The Cherry Mobile Cosmos Z is here, and it threatens to make all the premium priced locally branded handsets look obsolete. In the past few months we have locally branded handsets release more premium models at priced between 10K to 13K. I call these premium handsets because they use the same guts as models from the same companies priced between 6K to 10K. What sets them apart is thinner cases, better cameras, more storage, Gorilla Glass or Super AMOLED displays. The general market feedback is that these phones are priced too high, and local brands should stay below 10K. The Cherry Mobile Cosmos Z might change that perception.
The Cherry Mobile Cosmos Z brings something new to the picture. This 5-inch Android smartphone has a Full HD display. Yup, that is a 5-inch, 1080 x 1920 pixel resolution display. Priced at Php11,999 it is matches the price of MyPhone's premium Agua series (Iceberg and Vortex) and is at the same range as Starmobile Knight and Diamond V7. The Cherry Mobile Z is even priced closed enough to Cherry Mobile others Cosmos phones to make a buyer forget about all except for the Cosmos Z. It really depends. How much do you want a 1080p display? Forget about the other specifications. They are par for the course. Success of the Cosmos Z lies in how much demand there is for a low cost 1080p smartphone. Personally, I think there is very little difference between a 5-inch 720p display and a 5-inch 1080p display. I think most people will disagree with me though.
In order to provide the additional grunt needed to run a 1080p display, the Cherry Mobile Cosmos Z has a MeditaTek 6589T chipset. Basically, this is a MeditaTek 6589 with the processor clocked at 1.5 GHz instead of 1.2 GHz. The PowerVR graphics processor has also been clocked to a higher 357 MHz from 286 MHz. We will have to wait for user feedback to see if this is enough to give good 3D performance at 1080p.
While being a large handset being 142.7 mm tall and 71.9 mm wide, it is also a very thin handset at 7.9 mm, which adds to the WOW factor.
All of a sudden the Starmobile Knight (Php11,290) looks old. The Starmobile Diamond V7 (Php12,990) feels even more expensive. An the MyPhone Agua Vortex (Php12,388), well that one looks like it is dead on arrival. Even the Super AMOLED display on Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2 (Php11,690) and large battery on the Cosmos S (Php10,999) will make them though sells.
Unless something goes terribly wrong in terms of real world performance, it is a new day has dawned for the local smartphone market.
At the very least this should make Samsung reconsider about putting a WVGA screen on their 5-inch phone.
ReplyDeleteGalaxy Grand? More like Galaxy Grandma, even she can see the pixels >.>
All well and Good, but when is it going to be released? Pundits have talked about it for ages, the Cherry Mobile web site is a dead loss for any info (it's so cartoonish, and as always, it looks like another silly advert for the NSA driven Facebook crap) I'm worried about the bad Publicity that Cherry Mobile gets, but I would love to buy one of these and hope, all is well with it. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteThe Cosmos Z is a good performer for about 80% of tasks given. Surfing is at par with most high-end phones, calls, etc. The only area you can feel the difference is when playing premium games. GTA III, GTA - Vice City, Asphalt 7 and Asphalt:Airborne process quite poorly, showing lag, and disappropriate proportions at times. Even a simple game (but with high detail) like Minion Rush cannot run 100% (I'd say it's a 80%) making the gameplay disappointing. If you're not a heavy gamer, or into the whole smartphones-are-the-next-gaming-platform kind of person, then this is a really good phone. The camera is OK, not as impressive as, say, the Samsung S3 or S4 despite claiming to have more megapixels. I'd say 7 out of 10 - the unit is worth the price, if you're only looking at buying brand new.
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