Cloudfone Excite 402D: Great for People On a Tight Budget

The Cloudfone Excite 402D is a pretty good challenger to the best-selling Cherry Mobile Flare. It sports almost similar specifications and is also priced at just Php3,999. We’ve been playing around with it for the last few days and we’d like to share with you guys our review. Before we get to that though let us just say that we’re still amazed at how affordable gadgets have become over the last two years. Definitely an awesome development since more and more Filipinos will be able to enjoy the features of smartphones, especially internet connectivity.

Anyway, here’s a quick refresher of the specs.

Cloudfone Excite 402D Spec Sheet

• 1.2GHz Dual Core Processor MSM8225A Chip Set
• Adreno 205
• 512MB RAM
• 4GB Internal Storage, Expandable up to 32GB via microSD Card
• 4.0-inch Display, 800×480 resolution (233 pixels per inch)
• 5.0-megapixel rear-facing camera
• VGA front-facing camera
• Dual Sim Dual Standby
• 3G, WiFi, WiFi Hotspot, GPS, Bluetooth
• Android Jelly Bean 4.1
• 1,500mAh Battery

With that out of the way let’s jump right into the full review!

>>> SEE ALSO: Cloudfone Excite 402D Unboxing

Solid and Sturdy Build

The Cloudfone Excite 402D has a rectangular body with a slightly curved back (like a pillow of sorts). Material used is mostly hard plastic with the matte finish at the back a magnet for fingerprints and smudges. At the front we have the 4.0-inch display while all the ports and controls are comfortably placed on the sides of the device.

Note that the 5.0-megapixel shooter at the back doesn’t have an LED flash.

When it comes to the display, the colors are sharp, vibrant, but a it can be a little too washed out if you turn up the brightness to max. Quality of the images, text, and photos are great though thanks to the 800×480 resolution (comes out to 233 pixels per inch).

Over-all when it comes to the build the Cloudfone Excite 402D is easy to hold, manage, use, and enjoy. Texting or navigating with one hand is definitely very doable with this kinda of form factor. The solid edges and body gives a very reassuring sense of durability also even if it is just priced at Php3,999.

Respectable Performance but needs more customizations

When it comes to performance we get a very respectable Android Jelly Bean experience with the Cloudfone Excite 402D. There are occasional lags and delays, especially in app transitions, but these are expected given the low price point. Beyond that you still get the full features of Android which includes access to the thousands of apps on the Google Play Store.

We did the usual Antutu Benchmark Score Test and this is the result we got:

Its score puts it on the same level as the Samsung Galaxy S and the Amazon Kindle Fire. Not a bad showing for a Php3,999 device. The score is also par with the Cherry Mobile Flare (around 5,600-5,700 on our tests). How does this number translate to real world usage?

Gaming won’t be problem unless you’re into graphics intensive titles. If ever you are, don’t worry because you can still play them BUT it will take a while for them to load and you might hit lag spikes especially when there is increased activity in the game. For example, when we were playing Dead Trigger we were only on the 7th mission when it started to noticeably slow down. It was playable but it wasn’t the smoothest game play we’ve had. For casual games though it played very nicely. We finished a lot of stages of Angry Birds Star Wars (we revisited it for the purpose of this review).

Of course there are other apps that you can enjoy that aren’t just games. More and more local companies are starting to put up their own apps like Sulit, ABS-CBN, TV5, BPI, and heck even IMMODIUM has a Toilet Tracker App (lol). This adds to the over-all value of the device. You can also get the free messaging apps like WeChat, Line, and Viber. Again all of these you can access with just Php3,999. Not bad value at all.

The Cloudfone Excite 402D doesn’t have a screaming quad-core processor but it still is quite able and competitive, thanks to the efforts of Google with Android and app developers. There used to be a time when cheap Androids were a pain in the ass to use. It’s really mind-blowing to see how much value smartphones worth Php3,999 offer these days.

Camera: Usual 5MP with No Flash

The 5MP rear-facing snapper of the Cloudfone Excite 402D is standard fare. It can capture good photos in good light but it will struggle the moment it gets overexposed (too much light) or when you have bad lighting conditions (too dark). You can take pics with it but you probably won’t print out those photos and hang ’em up on the wall because of the quality, hehe.

Battery Life: Get a Power Bank

If you are the type that always has 3G on and you’re going to use the Cloudfone Excite 402D, better get a Power Bank (aka Mobile Charger). The 1,500mAh is enough if you will sparingly use 3G but if you’re going to have it on all the time then you’ll be lucky to get more than 5 hours on a single charge. If you manage 3G connection though and use WiFi most of the time it can probably last much longer.

Verdict: It Can Get the Job Done

The Cloudfone Excite 402D, just like the Cherry Mobile Flare, offers amazing value for money. At just Php3,999 you get the full Android experience. It’s not the perfect and smoothest phone around but it can get the job done. Calls, texts, tweets, posts on Facebook, Instagram updates, web browsing, gaming, and so much more will work on this device.

If you’re on a tight budget and you need a smartphone, check this one out!

The Cloudfone Excite 402D is now available in stores for Php3,999.