until it too has to give in to lag, but any casual user should be just fine without worrying about this.
Additionally, if you’re considering playing games extensively on the Flare S5, there shouldn’t be a problem. I enjoyed almost an hour of Dead Trigger 2 on the device without any lag whatsoever (compare to the Cosmos Three which did lag at some parts). If anything, that tells me that the Cherry Mobile Flare S5 remains reliable and viable as a smart device well into the beginning of 2017.
The Flare S5’s battery efficiency. For the battery, we’re looking at a 2,400 mAh, non-removable battery. This lasted me over 8 hours with the WiFi on, and over four hours when constantly watching videos. For a device that has a relatively smaller battery, the Flare S5 sure does know how to spend its power properly and sparingly. Color me impressed!
All things considered, I’d say the Cherry Mobile Flare S5 handily takes the crown from the S4. Everything about this phone cries out ‘expensive’ and ‘premium’, but the price tag could not be further from the truth. It truly sets the Cherry Mobile standard, and with an SRP of PHP 5,699, this is a bargain to be reckoned with.
+ High-quality outer shell
+ Decent specs considering price point
+ Relatively low SRP
+ Efficient multitasker
+ Decent cameras
– A little thicker than most phones
– Camera becomes an afterthought during low lighting situations
Cherry Mobile Flare s5 Specs
Operating System | Marshmallow 6.0 |
Display | 5-inch HD 720x1280 IPS Screen |
Processor | 1.3 GHz Octa Core Mediatek 6753 |
GPU | Mali T720 |
RAM | 3GB |
Storage | 16GB, microSD up to 64GB |
SIM | Dual Micro SIM |
Camera | Rear: 16MP BSI, Front: 8MP BSI |
Battery | 2400mAh Non Removable |
Sensor/Navigation | Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, G-Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor, GPS/AGPS |
Interface | USB Type C, 3.5mm Audio Jack |
Others | LTE 700 MHz Ready |
Price | Php 5,699 |