CloudFone Thrill 530qx versus Cherry Mobile Blaze 2.0

It is actually a bit strange comparing these two devices, since the two will appeal to two different types of users. On the other hand, being in the market for a phablet, I started to gravitate between these two. 

The appeal of the Cherry Mobile Blaze 2.0 is pretty easy to understand. This phone has a large 5.7-inch HD (720 x 1280) display and is the cheapest phone with a suggested retail price of Php9,490. The CloudFone Thrill has a smaller lower resolution 5.3-inch qHD display (540 x 960), but the draw behind this phone is the 4500 mAh battery. The CloudFone Thrill 530qx is priced at Php9,999.

The 4500 mAh battery of the CloudFone Thrill 530qx will provide you twice as much battery life as the 2500 mAh battery of the  Cherry Mobile Blaze 2.0. In addition to having a bigger battery, the smaller display of the Thrill will mean it will use less juice when the screen is on. The qHD display is also a lot less power hungry than the HD display. Initial reviews on the battery life of the CloudFone Thrill 530qx are very promising. Check out this review by Mark Marcelo.

The CloudFone Thrill 530qx has a MediaTek MT6589M chipset as compared to the MediaTek MT6589 on the Cherry Mobile Blaze 2.0. The difference between the two is the clock speed of the PowerVR graphics card:

• MediaTek MT6589M - PowerVR SGX544 @ 158 MHz
• MediaTek MT6589 - PowerVR SGX544 @ 286 MHz

The CloudFone Thrill 530qx has 55% of the graphics processing of the Cherry Mobile Blaze 2.0, not accounting for diminishing returns at higher clock speeds.

But the slower graphics card has no effect on the performance of the CloudFone Thrill 530qx.

• CloudFone Thrill 530qx - qHD display has 518,400 pixels
• Cherry Mobile Blaze 2.0 - HD display has 921,600 pixels

The CloudFone Thrill 530qx has 56% of the pixels of the Cherry Mobile Blaze 2.0. The result is, the performance of both phones should be about equal. 

The main drawback to the MediaTek MT6589M processor is not the performance, but the camera. It only supports 720p video capture and cameras up to 8 MP in size.  This means that the 12 MP camera on the CloudFone Thrill 530qx is at most an 8 MP camera. When you take a picture, the phone captures an 8 MP still, and then processes to 12 MP by stretching out the pixels. I am not fond of this software trickery which actually produces poorer quality shots than if they just kept the stills at 8 MP.

So ultimately, you have a choice of the larger sharper display or longer battery life. If you want Full HD video capture, the Cherry Mobile Blaze 2.0 is the way to go.

Me, I am undecided. It will be a second device and my main handset has a good camera and 1080p video, so it is really matter of size and display sharpness versus battery life for me.