Cherry Mobile Flare 5 Hands-on, First Impressions

Cherry Mobile has just launched 6 new handsets under their Flare line-up and the cheapest among the bunch is the successor to the last year’s Flare 4. Here’s our first look with the Cherry Moble Flare 5.

The Flare S5 is a 5-inch Android smartphone rocking a HD AMOLED panel. It’s one of the cheapest handsets you can avail with the said display tech. Along with the display is the 8-megapixel front camera plus its own LED flash.

On its right are the volume rocker and the power lock button. There’s also a slide key that you can program its function in the settings panel. While the left is voided of any buttons or ports.

The top side houses the micro-USB port and 3.5mm headphone jack. That leaves the bottom end with just the main microphone.

The back panel is a glossy polycarbonate that produces a striking effect when light hits it. It’s similar to the Zenfone line from ASUS. It’s removable to access the card slots but the battery is intact. The main camera is a 13MP BSI sensor with phase-detection autofocus and a single LED flash.  The loudspeaker is also placed at the back.

From a design standpoint, the Flare 5 sports an understated look that makes it seem a more premium device. Although, the lack of cold metal leaves an unsatisfying feel on hand. It’s also extremely light on hand.

The phone is powered by an octa-core processor namely the MediaTek 6753 clocked at 1.3GHz. There’s 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. A dedicated microSD card slot is available with support for up 64GB. It’s worth pointing out that it supports the new 700MHz band that local telcos are currently rolling out.

Cherry Mobile Flare 5 specs:
5-inch HD AMOLED display
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
1.3 GHz Mediatek 6753 octa-core processor
Mali T720 GPU
3GB RAM
16GB internal storage
Expandable via microSD, up to 64GB
16-megapixel BSI PDAF rear camera w/ LED flash
8-megapixel front camera w/ LED flash
Dual SIM
4G LTE (700MHz ready)
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
GPS w/ A-GPS
Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, G-sensor
2500mAh non-removable
Android 6.0 Marshmallow

The Flare 5 will retail for Php5,499USD 94INR 7,944EUR 89CNY 682. We’ll be working on a full review to give you more details and to see if the Flare 5 is a worthy daily driver.