Cherry Mobile's Terrible Trio

The Cherry Mobile Flare

I have been pretty impressed with Cherry Mobile's current offerings. Something just wanting a functional smartphone has little reason to look beyond Cherry Mobile Terrible Trio: the Flare, the Flame and the Titan.

Price. What makes this three so "terrible" insofar as the competition is concerned is the price. The Flame will set you back just Php3,999, the Flame is priced substantially higher at Php6,299 which in turn gives you a larger higher resolution screen and the Titan, is priced just a bit higher, at Php6,499, gives users a low cost monster phone option.

Operating System. None of the three phones run the latest version of Android, which is Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Instead all three phones run Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. I have devices that run on Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean, and I really don't miss Jelly Bean when on a Ice Cream Sandwich. Jelly Bean's most innovative feature is Google Now, a voice assistant is not all that useful in the Philippines. Running on Ice Cream Sandwich does mean you can run all the apps on Google Play, which I think for most users is good enough. A note, Google Now can actually run on Ice Cream Sandwich, it is just that Google has restricted its use to Jelly Bean phones.

Performance. The Flare, Flame and Titan all run on lower cost dual core chipsets. The Flare and Flame run on Qualcomm chipsets. The Titan on a MediaTek chipset. Low cost, does not mean poor performance. The three phones can score upwards of 6,700 points on AnTuTu benchmarks. Basically, it means that they can blow away anything built in 2010 in terms of performance, and are faster than most 2011 models, except for the dual core flagship phones. With a one year warranty, they are a better deal than looking for a one year old or two year old phone on the second hand market. These three will wreck havoc on the second hand market, attracting all except for brand conscious buyers.

These phones are fast enough except for the hardcore gamer, who really wont be satisfied with any of the options under 20K. 

Size options. With three sizes with the Flare at 4-inches, the Flame at 4.5-inches and the Titan at 5-inches, you should find one that meets your needs.  Cherry Mobile has also equipped the units with batteries that should make up for the increased consumption with the larger displays. The Flare has a 1500 mAh battery, the Flame a larger 1800 mAh battery and the Titan comes with a 2350 mAh battery. 

What you don't get. What do you loose by getting a low cost smartphone these days. When I think about it, the biggest feature you loose is a good camera. Getting a smartphone with a good camera will cost you 15K, and getting one with a great camera, about 25K. You also won't get LTE connectivity, but really there are only three smartphones officially launched in the country which currently support LTE, and those start at 21K.

For me the biggest problem with these phones is trying to get my hands on a Titan. I have not even seen one despite numerous visits to Cherry Mobile stores. But that does mean they are selling pretty well.

Now this is not a paid post by Cherry Mobile. This is a small blog. I don't get demo phones from any manufacturer and I have no control over the advertisements you see on this blog, so that does not influence my writing. I have for been a fan of low cost technology. Basically, it means more Filipino's can have low cost access to communications and access to information. Having this brought to us by a Filipino company is a bonus, and evokes a certain sense of pride.