5 Reasons Why the Cherry Mobile Excalibur is Still Worth Buying

Remember our unboxing and first impressions of Chery Mobile Excalibur? Since the time we posted it, it received significant number of views, comments and Youtube hits. This time, we’re giving our review a slightly different taste to directly tell you why Excalibur is still a worthy purchase even after 3 months from it was first launched.

1. Timeless Beauty

Cherry Mobile Excalibur looks great in all angles. Its front and back Corning Gorilla glass panels look awesome, and from my books, it could easily go toe to toe with other international brands like Samsung and even LG. Its slightly tapered edges don’t just make the phone look great but also bring additional comfort to users when holding the phone with just one hand.

Its ports (3.5mm headphone jack and Micro USB) are adorned by aluminum accent that don’t look cheap. The accent give the phone a more premium vibe, thereby exuding an impression that it’s expensive.

The phone can accomodate 2 SIMs and 1 microSD card. The trays may be found on the left (SIMs) and on the right (microSD). I love the fact that these 2 trays are well hidden, and may only be accessed using an ejector tool.

And yes, there is also an LED notification light found atop the screen!

2. Screen Size and Quality are Perfect for Viewing and Reading on the go

Excalibur has a 5-inch IPS Display with 1280 x 720 resolution. At 294 ppi, I am able to read texts easily and clearly. Color saturation is just about right, but a bit paler compared to some of the devices we tried like the SKK V2. A quick look at the image below shows the difference between the SKK V2 and CM Excalibur.

One of the features that enhances my video viewing experience on Excalibur is its ClearMotion video fluency enhancer. What it does is it enhances the video by way of tweaking or “faking” the refresh rate. Scenes with fast-paced scenes appear more natural on Excalibur; it just gives a crazy and amazing feeling. I tried playing the same video (Marvel Avengers Age of Ultran at 60fps) on other phones at similar price point, but it couldn’t replicate what Excalibur could do.

By the way, Cosmos One and Magnum S have the same technology pre-installed. So if you’ve got more moolah for your smartphone, you may also consider getting either one of the two.

3. It’s on KitKat with Bonus Apps and Features

It’s good to note that Excalibur runs on Android Kitkat. Yes, I know, it doesn’t have the latest Android build; but with KitKat installed, the Excalibur is fast and very stable.

The OS installed isn’t vanilla as it has minimal skinning and bloatwares installed. Some won’t mind the latter, but just in case you wish to know, Excalibur has the following Cherry Mobile and third-party wares:

• Cherry Fun Club
• Cherry Play
• eWarranty
• OOBE
• Pinoy App Shop
• TouchPal X (which I personally dislike)
• Wireless Update
• Wake Gestures
• ClearmMotion Video fluency enhancer
• BesAudEnh: Audio enhancer for earphone
• BesLoudness: Volume Booster for speaker
• Camera

Here are some neat-o screenshots for your viewing pleasure.

4. You can take good photos with it!

We’re a fan of Excalibur’s camera. Sure, it isn’t perfect but at its price point, it takes decent photos! And as expected, the photos we took in low light still came out to be acceptable even without the aid of its LED flash.

The phone features f2.0 aperture, so it was obligatory for me to see if close up shots can produce a buttery background bokeh. I found out that while it managed to produced the bokeh I wanted, it was rigged too may noise. Hey, it isn’t a perfect execution but at least it was able to deliver what I wanted.

Oh, and yeah – it’s acceptable in taking selfie-shots too! Here’s a sample photo with me and my officemate, Janelle:

Here are the rest of the photos:

5. You can play specs-demanding games on it!

Well, you’re in for a great surprise – I can play tons of specs-demanding games on Cherry Mobile Excalibur. With its octa-core processor clocked at 1.4Ghz and a gig of memory, crowd-favorite games like Real Racing 3, GTA: SA, N.O.V.A 3, and Modern Combat 5.

Check out our YouTube page for hands-on videos.

So, there you have it guys – these are our 5 reasons why you should still consider Excalibur a great purchase! There are tons of other options out there that are far cheaper like the recently launched Cherry Mobile One and even the SKK Lynx! But there the reasons above are – in our opinion – enough compelling reasons why you should still consider getting one or holding onto it (if you already own one).

Giancarlo Viterbo

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Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.