When we talk about the company Coolpad, it would ring a bell in many of your minds. The smartphone manufacturing company that entered India just 6 months ago is here with a new offering and a very attractive me for that matter. Today, we’ll be reviewing the Coolpad Note 3. So let’s get started.
In The Box:
- CoolPad Note 3 Smartphone with Removable Back cover but non removable battery
- Wall charger with micro USB port
- In-Ear Style Headphones
- Instruction booklet
Design and Hardware
The device is a big one with a 5.5” Display which was expected of it considering the term Note in its name. Coolpad has however tried to thin down the bezels as much as possible. You get three capacitive touch buttons below the screen which makes it a little difficult to access them considering the big size of the device.
While the device all plastic on the outside, Coolpad claims the device is built around an aluminium phone which is very impressive considering the Rs. 8999 price tag that the device comes with.
You’ll see the power button on the right side of the device while the volume buttons are located on the left. The top houses the 3.5 mm audio jack and bottom the microUSB slot. On the rear of the phone you’ll find the camera, an LED flash to its left and a fingerprint scanner below it. Yes you read it right, this sub Rs. 9999 device features a fingerprint scanner amongst many other great features.
The back panel of the phone is user removable giving you access to the two micro SIM card slots and the microSD card slot. The battery however sits firmly in the phone as it is non user removable.
Specifications of Coolpad Note 3
Talking about what makes the phone go around, we have the 64-bit octa core MediaTek MT6753 SoC clocked at 1.3 GHz paired with 3 GB of RAM which again sounds like something too good to be true for this price but that is what the company is offering.. The device comes with 16 GB of onboard storage memory which can be bumped upto 64 GB with the help of a microSD card. The device also supports USB OTG.
The 5.5” screen boasts of a resolution of 720p which may seem less for a screen this size but churns out about 320ppi which is pretty decent. Other features on the device include two micro LTE enabled SIM card slots, WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0 and FM amongst many others. The device also boasts of a 13 MP camera on the back with an LED flash and a 5 MP front facing snapper. All this is kept going by a 3000 mAh battery.
Software & UI:
Running on Android 5.1 with Coolpad’s own skin Cool UI applied on top of it, the device puts up quite some perfromance though the modifications to the stock Android was not something I personally liked. The device performs very well and any freezes or crashes or even lags were completely absent. We got an AnTuTu score of 33939 which is great for a price this device.
The fingerprint sensor works just fine too and setting it up and registering fingerprints is an easy task. You can register multiple fingerprints and the sensor is quite efficient in recognizing fingerprints from any orientation. The only issue with the sensor was its location on the back which means that you cannot access it with the phone lying down on its back.
Talking about the camera, it is capable of capturing some magnificent images in good light while low light performance is not that great but still above average. The camera offers good depth of field and is particlualry well in close-ups.
Talking about the 3,000 mAh powerhouse, it is more than enough to last you your whole day with a fair amount of gaming and web browsing. We had about 15% battery left at the end of the day.
Verdict
Coolpad is stepping into the Indian market and is also planning to start manufacturing devices in India soon. This means there will soon be cost cutting and also better after sale service. Nevertheless, the Coolpad Note 3 is a device that offers way more than what it costs though there are others in the race too with a full HD screen and that can be bought without having to go through the flash sales. But what makes the Note 3 stand out is its fingerprint scanner.
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