As the Android One program lands in Philippine shores. Cherry Mobile and MyPhone were the 1st manufacturers to provide devices under this program. Recently, Cherry Mobile just sent us their Android One device and is now our current mobile phone in use, check out our initial impressions of the Cherry Mobile One.
Cherry Mobile One
- 4.5” FWVGA display
- Cortex A7 1.3 GHz Quad-Core processor
- 1GB RAM
- 8GB storage (expandable up to 32GB)
- 2x micro SIM
- Front and rear facing cameras (2MP and 5MP)
- Rechargeable lithium-ion, 1700mAh
- Android™ Lollipop (and gets the new version soon after it’s released)
- SRP Php3,990 (Now available at Smart / Sun Postpaid Plans)
Out of the box gives you standard packaging of the unit, charger, manual and earphones. No screen protector, casing or any usual CM accessories this time around.
The back cover is a metalic gray color with a simple branding of Cherry mobile and Android One. The cover is made of standard plastic and covers extending to the sides of the phone, this results to a overall better grip of the phone. At only 4.5 inches, you’ll have no problem at all using this with regards to hand comfort.
The speaker and labeling of Android One is located near the bottom-back end of the phone. The Micro USB port is located at the bottom of the phone; opposite it is the 3.5mm audio jack. The speakers produces sound which are clear with bass that are just right and does not drown the music that you are playing.
The volume rocker and power button are both located at the right side of the phone.
The software is what stands-out for this phone. Equipped with stock Android Lollipop 5.0, the CM one showcases a sleek user interface without any lag or delays. We welcome the new stock user interface of Android which decreases the use of icons and adding more shortcuts to access more apps in less time; which is fairly convenient for on-the-go person.
The drop down notification / menu is also revamped with better access to features like flashlight, hotspot. Airplane mode is a thing we really don’t use often, hopefully the placement can be changed as we would better welcome the hotspot option on the top row.
The display isn’t something remarkable, but given the 4.5″ screen size and FWVGA resolution. It is enough to deliver adequate viewing angles and good colors. Performance isn’t much of an issue as we rarely get any lag juggling multiple social media platforms. Another good this is the included Asahi glass protection, its also has an oleophobic (water / smudge resistant) which makes the screen easier touch and slide, plus less fingerprints for the more OC user.
Despite being on Android Lollipop, we found a small bug in the camera. Taking shots, even regular shots have a 2 second lag that gets very annoying if you love taking photos with your mobile phone. Despite restoring default factory settings or recalibrating some settings, it is still a prevalent problem for this phone. Hopefully this can be addressed with a software update soon.
Here are some camera shot samples
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Camera shots are good (not great) given that there is ample lighting available in the area. The autofocus works well and there are other options as well including HDR which we liked tinkering with.
Lastly, the battery comes a bit short despite being on a 1780mAh. At the most, we can only stay up to 12 hours on normal usage (Social Media, Camera and Checking emails at Mobile Data) on 0% brightness and 50% sound levels.
Right now, we’re still using our Cherry Mobile One to give you a 30 day for a more comprehensive impression of this Google project. So stay tuned around last week of March for our full review of the Cherry Mobile One. In the meantime, you can now purchase the CM One for Php3,999 at Cherry Mobile stores nationwide.
