Cherry Mobile Alpha Luxe Review: Stylish, Affordable Windows Phone 8.1

Cherry Mobile Alpha Luxe Review: Stylish, Affordable Windows Phone 8.1

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We review the Cherry Mobile Alpha Luxe!

While most of the people at Unbox are Android stalwarts, we’re not going to deny that Windows Phone has its charms. Ever since its inception, Microsoft has managed to show everyone that it’s not all about bleeding edge hardware that makes the experience, it’s how you integrate both software and hardware. One of the things we’ve always admired with Microsoft’s mobile OS is how well it performs even with mid- to low-end hardware, which is essentially a majority of the specs of the devices of local brands.

So it’s not surprising that Windows has finally teamed up with Cherry Mobile to deliver affordable Windows Phone 8.1 devices to the masess with their Alpha Luxe and Alpha Style. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the former. Let’s dive in.

Cherry Mobile Alpha Luxe specs

  • 1.2GHz quad-core processor
  • 1GB of RAM
  • 5-inch IPS HD display, Dragontrail Glass
  • 8GB of storage, expandable via microSD
  • 8-megapixel rear camera
  • 2-megapixel front camera
  • WiFi, Bluetooth
  • Dual-SIM
  • Windows Phone 8.1
  • 2000mAh battery
  • Php 4,999

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An Omega Icon in new clothing

When we first saw the Alpha Luxe during Cherry Mobile’s WOW event, we had this unshakable feeling of deja vu. After a quick chat with Cherry’s execs, we confirmed our initial suspicions that the Alpha Luxe is actually a modified Omega Icon. That’s not a bad thing – the Omega Icon was a pretty solid Android smartphone, so we were expecting much along the same lines with the Alpha Luxe.

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Of course, it’s not an identical clone – the faux leather back has been replaced with a gloss black one that’s overlayed with a circular pattern, and the
capacitive Android navigation keys have been replaced by Windows Phone analogues.

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The build quality is solid, much like the Omega Icon, so no surprises there. A band of silver plastic surrounds the device. Both 3.5mm jack and USB port are located on the top. The volume rocker is located on the left while the power button is located on the right.

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Winning at Windows

Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS has come a long way. Right now the OS is mature enough to actually stand on its own against the onslaught of iOS and Android. Normally reviewing Windows Phone devices is a pain for someone who is entirely dependent on Google’s services, but it seems that Microsoft has stopped being stubborn and actually embraced the fact that some people will actually want to still use some of their data on their Google accounts with their Windows devices. You’re now able to sync your Google contacts to your Windows phonem as well as link your Gmail to the device if you’re not too keen on Outlook. Of course, Microsoft still wants you to use Bing as your browser, as well as OneDrive for storage, so if you’re the sort of person that has a lot of stuff invested on Chrome and Google Drive, you might be out of luck.

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Solid hardware makes short work tasks and apps

It’s not surprising that the AlPha Luxe is capable of plowing through both Windows Phone and the associated apps it carries without any issues. This isn’t surprising, of course – the Omega Icon, which basically sport the same Qualcomm Snapdragon processor fared extremely well in our review. Games like Gameloft’s recently released Asphalt Overdrive ran well on the Alpha Luxe, with little to no stuttering. The device also ran Windows Phone 8.1 like a champ, and we didn’t feel any lag whatsoever as we were navigating through the phone’s Metro interface.

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Good camera

The Alpha Luxe has a remarkably good camera, capable of producing plenty of detail. We noticed that the camera performance of the Alpha Luxe is above that of the Omega Icon, which can probably be explained by the native 8-megapixel camera of the Alpha Luxe compared to the interpolated 13-megapixel one in the Omega Icon. More megapixels isn’t always the answer, especially if you’re getting the additional pixels via interpolation.

Even better battery life compared to the Android version

Another nice thing about Windows Phone OS is that it’s extremely well optimized, and give better battery efficiency compared to Android. We clocked in an impressive 11 1/2 hours of battery life with moderate to heavy use, which speaks volumes of how frugal Windows Phone is when it comes to draining your phone’s juice.

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Verdict: an excellent phone to dip your toes into Windows Phone

If you’ve been curious about the Windows Phone OS but have been hesistant to drop money on more expensive Nokia Lumias (which have been your only realistic option before the Alpha series came out) then the Alpha Luxe is for you. While Windows Phone OS doesn’t have the same amount of apps as Android at this point, and you’re basically roped into Microsoft’s services instead of Google’s, there’s definitely plenty of value here. The Alpha Luxe is a breath of fresh air from Cherry’s back-to-back Android releases, and who knows – you just might like how Microsoft does things.

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