Cherry Mobile Zoom Review: Simply Reliable

These days, companies are always trying to put more powerful phones in the market. Nonetheless, there is still space for devices focused on longevity more than sheer horsepower. The Cherry Mobile Zoom is one of the few phones standing on this ground. With its massive battery, it aims to prove that its not always about who runs faster, but who lasts longer.

Build

The Cherry Mobile Zoom emits elegance with its balanced design and minimal curves. I like that this device sticks to the compact zone. I think that 5 inches is just the right screen size for a phone.

The brushed metal finish at the back also adds to its beauty. And while for the most part made of plastic, the device doesn’t feel cheap to hold at all. In fact, because of its smaller than usual form, it feels comfortable to use.

The only point where you’ll  be letting out a sigh, is when turning the display on. As this reveals the big bezels that surround it. There will be complaints about that, but for a device at this price point?, I don’t think its a deal breaker. Actually, its not even distracting at all.

Display

The Zoom boasts a 720p HD display. This is disappointing, as some phones in the price range are already using Full HD displays. Still, its a pretty nice display to look at. Colors come out vibrant and text is sharp. Viewing angles are good. Visibility in direct sunlight is decent, and the screen is also bright even when set to below 50%.

Performance

The Zoom has a 64-bit Mediatek MT6735 Quad-core processor at 1.0GHz with a Mali-T720 GPU, and 3GB of RAM. It is a Dual SIM phone, LTE capable, and also has 16GB of storage expandable via MicroSD card. That didn’t sound impressive at first. But using it for a week, I realized that Cherry Mobile may have actually written a good formula here. Especially when knowing that this device will cost you a little less than PhP5000. You see, the 720p display means that the GPU doesn’t have to push as much pixels as compared to a 1080p display.

As a result, playing DJ Max Technika Q was as smooth as it can be. Asphalt 8, a heavier game, is also playable. Not great, but tweaking the settings a bit gives you a better experience than expected. The Zoom also handles simple day to day tasks with ease. You can play Pokemon GO with it, but you won’t be able to use AR mode as it doesn’t have a gyroscope.

Camera

The Zoom’s 13MP camera is decent at most. In good lighting conditions, pictures come out sharp and detailed. In low light, the image quality starts to decrease as the amount of noise becomes visible. The 8MP front-facing camera also does a pretty good job for selfies.

The camera interface offers several shooting modes like face beauty and panorama. It also gives a lot of manual options for those who would like to dive deeper into customizing their shots.

Sound and Call Quality

No complaints here. Call quality is good. The voice from the other person is loud and clear . The Zoom’s rear speaker has more than enough volume. Bass is minimal and treble is average. Enough to please casual listeners.

Software

The Zoom runs on Android Lollipop. Navigating the UI feels smooth and responsive. Even with the slew of Cherry mobile apps, most of the stock Android elements were retained.

Battery

The highlight of the Cherry Mobile Zoom is its 4000mAh Li-ion battery. It is non-removable, which some might consider as a minus. But you know what?, it works pretty well. I was getting 2 days on this device with light to moderate usage with short periods of casual gaming. For day to day tasks such as browsing email, social media, and Youtube, it will most likely last longer. I guess I can keep my power bank in the bag for now.

Verdict

The Cherry Mobile zoom is a reliable budget smartphone. It has a decent camera. It performs well due to its balanced formula of processing package and display. Moreover, it gets you through a couple of days without having to recharge. Power users may have to look somewhere else. But casuals will find the experience more than satisfying.

Emman Tortoza

Website

Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.