Cherry Mobile Flare S6 Deluxe Unboxing and First Impressions

Cherry Mobile ended 2017 with a bang when they announced the Flare S6 Deluxe, a very affordable smartphone with the trendy 18:9 screen aspect ratio.

Meet Flare S6 Deluxe!

In particular, Cherry Mobile only priced the Flare S6 Deluxe for PHP 5,999! That price made the said device the most affordable with that tall TrueView screen here in the Philippines today.

The also phone arrived with the pretty sleek glossy design and decent internals for the price inside.

Moreover, Cherry Mobile told us that the cameras of this phone are also well tuned for the price.

Let's see!

Cherry Mobile Flare S6 Deluxe Specs

Display: 5.7-inch HD+ IPS 1440 x 720 resolution w/ 2.5D curved glass at 282 ppi 

CPU: 1.3GHz 64-bit MT6737 quad-core processor

GPU: Mali-T720

RAM: 2GB

ROM: 16GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 64GB

Back Camera: 13MP Sony IMX135 f/2.8 w/ AF and LED flash

Selfie Camera: 8MP OV8856 f/2.2

Battery: 3,000mAh

OS: Android 7.0 Nougat

Connectivity: WiFi, 3G, 700 MHz LTE, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, A-GPS, dual SIM

Sensors: Accelerometer, light, proximity, sound

Others: Fingerprint sensor

Dimensions: 159.5 x 74 x 8.8 mm

Weight: 170 g

Price: PHP 5,999

Disclaimer: This is a borrowed unit from Cherry Mobile for our unbiased take.

Unboxing / Accessories

Box

The Flare S6 Deluxe arrived with the usual Cherry packaging with nice print of the phone in front. The box also highlights that this handset has an 18:9 tall TrueView screen.

Accessories

Inside, you'll see the usual 1.5A USB wall charger, USB to micro USB cable, and earphones with microphone. It has no free case in the package, but it has a pre-installed screen protector on the display of the phone.

Build Quality / Design

Glossy removable backplate!

The phones craftsmanship is decent for the price. The frame is still made out of all plastic material, but it generally feels a bit better than your usual plastic budget phone. It has a nice glossy finish at the back and proper curves. In front, the screen is made out of glass, but there's no mention of any glass protection on top. Fortunately, there's a pre-installed screen protector that should prevent it from light scratches.

Top

Bottom

Right

Design-wise, this phone is a looker. The glossy glass-like paint finish at the back resembles what HTC did with the U11 flagship. The phone has a thickness of 8.8 mm, but it feels slimmer than that due to its nice curves! We also liked the chrome paint on the fingerprint scanner and camera hump at the back.

The S6 Deluxe is a sleek handset for the price. It is just prone to fingerprint smudges.

The phone has fairly thin bezels on the sides too. However, Cherry failed to minimize its top and bottom bezels like the Flare S6 Plus. As a result, it isn't as small versus other 18:9 phones with similar screen size.

One handed operation using this phone would be quite hard. But, fortunately, it still feels great to hold overall. All buttons and ports are on familar placements too.

We liked the fact that it still has a 3.5 mm headphone jack slot. The fingerprint scanner at the back is quite easy to reach too.

Initial findings

The sensors available

1. Craftmanship and design of the phone feels great for the price. Just don't expect it to be as premium as the other pricier mid-range phones. Its 5.7-inch HD+ screen looks nice and bright. It even has 5 points of touch.
2. The internals of this phone is not the most impressive for the price, but it is far from bad considering it has great design and cameras in its class. The MT6737 processor with 2GB RAM should be enough to handle the light tasks with ease. It also has 16GB storage and 3,000mAh battery.
3. The phone runs with near stock Nougat OS out of the box. It doesn't have the Cherry OS skin yet unlike other Flare S6 phones.
4. The cameras looks fairly nice so far. It has a 13MP snapper at the back and an 8MP sensor in front. The 13MP sensor is made by Sony, the 8MP front camera is made by Omnivision. The main camera only has f/2.8 aperture size, but fortunately, even indoor performance is decent.
5. The phone has a decent performing fingerprint scanner and 700MHz LTE. We will update you guys if it has OTG and LED notification soon.

Related: Cherry Mobile Flare S6 Deluxe: First Camera Samples

As of the moment

If you want to experience the tall and trendy 18:9 screen aspect ratio on a budget, the Flare S6 is a promising alternative to the pricier phones of such kind. We also liked that Cherry equipped it with a pair of decent cameras and sleek design for the price.

So far, decent!

We will try to borrow the phone again soon for our full review.