Cherry Mobile Flash First Impressions: A Budget Phone With A Good Camera?

Cherry Mobile Flash First Impressions: A Budget Phone With A Good Camera?

Cherry Mobile Flash 09

After a few months of scarce releases, Cherry Mobile is once again picking up steam. After a bevy of announcements that included their first ever MediaTek X20-powered smartphone, the local firm is releasing their newest budget device, the Flash. Priced at Php 5,999, the new phone packs a fingerprint scanner, Android Marshmallow and a higher than usual 16-megapixel rear camera. Is the Flash the budget cameraphone you’ve been waiting for?

Cherry Mobile Flash specs:

  • 1.3GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6753 processor
  • 2GB of RAM
  • 5.5-inch full HD display, 1920 x 1080 resolution
  • 16GB of expandable storage
  • 16-megapixel rear camera with LED flash
  • 8-megapixel front camera
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE
  • WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, Fingerprint scanner
  • 2800mAh battery
  • Android Marshmallow

Cherry Mobile Flash 10

Initial Impressions: budget phone with good camera and fingerprint sensor

Fingerprint sensors on budget devices is increasingly becoming the rule rather than the exception for budget devices. The Flash doesn’t buck this trend, sporting a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor akin the the one on the Flare Selfie. Aside from that, the Flash looks more or less like your typical budget Cherry Mobile offering – it’s made out of plastic, has black side bezels that surround the 5.5-inch full HD display, and features curves on the back to make it easier to hold on to it one handed.

Cherry Mobile Flash 11

There are a few differences on the Flash though to make it stand out over Cherry Mobile’s other offerings. The back, for example, features a criss-cross pattern that tries to simulate the texture of coarse fabric. The phone is also treated to a nice gold color that adds the illusion of premiumness to the phone, though once you pick up the phone there’s absolutely no question that it’s anything more than a budget device.

Cherry Mobile Flash 02

The power button and volume rocker is on the right while the USB port and 3.5mm jack is on the bottom and top, respectively. The phone uses a non-removable 2800mAh battery, so you’ll have to put your SIM and microSD card on the left side, via the hybrid SIM tray.

Cherry Mobile Flash 04

Flip the phone over and you’ll see the 16-megapixel rear camera with LED flash on the back, tucked in the upper left corner.

Cherry Mobile Flash 05

Just a few things about the camera – it’s a higher than usual resolution snapper compared to other devices in Cherry Mobile’s lineup, so we figured that’s where Cherry Mobile got the name of the phone. It has a single LED flash, and as far as we can tell it’s nothing special, since there isn’t any accompanying marketing material that gives us an idea of what the camera is capable of. Odder still, the camera app on the inside doesn’t have a manual mode, just the standard camera app that comes with Android Marshmallow. It’s a little odd, again considering the higher than normal resolution of the Flash compared to other budget phones by the brand.

Cherry Mobile Flash 06

The fingerprint scanner is quite good, and though it’s a little slow to unlock the phone from sleep more often than not it’ll unlock the phone without any issues.

Cherry Mobile Flash 08

As far as the display goes, it’s a perfectly okay full HD IPS display. There’s no indication that there’s Dragon Trail glass over it to protect it against scratches, though. The quality of the panel is good, with plentiful viewing angles and color reproduction.

Cherry Mobile Flash 07

Inside, the Flash has the familiar budget, LTE capable octa-core processor that powered a majority of Cherry Mobile’s phones last year – the MT6753. That’s paired with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage, as well as Android Marshmallow 6.0. That’s more than enough for everyday use and for light to moderate gaming, but people looking for more may not like the underpowered processor.

Cherry Mobile Flash 01

That’s pretty much it for this hands-on, we’ll be taking the phone for a spin in the coming days to see if the 16-megapixel camera is all that it’s cracked up to be.

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