CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro Review - One of the Best phones for PHP 8K?
After using the CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro as our daily driver, we share our thoughts and experiences with the affordable gaming phone.
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| CHERRY AQUA S11 Pro's rear design |
To recap, the CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro features a unique and premium build and design. It features a glass front and frosted glass rear panels.
In front is the 120Hz 6.7-inch AMOLED screen, a 6nm MediaTek Helio G99 octa-core, Mali-G57 MC2 GPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB UFS 2.2, and a 5,000mAh battery with a33W fast charging.
At the back are the 64MP main camera, depth sensor, and 2MP macro camera with an LED flash while in front is the 16MP selfie camera.
It is running on Android 13. Other features include WiFi, 4G, Bluetooth, NFC, OTG, GPS, dual Nano SIM, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, mono speakers, and dual microphones.
In the Philippines, it is priced at only PHP 7,990 for the 8GB/256GB variant.
Let's dive into the review!
For our review part 1: CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro Unboxing and First Impressions
Multimedia Experience
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| CHERRY AQUA S11 Pro's display |
In front is the aforementioned 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with a 2,412 x 1,080 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate.
The panel is borderline bright enough to be somewhat readable under direct sunlight at maximum brightness. The colors are vibrant while the contrast is decent. Text and detail are crisp at 1080p resolution.
It supports 10-points of multi-touch which makes it good for multitasking or games that support multiple simultaneous touch inputs. It responds quickly and accurately to our taps and gestures.
Around the panel are asymmetrical-sized bezels with the chin bezel being the thickest. The punch hole with the selfie camera is on the upper part of the panel. On the top bezel is the slim ear piece.
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| Top and bottom sides |
For audio, the phone is equipped with a single bottom-firing speaker. Around the phone are two microphones used for noise canceling in calls and audio recording.
The sound from the bottom-firing speaker has a surprisingly loud maximum volume but does introduce some distortion. When placed at 85 percent, the clarity, separation, and quality are surprisingly good enough.
It has a 3.5mm audio jack for people who prefer wired audio.
The microphones do a good job of picking up sounds from a meter away while the noise-cancellation for calls is good too.
Like most phones in the price range, CHERRY had to make a trade-off to get the price down, and to keep the 120Hz FHD+ panel, they had to give up stereo speakers. So if directionality from stereo speakers is important to you, the mono speaker could be a deal-breaker.
Cameras
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| CHERRY AQUA S11 Pro's rear cameras |
As mentioned earlier, the phone is equipped with a 64MP f/1.8 main camera, 0.3MP depth sensor, and a 2MP f/2.4 secondary camera with an LED flash.
The included modes of the stock camera app include Photo, Video, Portrait, Pro Model, Night Mode, Beauty, Filter, Film, Panorama, Slow Motion, Timelapse, Macro and Intelligent Scanning
The Pro mode allows switching of ISO (100-800), Shutterspeed (1/800-1/5 seconds), White Balance, EV (+-3), and Focus.
Added features include metering continuous shooting and anti-flicker.
Rear Camera Samples
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| CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro rear camera daylight |
All daylight images from the rear camera produce surprisingly decent color, contrast and detail. Daylight is where the 64MP main camera shines.
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| CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro rear camera close-up |
When shooting Close up, the detail and sharpness of the subject are distinct while the out-of-focus area or bokeh is visually pleasing with a nice transition from in-focus to out-of-focus area. The color of the churros was warmer than in real life and we noticed that the sensor has a smaller threshold which results in overexposed areas when there is a bright light source.
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| CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro rear camera indoors |
The above images were taken in a well-lit coffee shop. The resulting images are the same as in daylight where the color, sharpness, detail, and contrast are good.
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| CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro rear camera low light |
For low light, the sharpness and detail were affected by the noise build-up. The noise is more noticeable in the shadow areas. We also noticed that the phone increased the shutter speed to compensate. The light sources also overexpose easily.
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| CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro rear camera low light |
The Night mode improves the sharpness, detail, and contrast while reducing noise and grain, especially in bright areas. However, the light sources were still overexposed.
Overall, the rear camera produced decent images that need tweaking to get the best possible result. However, there are phones in the price range that perform better.
The 16MP selfie camera is on the punch hole.
Camera modes include Photo, Video, and Portrait.
Selfie Camera Samples
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| CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro selfie daylight |
Daylight selfies from the CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro are decent. You immediately notice the accurate colors, pleasing skin tone, and contrast. Sharpness and detail are decent too. However, bright objects like white clouds tend to overexpose.
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| CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro Selfie Portrait |
The portrait mode's edge detection is decent but it could be better with hair and clothing folds.
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| CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro selfie indoors |
Indoors, the image is similar to daylight where the color and skin tones are good while the sharpness and detail are decent.
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| CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro selfie low light |
In low light, the selfie camera's images have more grain and noise which affects the color, detail, and sharpness of the overall image. The light sources also have begun to overexpose.
There is no night mode for selfies.
Overall, the front camera produced images with decent color, contrast, sharpness, and detail but struggled with bright areas or light sources which caused overexposure. In low light, the sharpness, detail, and colors were affected by the noise build-up.
