Cherry Mobile Defender Hands-on, First Impressions

Cherry’s upcoming heavy-duty smartphone is finally on our hands. If you’re a fan of colossal handsets designed to be used for the great outdoors, you might want to check this out. Here’s our initial impression of the Cherry Mobile Defender.

If you’d see the Defender in personal, you’ll know who this phone is for. It’s built like a tank. Its outer shell is made out of matte rubbery polycarbonate with a touch of metal on the sides and a lot of screws. The IPS screen of the phone measures 4.7 inches diagonally with a 720p resolution resulting to a crisp 312ppi. The display is accompanied by three capacitive backlit buttons, 8MP front camera, and a couple of sensors.

Unlike standard phones, there are a number of buttons on this tough device. On its right are the usual power/lock button and volume rocker. On the left are additional three physical keys specifically for SOS, PTT (push-to-talk), and camera.

The open ports of the phone have protective flaps that can be opened with minimal effort. The 3.5mm audio jack is positioned on top beside an atmosphere pressure sensor while the micro-USB port for charging and wired connectivity is at the bottom. The ports are flushed into the body of the phone so not all cables can fit it properly.

The rear of the phone shows more of the rugged characteristic of the Defender. The back is secured by screws even for the slot for the SIM and microSD cards. No worries as a pair of screwdrivers are included in the retail package. The rear camera with its solitary LED flash is at the upper left corner while the loudspeaker is the opposite end. There’s an NFC chip in the middle for contactless pairing.

The construction quality of the phone is surprisingly satisfying on hands. While the heft is something you should shrug off with this kind of devices, the confidence of just using the phone carelessly is genuine. Mind you, though, the display is Gorilla Glass 3 scratch resistant and not shatter-proof.

The Defender is powered by the MediaTek Helio P10 chipset with ample 3GB of RAM. Storage is at 32GB and it’s expandable. A sizeable 4200mAh battery is encased in the phone’s thick body. And as a mid-range phone, it already has 4G LTE and runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.

Cherry Mobile Defender specs:
4.7-inch IPS LCD @ 1280 x 720 pixels, 312ppi
2.0GHz MediaTek Helio P10 octa-core CPU
Mali-T860 MP2 GPU
3GB RAM
32GB internal storage
Expandable via microSD, up to 32GB
18MP rear autofocus camera w/ LED flash
8MP front-facing camera
Dual-SIM
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth
GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS
IP68-certified
4200mAh battery w/ fast charging
Android 6.0 Marshmallow
152.3 x 81 x 16.6 mm
247 g

We’ll be taking the Defender through its paces to see how the phone actually performs in active use for our full review. The handset has an SRP of Php9,999USD 170INR 14,445EUR 162CNY 1,241 through Cherry Mobile stores nationwide.