Cloudfone Excite 450Q: A Quad Core Smartphone for Php4,999!

If you only had a budget of five thousand pesos for a smartphone, you could probably get a single core phone from an international brand or a dual core phone from a local one. Well, the Cloudfone Excite 450q just increased the value of your peso because it’s a quad core Android smartphone that only retails for Php4,999. For that kind of money, the Excite 450q is certainly enticing, but just how much bang are you getting for your buck? Let’s take a look at the specs.

The Screen

The Cloudfone Excite 450q features a 4.5 inch FWVGA IPS screen. That gives it a resolution of 480 x 854 and a pixel density of 218ppi. The higher the pixel density, the better the clarity, and the Excite 450q’s screen is respectable but not the best out there.

Thankfully, it’s an IPS panel, so the color reproduction and viewing angles should be pretty good as evidenced in some of the live shots of an actual unit. The size is also quite nice since it isn’t too big. It’s just large enough to make text and images easier to view and provide a larger typing space for the onscreen keyboard without being too cumbersome to pull out every once in a while.

The Chipset

The processing power comes from a 1.2GHz quad core Qualcomm MSM8225Q processor coupled with an Adreno 203 GPU. Keep in mind that even though it’s a quad core chip, it’s only a budget solution meant for low to mid-range phones. However, it’s still quite capable. It’s the same chipset as another phone that I’m currently using, which typically scores about 10,000+ in Antutu. I’ve found the MSM8225Q-based phone to be very snappy and that should also be the case with the Excite 450q.

Software and UI

The Cloudfone Excite 450q runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box. Cloudfone doesn’t tend to over-customize the skin, so expect a close-to-vanilla experience. The main difference between vanilla Android and the Excite 450q’s UI layer should be limited to the wallpapers, a few stock icons, the streamlined notification area and a bit of bloatware in the form of the Cloudfone app and the Cloudfone Store.

RAM and Storage

As is typical of a lot of mid-range Android smartphones from local brands, the Cloudfone Excite 450q comes with 4GB of internal storage. Take note that the actual usable storage will be 2GB or less since the Android OS eats up a nice chunk of it. Thankfully, it’s expandable via micro SD.

On the other hand, the Excite 450q only comes with 512MB of RAM. It’s a bit of a shame since the rest of the specs are quite respectable. Jelly Bean 4.1 can technically work just fine on 512MB RAM, but it tends to eat up a lot of RAM and some phones have tended to have stability issues because of this. We’ll just have to wait and see how stable the Excite 450q with Jelly Bean 4.1 on 512MB of RAM.

Cameras

The Cloudfone Excite 450q features a 5mp autofocus primary camera with LED flash, which should be just enough to satisfy the average users imaging needs. There’s also a front-facing VGA camera for video calls. Just don’t try to use it for Facebook selfies. Stick to the 5mp shooter for that.

Connectivity

The Cloudfone Excite 450q gives you a fairly complete set of connectivity options short of LTE. You can get mobile data speeds of up 7.2Mbps via 3G/HSDPA through SIM1 and EDGE on SIM2. There’s support for WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and it can even function as a hotspot. There’s Bluetooth 3.0 that can be used for file transfers or to use the phone with Bluetooth accessories like wireless headsets. There’s also GPS with A-GPS support for map and navigation functionality. For wired connectivity, there’s a micro USB port that doubles as a charging port, as well as a 3.5mm headset jack.

Battery

The battery that powers the Excite 450q is a Li-ion pack rated at 1,700mAh. This is another corner that had to be cut in order to keep the price down. Unfortunately, 1,700mAh coupled with a 4.5 inch screen and quad core chip is less than ideal. The phone I’m using right now has a 4.5 inch qHD IPS display with a 1,800mAh battery and it only lasts about 12-13 hours on my normal usage habits. The Cloudfone Excite 450q should sport similar numbers since its screen only has FWVGA resolution coupled with a 1,700mAh battery. My advice is to get a power bank.

My Impressions of the Cloudfone Excite 450q

At Php4,999, there isn’t anything out there that comes close to offering something better. It might not be perfect, but the Cloudfone Excite 450q is priced to bring quad core to the masses the way the Cherry Mobile Flare brought dual core phones to the entry-level pricing segment. It might be too early to tell, but if Cloudfone markets this right, they could have a real winner.

Cloudfone Excite 450q Specs

• 4.5″ FWVGA IPS display (480 x 854, 218ppi)
• 1.2GHz quad core Qualcomm MSM8225Q CPU
• Adreno 203 GPU
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• 512MB RAM
• 4GB internal storage
• 5mp rear-facing camera
• VGA front-facing camera
• 3G/HSDPA
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth 3.0
• GPS with A-GPS
• micro USB
• 3.5mm headset jack
• 1,700mAh Li-ion battery
• Price: Php4,999