Cherry Mobile Hands-On Review, Specs and Features

The Cosmos X2 is one of Cherry Mobile’s four latest phones. From the cosmos line-up, it’s the only phone that is wonderful to hold since it sports curves. It has smooth, rounded corners. When it comes to its design, It doesn’t look cheap and is comparable to Samsung Galaxy S3 or S4. It’s just that it’s all made of plastic, but I think that helped the company a lot in providing us with a conservative price. Considering the materials used in manufacturing X2, it is very solid and doesn’t have any creaky parts. Don’t even try to compare it to the materials used by HTC and Apple, though the quality is at par with Samsung.  It comes in two colors, black(ish) and white. I chose black for personal preference, but the white variant is equally nice, though the only white part is the back cover. The back cover is glossy, reflective, and prone to collecting fingerprints. What adds more is that it is surprisingly thin and lightweight. You can attribute that to the materials used.  You’ll never find a protective casing for this phone in the market yet since it’s new, but you can use a Samsung Galaxy S4 protective casing and modify it for the needed openings for the audio jack (the camera hole is at the same position as the S4). It is a BIG phone, it is impossible to use your thumb to reach across the screen if you have small hands like me.

When it comes to the screen, the bezel along the side and the framings above and below could have helped some trimming to place a bigger display. It has a physical home button which I like since I upgraded from a Samsung Galaxy S2. The capacitive Menu and Back buttons are placed the same way as Samsung phones. The screen comes with a whopping 4.8 High Definition Super AMOLED display and because of this there is no brightness drop-off when you tilt the X2 to the side. The colors remain accurate no matter what angle you view it. Everything you do look amazing on this phone, whether be it watching movies, playing games or viewing pictures.  Just like Samsung phones, the colors look a bit oversaturated due to the display used. It comes with a pre-installed glossy screen protector, you just have to run through the phones available to choose a screen protector without bubbles, or better yet just have it replaced by a generic one just like what I did. It can also go without a screen protector since it’s made of scratch proof Gorilla Glass 2. Aside from the home button, the other two buttons are the volume toggle on the left edge of the device and the lock button on the right. I find it a chore to locate these buttons since it does not protrude from the device that much, and the lock button seats almost in the middle of the right side which I find strange. The microUSB port can be found in the bottom edge, the headphone jack is on the top left. There is no dedicated camera button, though it’s easy to pull it up from the lock screen or from the home screen.

One of the design elements of the Cosmos X2 that I loved is the removable back cover. It is one of the most important features that I’m looking for in a phone, adding that it also has expandable memory. I don’t want to be stuck with a phone that has a defective battery and a limited memory space. The back cover is easy to remove and has latches that fit seamlessly once you snap them on. You will need to remove the battery to have access to the SIM cards and microSD.

Talking about signal, I’m using a Sun and Globe SIM card, and mind you it held tight to the carriers in places where I expected it to. I have not experience dropped calls and browsing the web is lightning fast. Phone calls are crystal clear and there are no unnecessary background noises whether on speaker or earpiece.

The sound of the ringers and alert tones are just okay, and the vibrate alert is fine as well. I never missed a call or text messages due thanks to the loud alerts and strong vibration.

Battery life was wonderful thanks to the 2200 mAh battery. It was able to last two days with the wifi on and some heavy gaming. It actually depends on the settings on animation and brightness.

The X2 sports stock 4.2.1 Jelly Bean with not much bloatware. The two apps that I found no use of are the Media3D app, Media3D Demo app, Cherry Fun Club app and eWarranty app. It also has a Cherry mobile photowall live wallpaper and 18 Cherry Mobile wallpapers.  If you have been using cyanogenmod 10.1 then you will be familiar with the menus.  Out of the box it gives you five home screens to put all of your shortcuts in.  Widgets are also from stock android and none from Cherry Mobile.

Let’s talk about the camera. Whether you’re taking selfies from the 5mp front camera, or taking landscape pictures using the 18mp rear camera, pictures will always be awesome. The led flash works wonderfull even in no-light scenarios. Since the X2 is running on stock Jelly Bean, you will have an opportunity to add effects to your photos right after you took them. Some of the things you can set in the camera is zero shutter delay, face detection, self timer and continuous shot. You can also set the exposure, color effect, scene mode, white balance and anti-flicker. When it comes to capturing videos, I only have one word: exceptional.

Cosmos X2 shots (without flash)

Connectivity. One of the reasons you would like to have a smartphone. I had no trouble connecting to a variety of Bluetooth devices. I’ve tried connecting to a phone, a laptop, a speaker and a headset. Using the speaker and headset, phone calls and music sounded clear.

Other Information you might want to read: Antutu score is 13166

Overall, I would say that the Cosmos X2 is not what you usually expect from a local phone. It is extraordinarily well crafted and certified bang for the buck. I’m not saying it’s perfect, or it can surpass the Galaxy S4 or any other high-end foreign phones, but for P11,699? It’s a steal.

Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2 specifications:

·                     Android 4.2.1 (Jelly Bean)

·                     4.8-inch HD (720 x 1280) Super AMOLED display protected by Gorilla Glass 2

·                     Dual sim support

·                     16 GB internal storage expandable via a MicroSD card slot

·                     1 GB RAM

·                     1.2 GHz quad core MediaTek MT6589 processor

·                     PowerVR SGX544 graphics processor

·                     18 MP autofocus primary camera with LED flash and BSI sensor

·                     5 MP front camera with BSI sensor

·                     3G/HSPA+

·                     GSM 850/1800/1900

·                     UMTS 850/2100

·                     WiFi b/g/n

·                     Bluetooth 4.0

·                     A-GPS

·                     3.5mm Stereo Audio Jack

·                     Standard micro USB 2.0

·                     2200 mAh Li-Ion battery

·                     SRP: Php11,699