Cherry Mobile Pulse Review: Most Affordable Octa-core Android Phone

Cherry Mobile introduced again another potential game changer in the local smart phone scene by bringing their latest budget phone and cheapest so far octa-core mobile device, the Cherry Mobile Pulse. Priced at only P6,495, lots of people are wondering how could something with those specs be that cheap. Are we simply going to get what we paid for? or is this the real deal, value for money smartphone? Let's take a look after the break.

First, let's have a quick specs rundown of the Cherry Mobile Pulse. Upfront, it flaunts a 5-inch HD (720 x 1280) IPS DragonTrail protected display. Powered by 1.7 GHz Octa Core ARM Cortex A7 and Mali 450 GPU based MediaTek MT6592 chipset. This SoC is not just powerful but also known to be energy-efficient. It has an 8GB internal phone storage paired with 1GB of RAM. Rear camera is 13-megapixels with LED flash, while front camera is 5-megapixels. Battery has a mediocre 2000 mAh capacity, which a lot of people has been ranting about.

Look and feel

Honestly, my first impression when I saw the introductory photo and video of this phone was not good. I thought the phone looks too ordinary and huge compared to other phone contemporaries in the market. I was thinking... well, I'll take a look at it first and then decide if I'll get it or not. But when I saw and held it in person, it was not as bad and boring as it looks in the photos. It looks good in its own unique way, especially its tapered thickness from top to bottom.

It feels solid and well built. The back cover is well fitted and doesn't have that creaky feel when you press on it. Cherry Mobile Pulse comes in two color variants, black and silver back plates. I had the silver back cover variant which has a smooth and frosted finish on it.

I'm not sure about its weight, but it feels like it's slightly on the heavy side compared to fellow budget phones like MyPhone's Agua Rio and Flare 3. It feels comfortable holding with one hand even for its phablet size. It still looks gorgeous even if it seems a bit tall compared to similarly sized phones.

There are no dimensions mentioned anywhere and a lot of people are asking about its size. So let me take my trusty ruler and measure it for you. The top side measures a thin 7.5mm (from top most front panel to the bottom corner of the back cover, and bottom part measures only 3.5mm. Height is 147mm and width 72mm. Sexier and 1mm taller than MP Agua Rio which is 146 x 74 x 9.3 mm.

The screen display is good for its price. Some would have made cuts on display quality just to lower production cost. But an HD IPS scratch resistant DragonTrail glass is definitely a plus factor for this device. Colors are vivid and brilliant, contrast and sharpness are good, and viewing angles are ok. At maximum brightness, you'll have enough clarity to read under the sun.

On the left side, we have the volume rocker. Notice the tapered shape from top to bottom.

The power button is on the right side. Both volume and power buttons feel just right. Not too clicky, but not too soft either.

On top, we have the standard 3.5mm headphone jack and the micro USB port.

And the mic pinhole on the front, bottom right part.

At the back, we have the usual rear camera with LED flash beneath, and the speaker grill on the bottom.

Many would have mistaken it as an oversized iPhone because of the iPhone like home button at the bottom which you can double tap to wake. The home button is also LED illuminated when touched, and blinks while charging or when you have notifications. There is also a menu/option and back capacitive buttons on both sides.

What's in the box

The standard looking box contains nothing extraordinary, just the usual unit, 2000 mAh battery, in-ear headset, USB cable and 800mA wall charger, user manual, plus a FREE screen protector.

Performance so far

Cherry Mobile Pulse pretty much held up against some of the games I tested it in, Dead Trigger 2, Asphalt 8 and NBA 2K14. All in glorious high settings. Antutu (X) benchmark score is a whooping 30,435 points (27,062 in Antutu 4.5.2). Not bad, eh?

Imaging is so-so, but it's ok, I never expected a DSLR quality snapper for Php6.5k. A lot of them are saying that pixels could be interpolated to 13MP rear and 5MP front. See some of the sample shots I took immediately after I bought the unit and judge for yourself.

Rear camera sample shots:

Outdoor (gloomy weather)

Indoor product shot

Indoor macro shot (low lighting)

Front camera sample shots:

Rear camera does have auto-focus but none on the front, both cameras also doesn't have BSI (backside illumination).

Other nitty gritties worth mentioning are; speaker on the back sounds decent, not too loud but not too weak either. It has dual sim slots, micro sim and mini sim. A micro SD slot which can accomodate up to 64GB SD card. And it's already Android Kitkat out of the box. But sorry, it's not OTG capable.

I haven't really tested battery life that much (I have only charged it full once this morning), but so far battery is holding good with 60% more juice half of the day doing games, wifi, calls and text. This could last me whole day I think until I get home this evening for a charge.

And finally, my verdict. Is the Cherry Mobile Pulse worth your hard-earned 6.5k pesos? That's a big YES for me! But still, to each his own. It still depends entirely up to your usage patterns, your needs and preference.