At 3,999Php; Cherry Mobile adds a 5.5 inch mobile phone under their successful Flare banner with the Cherry Mobile Flare XL Plus. Running Android 5.1 Lollipop, the Cherry Mobile Flare XL Plus seems to be a decent contender for a primary 5.5 incher phone.
Display and Design
Equipped with at 5.5-inch HD IPS Screen Display, the Cherry Mobile Flare XL Plus has a large enough screen for multimedia junkies. The 8MP front camera with the front facing flash is located just on top of the screen while the three signature, non-lit, android buttons are located just below it.
Power button is located on the right hand side of the handset, perfect for thumb pressers, while the audio jack and USB port are both located on top of the phone. Again, a great placement from Cherry Mobile for commuters who are constantly using both the ports for extra charging through a powerbank and listening to music. Going towards the back of the phone, Cherry Mobile and Flare branding are printing on a matte/glossy plastic back cover. Above the brandings will be the 13MP rear camera and just below it will be the LED flash. Speakers are also found on the lower part of the back.
The entire phone is mostly made of plastic. The sides do have a chrome accent but still looks plasticky. With a 5.5 inch form factor, the Cherry Mobile Flare XL Plus is easy to handle with curved sides. Squarish big phones are harder to handle, but the Flare XL Plus learns from brands such as LG, or Samsung for a more comfortable handling.
The design, form factor and everything about the phone seems to be generic enough. Nothing special, and nothing stands out.
Audio and Multimedia
With the speaker grills located at the lower part of the back cover. There will be times (most of the time) that the audio will be covered by your hand when watching or playing something on landscape. If you have small hands, audio will still sucks. You will not enjoy the onboard audio, so if you are looking to have a great experience – just look to use the bundled headset. It works better than the speaker.
Video on the Cherry Mobile Flare XL Plus looks prestine. Again, like other Cherry Mobile mobile phones we have reviewed earlier – images looks a bit colder/bluey than what I am used to, but it does the job, at least it almost compensates the bad audio they have.
Camera and Sample Photos
With 13MP rear camera, the Cherry Mobile Flare XL Plus has a decent primary camera. Problem is the blue-y images it produces. Although crisp and accurate. I personally think that temperature is a bit low and could be improved.
Benchmark
Battery
A 2300mAH battery on a 5.5 HD IPS Screen Display? We expect Cherry Mobile XL Plus to be pretty bad at this level. Cherry Mobile has all the resources to step up their power supply game, but for their past few releases, they have not been able to address this problem.
On our normal day usage, the Cherry Mobile XL Plus with 3G on lasts for about 5 hours max. A bit weak for my liking. But what the hell, its a 3,999Php 5.5″ phone.
Specifications
- 5.5-inch HD IPS Screen Display
- 1.4GHz MediaTek MT6592M octa-core CPU
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB Internal Storage
- Expandable storage via microSD up to 64GB
- 13MP rear camera w/ LED flash
- 8MP front camera
- Dual-SIM, Dual-Standby
- 3G HSPA+
- WiFi b/g/n
- Bluetooth
- GPS
- Android 5.1 Lollipop
- 2,300mAh battery
Conclusion
The Cherry Mobile Flare XL Plus is a decent 5.5″ phone. Though not at par (not even close) with the bigger, faster and stronger 5.5″ flagship phones on the market, the Cherry Mobile Flare XL Plus is a good alternative for those looking for a budget alternative and a phone with enough screen for watching movies and series. But then again, the short battery life sucks so if you are planning to buy this handset, invest on a large powerbank to bring along with.
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