We go hands-on with CloudFone’s Thrill Plus

Alongside the Thrill Access, CloudFone also showed us another upcoming budget device: The Thrill Plus. The Thrill Plus is pegged as a multimedia device thanks to its front-facing speakers and clearer than usual display, and should have a budget price tag attached to it just like the Thrill Plus. Before we begin, let’s take a look at its specs:

CloudFone Thrill Plus

• 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6580 processor
• 2GB of RAM
• 5.5-inch HD IPS OGS display, 1280 x 720 resolution
• 16GB of internal storage, expandable via microSD
• 8-megapixel Omnivision rear camera, F/2.0 aperture, AF, flash
• 5-megapixel wide angle front camera with LED flash
• Dual SIM
• 3G
• WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
• Android 6.0 Marshmallow
• 2,500mAh battery

Initial impressions: dual firing front speakers make it perfect for multimedia

The Thrill Plus is aimed squarely at people who like consuming multimedia content on the go, so CloudFone has packed it with hardware for those kind of people. The most obvious of those features is the dual-speaker setup on the front of the phone. This allows the device to really project a good amount of volume towards the user, which is a good thing when you’re trying to sell an idea of a multimedia phone.

Just like CloudFone’s other devices, the Thrill Plus gets a metal treatment, but instead of a shell that’s entirely made out of metal, only the back of the removable shell is metallic. The frame is plastic, unfortunately, but it’s treated evenly with the final color that it’s hard to tell the material difference until you take the cover off.

Once you get the cover off, you’ll see the removable 2,500mAh battery as well as the dual SIM and microSD slot. There’s a 8-megapixel rear camera on the back (Omnivision sensor) with a F/2.0 aperture, as well as AF and LED flash.

Going back to the front of the phone, you’ll see the 5-megapixel front facing camera with LED flash, as well as the 5.5-inch OGS HD IPS display made by Sharp. We’re a little bummed out that the phone only has HD resolution considering its positioning as an entertainment device, but we’ll let it slide, especially since the phone is supposed to be a budget offering.

The sound quality of the two speakers is pretty good, and should allow users to comfortably watch their movies, videos and YouTube clips. No dedicated HiFi chip here, but the phone does have Dolby Audio software that at least tries to emulate 3D audio though obviously the results aren’t ideal considering the size of the speakers.

Inside the phone beats MediaTek’s quad-core MT6580 processor paired with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. The phone is 3G only since the chipset does not support LTE (not now at least) though it is armed with Android Marshmallow out of the gate. Just like the Thrill Access, the Thrill Plus won’t get the stock Android experience, as it doesn’t have an app drawer.

That’s pretty much it for this hands-on. The Thrill Plus doesn’t have a price as of yet as it’s slated for release later this quarter, though CloudFone assures us that the phone will be pretty affordable, all things considering.