A sweet Christmas holiday indeed for me as I had the Cherry Mobile Infinix Pure. I already had my first impressions and physical appearances of the unit in my previous post. Here's my review.
The timely OTA update:
I had my first few days on the device last month when I noticed that my unit doesn't have the USB OTG feature as promised. Good thing as I already set-up my 3G mobile data, the system asked me for an OTA update. It was only over an 8 MB worth of data and boom! The OTG feature's already on. My fellow tech blogger Raffy of digitalspidey.com had the same experience which is kudos to Cherry Mobile
Phone and messaging:
The phone and phonebook apps are both stock as to compare to the stock Android Kitkat that I encountered. Call quality is nice and clear. I just noticed that some letters on the stock keyboard on my messaging are not as accurate or you have to tap a lil stronger so I installed a 3rd party keyboard app so no problem. The messaging app is also stock.
Connectivity:
I missed the good ol days of my Cherry Mobile Omega HD and it lives up here coz it has dual 3G set-up which is 2 thumbs up for me esp. these days that 2 competing networks are providing either free mobile ner or free FB. Connection on both sims are a-ok as well as to WiFi. Bluetooth is also not a problem
Benchmarks and gaming:
As expected for a 1.4 Ghz Mediatek MT6592 octa-core processor, I got over 27,000 on Antutu 5.6. The device only has 4 out of 9 sensors. The device has 5-point multi-touch. On my unit, I only got around less than 50 fps on Nenamark but based on playing NBA 2K14, I'm not getting any problems. The unit does not heat or only produced some little heat.
Camera:
Aside from it's still unknown Sony sensor, one of the big reasons why I like this phone is the fast camera shutter speed which is great for my blogging coverage/s. The 8 MP camera does produce decent results. One thing that I don't like is the 2 MP front camera which is grainy even with a place with good amount of lighting. Both the 8 MP rear and 2 MP front cameras can shoot either on 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio. These camera samples below are from the 8 MP rear camera. The rear camera has f/2.0 aperture.
Audio and video:
The device has Google Play music as the stock music app. The equalizer is doing it's job well. On video, expect an enjoyable viewing experience with it's good viewing angles and HD display. For those who has 3rd party earphones, good news as this device has full CTIA support. It means that it can support the previous track, next track, play and pause physical buttons
Battery:
Can match up with the latest octa-core that I reviewed recently. I played a number of HD videos on MX Player in lowest phone brightness, brightness at 5 on the said app, volume at 10, no mobile net, WiFi and Bluetooth, 1 sim on 2G/3G mode and with it's stock headphones - I managed to get 8 hours and 10 minutes from 100% to 2% . As my daily driver, it can stand 24 hours with random 3G on, some texts and calls, blogging, photo editing and mobile surfing.
Random:
I love that this has less than 6 GB out of 8 GB ROM for app storage which means more apps that you can store. The curved back and thin bezels made me easier to navigate the device on one hand. The rubbery back cover also adds up to good gripping. The little things that I hate on this device is a bit sensitive to FM radio signal when you're in a windy area (but it is on random basis) as all of sudden, it will automatically change the radio station. Another thing is the one that you can check on the other pic, there's no "three bars" on the upper right portion which will clear your unread message/s on the notification. This bug is only for unread SMS.
Verdict:
When one CM executive said that it's bigger brother, Infinix Pure XL will have the Php 6,999 price tag. I'm really eager and excited on what will be the price tag for the Infinix Pure. I'm really surprised that this thing is only Php 4,499 esp. if to compare to their another octa-core, Cherry Mobile Me Vibe at Php 3,999 (which I observed in various CM Me Vibe FB groups that it has more sensors and better front camera than Infinix Pure but less on screen resolution and battery) . The price, specs and overall performance ratio is the reason why I gonna give a 4.25 over 5 to the Cherry Mobile Infinix Pure.
