We go hands-on with the Flare Lite 2

MyPhone’s collaboration device with local telco Smart, the price-busting my28 is a rousing success – you can barely find any stock anywhere, and the devices that does hit stores are quickly snatched up by waiting throngs of people. That success has not gone unnoticed by their competitors, namely Cherry Mobile. The local company has managed to come out with a counteroffer that’s very hard to ignore, especially since it has the grunt of their own Cherry Prepaid mobile brand to power it.

Flare Lite 2 specs

• 1.2GHz quad-core Spreadtrum SC7731 processor
• 512MB of RAM
• 4-inch WVGA
• 4GB of storage, expandable via microSD
• 5-megapixel rear camera
• VGA front camera
• Dual SIM
• 3G
• WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS
• 1400mAh
• Android 4.4 KitKat

Today Cherry Prepaid has officially outed their 799 Flare Bundle that comes with a budget Android smartphone, along with loads of freebies that include free internet, free texts to all networks as well as free Facebook.

Packaging and contents

To communicate their new, price busting offering, Cherry Prepaid has clothed their Flare Lite 2 with a bright red sleeve bearing the photo of the device along with the freebies thrown in the package. Namely, you’re getting a free Cherry Prepaid SIM card, 50 texts to all networks, unlimited Facebook for 2 days, 120MB of data a month for 1 year and Php 10 of bonus load for 3 months.

Once you take the sleeve of the carton, you’ll see the self explanatory packaging of the Flare Lite 2. Once you open up the packaging, you’ll the device inside, along with a USB cable, USB charger, a pair of headphones, screen protector and documentation for the phone.

A Cherry Prepaid SIM is pre-installed in the phone, though the second SIM slot of the device is open, meaning you can put whatever SIM you want in there without any issues. Be warned though that removing the Cherry Prepaid SIM in the device voids the warranty of the device.

Initial Impressions: another excellent affordable Android phone under 800

If you’ve been wondering how MyPhone and Cherry Mobile are able to offer Android smartphones at prices under 1K, it’s simple – telco subsidies. Smart pays for a part of the cost for the my28 (which retails at a higher price without the bundle) in exchange for more subscribers to its network, which usually means higher penetration for its prepaid brand. That’s the same deal with the Flare Bundle, but the difference here is that Cherry Mobile owns both the device and telco of the equation, thanks to their Cherry Prepaid brand. As a consequence, Cherry Mobile can set a lower price for their Flare Lite 2.

The phone uses an all-plastic build, which is typical for devices at its price category. The Flare Lite 2 has prominent curves on the corners and use a sturdy plastic frame that’s a little raised from the rest of the body. The phone uses capacitive physical buttons on the front for navigation, and the volume rocker and power button are located on the right side. The 3.5mm jack and the USB port are located on the top of the device.

Once you turn the phone over, you’ll see black plastic cover, along with the 5-megapixel rear camera and LED flash. The speaker grille is located on the bottom of the device. As soon as you remove the back cover, you’ll see the 1400mAh battery, along with the two SIM slots and microSD slot.

Like we said earlier, the first SIM slot is locked to Cherry Prepaid and the second SIM can be used with any telco. We’re sure once you remove the sticker and the Cherry Prepaid SIM you’ll find that the first SIM slot is unlocked, though doing so will void your warranty.

The 4-inch display sports a FWVGA resolution, and is a TN panel. Viewing angles are predictably so-so, which is to be expected for a phone of its price range.

The Flare Lite 2 uses a Spreadtrum SC7731 quad-core processor paired with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. The processor is good enough for light use (and for Clash of Clans) – you should probably avoid any graphically intensive games with the Flare Lite 2. For normal use (and for the first time Android user) the performance of the Flare Lite 2 is good enough.

That’s it for our hands-on and unboxing of the Flare Lite 2. This phone is available to buy NOW at all Cherry Mobile retail stores as well as Globe stores nationwide for just Php 799.