There were 6 members in the Flare 5 series that was announced in the last Cherry Mobile Flare event and today, we’ll review one of those smartphones, the Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus. This smartphone is one of the three smartphones introduced back then with 700MHz LTE and also some cool features. So what do I think about it? Check out my review of the Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus below.

A premium build

Last year, Cherry Mobile went into the premium design route and this year, Cherry Mobile wants a more refine smartphone with a less bloated and cleaner software despite having the same processor that was used last year but of course, there are still some improvements made on the smartphone.

The Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus packs a combination of the metal and plastic build but overall, I like the feel and holding the smartphone was better thanks to its back. Although, I kinda feel that the smartphone is a little bit thick and heavy. At the back is where you can find the plastic curved back that sports a brushed metal design.

Actually, the curves feel perfect on my hand, however, the smartphone is really a fingerprint magnet. One new feature that you can see in the Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus is the inclusion of the fast fingerprint sensor on the home button and unfortunately, the capacitive buttons don’t light up on the Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus. Thankfully, instead of having a menu button on its one of the capacitive buttons, the Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus now sports a recent tasks button. Very convenient for power users.

On the right side of the smartphone is where you can find the volume rocker and the power button while the 3.5mm audio jack is placed at the top of the smartphone. The USB Type-C, however, is placed below the smartphone along with the speaker grill. Yep, USB Type-C.

Despite having a metal frame, Cherry Mobile decided to have a removable back on this one but unfortunately, you cannot remove the battery of the smartphone. The back also houses the sim card slot and also the MicroSD card slot. Thankfully, you don’t need to sacrifice your second sim card slot for a MicroSD card compared to smartphones with a hybrid sim card tray.

There’s a 3000mAh battery inside the smartphone and I was able to use the smartphone in a normal day of average use. However, heavy users should take note that they should bring a power bank or a charger with them most of the time. But hey, the Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus is just one of the few smartphones that support 700MHz LTE.

A fine 5.5 inch Full HD Display

The Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus sports a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS Display and actually, there’s nothing special about it aside from it looks just fine to me. The display has just the right colors except for the whites which are a little bit warmer. But whether you’re playing games or watching videos, the Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus will do just fine.

The one that I got is a black one and the bezels won’t be noticeable until you turn on the display. I know, the display might not affect the performance of the smartphone but it does look annoying to me.

Same old’ CPU

The biggest issue that was voiced out by the fans was the CPU of the smartphone. It’s using the Mediatek MT6753 processor and also a 3GB of RAM.  However, the storage of the smartphone got bigger with a 32GB of internal storage and expandable via MicroSD.

The smartphone works and feels just fine. If you’re just a regular consumer who just wants to play casual games, browse the internet and even do multitasking, the Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus would do its job well. Actually, the smartphone feels faster compared to its predecessor because this smartphone sports fewer bloatware and the software feels breezy and fast.

You can play the likes of Asphalt 8 on this smartphone but as expected, you’ll have to put down the settings.  NBA 2k17 can run on this smartphone however, you should set the game at the lowest settings to make it playable.

A good camera at decent conditions

The Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus sports a camera better than its predecessor in my review. At decent lighting conditions, I got sharp photos and the color looks just right. There’s not much noise too when shooting at fair conditions however it might struggle at shooting in low-lit conditions. Check out the shots that we took using the smartphone.

Verdict

The Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus iears priced at P8,999 which is more expensive than the last y’s Flare S4 Plus starting price. Also, we still have the same MediaTek processor and 3GB of RAM but nonetheless, the smartphone feels snappier thanks to its cleaner software, also, there’s a bigger 32GB of RAM, 700MHz support, and also a fast fingerprint sensor on this smartphone too. However, if you’re looking for a better performer, I think you might want to look at the Cherry Mobile Flare X2 (which we will review soon)

The Cherry Mobile Flare S5 Plus is now available for P8,999.