The front-facing cameras can record up to 1080 at 30fps while the rear camera can capture up to 2,560 x 1,440p at 30fps. Footage from both is shaky and needs a stable hand.
Performance
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| AnTuTu and GeekBench scores |
The CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro has the 2.2GHz 6nm MediaTek Helio G99 octa-core processor, Mali-G57 MC2 GPU, 8GB RAM and 256GB UFS 2.2.
During the AnTuTu test, the phone's temperature increased by 7 degrees while the battery lost 5 percent power. This means the phone runs warm under load but does drain power.
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| 3DMark and CPDT |
CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro benchmarks:
- AnTuTu - 415,138
- Geekbench 6 - 728 (single-core), 2,007 (multi-core)
- 3D Mark WildLife - 1,239 at 7.42 average fps
- CPDT - 496.03 MB/s sequential read speeds and 413.04 MB/s sequential write speeds
The CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro scores in AnTuTu, Geekbench, and 3DMark are in the range of what we expected from this combination of chipset and software.
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| Genshin Impact |
In Genshin Impact, it is set on the lowest graphics settings as the default. Playing the game is decently smooth when wandering around the world but when in combat with many animations, the phone struggles.
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| Call of Duty: Mobile Graphics |
In Call of Duty: Mobile the default is medium graphics with medium frame rate. You also have the choice to push the frame rate to high with low graphics settings. When playing with the default, the game runs smoothly but when pushed to a high frame rate increases the temperatures of the phone faster too.
In our experience, the phone can handle the majority of tasks like navigating through the OS, opening apps, web surfing, and social media without struggling. It only struggled with heavier games.
We enjoyed playing games on the Aqua except for the occasional stutters when the screen is filled up.
The phone has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor and face unlock for security. The initial setup and subsequent uses are quick and it detects our biometrics instantaneously. It works even if your finger is a little sweaty.
The face unlocks only struggles when the camera is dirty or when we are wearing a mask and sunglasses. The screen brightens up when used in the dark. Face unlock even has a super bright mode that can be set in the settings.
Regarding connectivity, we have the following: WiFi, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5, NFC, OTG, GPS, and dual nano SIM.
Connection is usually stable for WiFi and we get 4 to 5 bars of mobile data signal most of the time.
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| Cherry Aqua S11 Pro review's Battery Benchmark Score |
Inside the phone is a large 5,000mAh battery. It lasted more than 15 hours on our usual PCMark Battery benchmark. In daily use, we were consistently getting around 5 hours of on-screen time even when constantly connected to 4G, WiFi, and Bluetooth devices. When playing games continuously, it would last under 4 hours.
The battery charges via USB-C with the 33W wall charger which charges the phone 100 percent in under 90 minutes.
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| CherryOS based on Android 13 |
It is running on CHERRYOS based on Android 13. It comes with visuals inspired by stock Android but with the brand's flavor on visuals and the brand's own take on some of the apps.
If you did not like the previous generation of CHERRY's near stock-like skin, there are not many changes that would make you change your mind. However, if you liked it before, you will easily like this skin too.
There are preinstalled apps that are easily uninstallable or disabled upon the phone's initial set-up.
Pros - category leading build and design, 120Hz FHD+ AMOLED, 256GB storage, 33W fast wired charging,
Cons - single speaker, 4G only, low light camera performance could be improved, software support unknown
CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro Specs
Display: 6.67-inch LCD (IPS) screen w/ 120Hz refresh rate, FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution at Display: 6.7-inch AMOLED screen w/ 120Hz refresh rate, FHD+ resolution
CPU: 2.2GHz 6nm MediaTek Helio G99 octa-core processor
GPU: Mali-G57 MC2
RAM: 8GB RAM
ROM: 256GB UFS 2.2
Back Camera: 64MP + 0.3MP depth + 2MP macro + LED flash
Selfie Camera: 16MP
Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 33W fast charging
OS: Android 13
Connectivity: WiFi (2.4GHz/5GHz), 4G LTE, GPS, dual SIM slots
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, face unlock, dual-mic, Colors: Black
Price: PHP 7,999
Verdict
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| CHERRY AQUA S11's web surfing experience |
The CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro at PHP 7,999 is one of the best phones for its price because of its build, design and performance.
In terms of raw performance, the phone can run non-demanding apps and games decently and will run demanding games in low graphics with a playable frame rate but will struggle when the screen is filled with animations.
The mono speaker is decently loud with good separation and clarity.
The rear 64MP camera and the 16MP selfie cameras capture decent images but struggle in low light and overexposure. Firmware could reduce or even fix these concerns.
Surprisingly, the 5,000mAh battery lasted longer than we expected, and with the 33W charger, it is fully charged in under 90 minutes.
At this price range, the competition is fierce. The Cherry Aqua S11 Pro is priced lower but offers similar performance.
We recommend the CHERRY Aqua S11 Pro if you want the best-looking and best-performing smartphone for PHP 7,999.
What do you think guys?
Build/Design - 4.5
Multimedia Experience - 4
Cameras - 4
Performance - 4
Average - 4/5
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