Cherry Mobile Flare Selfie Review

Display and Multimedia

The screen up front is a 5-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels that gives a decent 294ppi. These numbers are common among similar devices in this range and we’re satisfied with it. Colors are pleasing with wide viewing angles. Blacks are average while the whites are a bit dull for our liking. We can say the overall display quality is good. Take note that multi-touch on the display maxes out at five fingers only.

The single speaker at the bottom can get the job done when listening indoors. It may not be at an optimal front placement, but it’s better than having a backfiring speaker.

OS, Apps, and UI

Running the show is Android 5.1 Lollipop and to our surprise, Cherry Mobile opted to use their own launcher called Cherry Launcher. Using the launcher will omit the familiar app tray, thus leaving only a single home screen layer similar to iOS. You have to arrange all your app icons together with your widget, which can be cumbersome at first. If you’re not into it, the good-old stock launcher is just tucked away in the Settings panel, or download a different launcher of your liking.

Aside from the launcher, everything is a familiar Android Lollipop interface. Google apps are pre-installed to get you kicking immediately and some privacy software, battery saver, and performance booster apps. I wouldn’t exactly call them bloatware but if you do not like them sad to say that they cannot be removed.

Camera

Both the rear and front camera of the Flare Selfie have a megapixel count of 16 megapixels and they have their own LED flash to help in low-light situations.

Cherry Mobile included two camera apps, Beauty Camera and Ucamera, aside from the standard camera launcher. The additional apps are selfie-centric and have beauty modes and filter effects like the popular Camera360.

The rear camera on the Flare Selfie performs well in daylight. It captures bright and detailed stills. Although, there are times that it’s just too bright or overexposed. Here are some samples:

The front camera is mixed bag. If you’re able to get a good focus on your face, you’ll get a sharp selfie. If not, things are mostly out of focus. Focus speed is the culprit here, so the best way to take a good selfie with this is to take time in taking the shot. Outdoor shots are acceptable while indoor lighting results a bit murky shot. The front flash doesn’t help either.

Videos are maxed at 1080p but the quality seems to just be at 720p. Like the stills, video recording with the rear camera has the same exposure problem. Captured audio is also not at par with good smartphone camcorders.

While the 16-megapixel count is impressive on paper, the performance of both shooters is not as good as we hope it would be. But having those numbers on a sub-8k device is not a bad trade-off.

Continued in next page: Performance and Benchmarks / Call Quality and Connectivity / Battery Life