We unbox the Flare S3 Power!

Octa-core phones have never been as affordable as they are now. Peaking at 15K last year, there are now octa-core smartphones that are priced less than 5K by multiple brands, both local and international. But as affordable and powerful the current batch of octa-core phones are now, the biggest issue with them is battery life – octa-core processors (especially the first generation MediaTek ones) aren’t very power efficient, which forces many users to buy extra batteries or get a powerbank. Cherry Mobile’s newly released Flare S3 Power aims to change that, by giving users a powerful phone that has a massive 4000mAh battery without breaking the bank.

Cherry Mobile Flare S3 Power specs

• MediaTek MT6592 1.4GHz octa-core processor
• 1GB of RAM
• 5-inch HD display, 1280 x 720 resolution
• 8GB of storage, expandable via microSD
• 13-megapixel rear camera with AF and flash, Sony sensor
• 5-megapixel front camera
• Dual-SIM
• 3G
• WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS
• 4000mAh battery (non-removable)
• Android 4.4 KitKat

Packaging and contents

The Flare S3 Power comes in a nice, slightly orange-y box that has the photo of the actual phone on the front, along with its 4000mAh battery rating. The back of the box lists the specs of the Flare S3 Power, which shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point.

There are no surprises inside the box – you get the phone, USB cable, charger, headphones and a screen protector. The charger is a bit bigger than what we’re normally used to, and we’re not sure if its different from the other chargers that Cherry Mobile includes in their other phones. We’ve asked the company to clarify if it’s a quick charger and we’ll update this post once we find out.

Initial impressions: pretty sleek and thin for a phone that has 4000mAh of juice

One thing that surprised us with the Flare S3 Power is how thin it is. While it’s definitely no OPPO R5, it’s still pretty sexy, which is not what you’d expect from a phone that has a 4000mAh battery rating.

Overall the styling of the Flare S3 Power is good, and the phone tries to add a bit of panache to its design by putting a mettalic gold trim on the frame. The back of the phone uses a flat black matte cover that’s slightly rubberized, which makes the phone a pleasure to hold in the hands.

As far as physical layouts go, the Flare S3 Power follows the script of most 5-inch smartphones – power button in on the left, volume rocker is on the right, while both the USB port and the 3.5mm jack is located on top of the phone.

The Flare S3 Power’s back cover is removable, though the battery isn’t user serviceable. The phone is dual SIM and the 8GB of on-board storage can be further expanded via microSD card if you wish.

The display isn’t too bad at all. Considering that Cherry Mobile’s previous 4000mAh octa-core phone, the Fuze S, had a FWVGA display, the Flare S3 Power’s 5-inch HD display is a big upgrade for almost the same money.

As far as performance goes, the Flare S3 Power uses MediaTek’s venerable 6592 octa-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz paired with 1GB RAM. We’ve seen this processor and RAM combination before, and the Flare S3 Power’s Synthetic benchmark scores don’t surprise us at all. Expect the Flare S3 Power to make short work of most apps and games, save the really graphically intensive ones.

The real test of the Flare S3 Power is how long the battery will last. We’re expecting the phone to easily surpass the 2 day mark and even make it to three days thanks to the lower clocked processor and the HD display.

That’s it for this unboxing. Check back with us next week as we take this bad boy out for a spin.