People love to take pictures but hate having to bring a big and bulky camera, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that smartphone manufacturers are in a war of sorts to deliver the best camera phone to consumers. Having a smartphone that also happens to be an awesome point-and-shoot replacement is great combination for those who are looking to eliminate one more device from the gadgets they already bring every day. Recently Cherry Mobile delivered an awesome camera-centric offering with in the form of the Cherry Mobile Selfie. It runs Android Kitkat out of the box and comes with dual 13mp autofocus cameras, with a dual LED flash for the rear camera,while a single LED flash aided the front.
What’s in the Box?
- Handset
- USB transfer cable
- Wall charger
- Headset with in-line mic
- SIM ejector tool
- Manuals
Design
The Cherry Mobile Selfie’s metallic gold accent on the sides certainly give it some character. The white back also has a shimmery finish that looks good and goes well with the gold trim. Build quality is solid and you won’t encounter any creaking when you push down on the back cover. You can see just how the big that 13mp BSI front camera is and it even comes with its own LED flash for taking selfies at night or in low light conditions.
On the back is the speaker grill, two separate LED flashes and another massive Sony-made 13mp camera with a metallic gold trim. The capacitive Home button also serves as a notification light that alerts you to things like messages, push notifications and that the phone is charging.
At the top is the power button and 3.5mm headset jack, which just so happens to be CTIA compliant.
Located on the right is the micro SD and dual SIM slots, as well as a dedicated shutter button for the camera.
The volume rocker is is all you’ll find on the left side of the phone.
At the bottom is the micro USB port and the microphone pinhole for voice calls and recording.
The Cherry Mobile Selfie does support dual SIM functionality (micro and nano SIM) and can accommodate a micro SD card. However, an interesting design kink is that you can’t use the 2nd SIM slot whenever there is a micro SD card inserted and vice versa. It’s a good thing then that the Selfie comes with 16GB of internal storage so most users can take advantage of the dual SIM functionality without worrying about running out of storage.
Display
Cherry Mobile Selfie is equipped with a 4.7-inch IPS HD display and is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The viewing angles are great and are produce vibrant colors. Text is crisp, images are sharp, and videos are fluid thanks to the SOC’s Clear Motion feature.
The 4.7-inch display is the perfect size for me to use, as there is enough screen real estate for my needs while still fitting perfectly in my hands for better ease of use.
Performance
The Cherry Mobile Selfie is equipped with Mediatek’s MT6592 octa-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz coupled with 2gb of ram. It also has a Mali 450 GPU, which is capable of producing a smooth gaming experience. This hardware configuration will allow smooth and fluid navigation through the UI. Applications open without hiccups and run smoothly with little noticeable loading time.
Camera
By its name CherryMobile Selfie is definitely a selfie phone with dual 13mp camera. Yes! you read it right it does have a 13mp autofocus front camera with LED flash and a 13mp back camera with dual LED flash.
Cherry Mobile Selfie doesn’t have much settings with its built-in camera app. It does have a Smart Mode wherein it reduces the resolution of the camera to 1mp to lessen the time for the picture to process. Â Smart Mode is available both in front and back camera, it is good for those who love taking pictures or selfie in an instant.
Recently Cherry Mobile received an OTA update which includes an update for the camera app, it added HDR to it.
It does have a beautification setting that reduces blemishes, but unlike any other phone the beautification is pretty impressive thanks to the 13mp autofocus front camera that gives a much clearer image.
Sample front camera shots:
Even at night Cherry Mobile Selfie is very useful in taking your precious moment thanks to its dual LED flash. It was able to produce a good lighting that illuminates well the surrounding even in a very dark surrounding.
Sample back camera shot:
Upon using Cherry Mobile Selfie as my daily driver, I was really impressed with its camera quality especially with its front camera. I able to use the front camera to take good quality group pictures. You will really not notice the difference between the front and back camera because both gave me high quality pictures thanks to its 13mp Sony lens.
Battery
One of the best thing that Cherry Mobile Selfie can give is its battery life. I have used it as my primary phone for almost a month and I was really impressed on how great the battery it has. I used it as a portable hotspot and lasted for about 6 hours. It lasted for about a day with moderate to heavy use which includes casual browsing the net using the mobile data and playing games. While using it on normal to moderate basis it almost lasted 2 days.
Tech Specs:
- 4.7-inch IPS HD display (1280 x 720 resolution)
- Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- 1.7GHz MediaTek octa-core processor
- Mali 450 MP4 GPU
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB internal storage(expandable up to 32gb)
- 13MP Â rear camera with Sony lens and dual LED flash
- 13MP BSI front camera with flash
- Bluetooth 4.0
- Dual-SIM( micro and nano)
- 2300mAh Li-Ion battery( non-removable)
- Android 4.4KitKat
- Price: Php9,999
 So Should You Buy the Cherry Mobile Selfie?
Over all Cherry Mobile Selfie is a great deal price. For only Php 9,999 you will be able to get stunning photos and selfie shots. With its build quality, it feels more premium than its retail price.
