We unbox the Cherry Mobile Flare J1 (2017)!

Today we’re taking a look at yet another Cherry Mobile smartphone, this time it’s the Flare J1 that has a supposedly durable display. Cherry Mobile told us earlier on that their Flare J1 would have a more durable display compared to what’s usually offered in the market, which is an almost unheard of feature especially at the price point that the phone plays in.

Is that display more than enough to offset the phone’s entry-level specs? Let’s take a look:

Cherry Mobile Flare J1 (2017)

• 1.2GHz Spreadtrum SC7731 quad-core processor
• Mali-400 MP2 GPU
• 1GB RAM
• 5-inch TFT display, 854 x 480 resolution
• 8GB internal storage, expandable via microSD
• 8-megapixel rear camera with AF, LED flash
• 5-megapixel front camera
• Dual SIM
• 3G, HSPA+
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
• 2300mAh removable battery
• Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Packaging and contents:

The Flare J1 comes in Cherry Mobile’s standard packaging – a carton box with the phone’s name and photo in the front for all to see.

Once you open the box, you’ll see all the stuff that comes standard with most budget phones today – a USB charger, USB cable, the phone’s battery, a pair of headphones and a quick-start guide to get you going.

Shatter-resistant display for the perennially clumsy

If a modern smartphone has any weakness, it’s gotta be the display. While your phone can probably survive a drop (or two) when its frame hits the floor, it only takes one well-placed spill to crack your phone’s LCD. When that happens, you’re usually faced with two options: living with a cracked screen until you upgrade to a newer phone or get the display replaced. Neither of the two are attractive choices.

It’s surprising then that a budget phone like the Flare J1 (2017) is advertised to have a durable LCD display, since Cherry Mobile’s more expensive phones don’t get the same durability claim when it comes to their panels.

Looking at the Flare J1 (2017)’s 5-inch TFT FWVGA display, there seems to be quite a bit of glass wedged on top of the display. It’s quite thicker than we’re used to seeing on other phones, and the glass surprisingly has curved sides similar to the ones on phones with 2.5D glass.

Once you get over that part though, the phone looks pretty much like your standard basic Android smartphone. It has a removable rear cover that has a faux leather finish that hides two SIM slots and a microSD slot, as well as the removable 2300mAh battery. The phone has an 8-megapixel rear camera with AF and LED flash.

Going ’round the phone, you’ll see the power and volume rocker on the right side, with the 3.5mm jack and USB port on the top of the phone. The speaker grille is located at the rear, beside the camera module. The phone has a gold-colored plastic frame to give it a bit of visual punch, but aside from that the phone looks and feels exactly like a budget device.

And the internals reflect the phone’s price tag – inside the phone runs a 1.2GHz Spreadtrum SC7731 quad-core processor paired with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. Android Marshmallow keeps everything running. The phone will be able to run basic Android apps well, but forget about doing serious gaming with it – the processor/GPU combo (it runs a Mali-400 MP2 GPU) simply isn’t up to the task of running demanding Android games.

As far as the durable display claims go, we whacked the Flare J1 (2017) against our wooden table a few times without it shattering on us, though only a more destructive test will show how far the durable LCD panel is capable of going before it breaks.

The Flare J1 (2017) is priced at Php Php 2,699.