We Unbox the Cherry Mobile Flare 3!

Cherry Mobile managed to change the game again when they officially unveiled the Flare 3 a few weeks back. Judging by the traffic that the initial announcement and hands-on have generated, a lot of you want to know more about CM’s latest, most affordable quad-core smartphone. Today the company officially dropped off our review unit, so we’re kicking off our Flare 3 review cycle with the unboxing!

Cherry Mobile Flare 3 specs

• 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MTK 6582 processor
• Mali-400MP GPU
• 1GB of RAM
• 5-inch qHD IPS OGS scratch resistant display
• 8GB of storage, expandable via microSD up to 64GB
• 8-megapixel BSI rear camera
• 3-megapixel front camera
• WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, A-GPS
• Dual-SIM
• HSPA+
• 1980mAh battery
• Android 4.4 KitKat
• Php 3,999

Packaging and contents

The Flare 3 comes in Cherry Mobile’s typical box for its more affordable products. You’re not going to see fancy carton sleeves and die-cuts here – the Flare 3 comes in a simple, spartan box that has the picture of the device in front.

Open the box, and you’ll find the device inside, along with the basic accessories that always seem to grace Cherry Mobile’s smartphones, which include a charger, USB cable, earphones and a user manual.

Initial Impressions: It may be one of the cheapest quad-cores in the market, but it sure doesn’t feel that way

One of the reasons why the Flare 3 has generated so much buzz online is its price. At just Php 3,999, it’s one of the most affordable smartphones out in the market today, and the most feature packed. The Flare 3 has a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MTK 6582 processor paired with 1GB of RAM, 5-inch qHD IPS OGS display and KitKat right out of the box. Even if Cherry Mobile priced this baby at Php 4,999, it would probably still fly off the shelves, but the company decided to price it at a jaw dropping Php 3,999, which is unheard of.

You’d assume that the Flare 3 would be cheaply made to compensate for the sulit specs, but you’d be wrong. The Flare 3 feels solid, and build quality is actually pretty good considering what you’re getting. The design isn’t going to win them any awards, but it’s good enough regardless. Both the power button and volume rocker are located on the right, while the 3.5mm jack and USB port are located on the top and bottom, respectively.

The Flare 3 uses a 5-inch OGS display with qHD resolution, protected with scratch resistant glass. The display is surprisingly clear and bright, and produces excellent contrast.

The Flare 3 comes packing MediaTek’s MTK 6582 processor, which produces more than enough power to get the job done, as far as casual gaming in concerned. This, combined with the Flare 3’s rather sedate qHD resolution and Android KitKat meant that navigation and transitions on the Flare 3 are buttery smooth.

That’s it for this unboxing. We’ll be putting this one in the priority bin of the review cycle so we can tell you if Cherry Mobile’s most affordable and jam-packed Android quad-core phone is worth the money.