Coolpad Note 5 Hands-On Review

Coolpad has propelled the Note 5 exclusively for the Indian market. The all new Note 5 accompanies a supercool all metal body with a 2.5D glass (one that is bended at the edges) on top, both of which join to make for an elegant design. The smartphone will be only available on Amazon.in priced at INR 10,999 and shall be accessible in variations of royal gold, space grey starting October 2016 through open sale from 18th October 2016. I used Coolpad Note 5 for around a week and used it completely. I am awed with smartphone considering the value one needs to pay for this. Read the full review to know more about Coolpad Note 5.

Box Contents

In the box, you get the following:

• Coolpad Note 5
• Earphones
• Charging adapter
• Charging cable
• SIM ejector tool
• Screen guard and some User manuals

Design

Coolpad Note 5 includes full metal frame with matte finish on the back. The chrome finished lining along the edges makes it look extremely rich.

Over the display, you get an 8 mega pixel front camera and front camera flash either side, earpiece and sensors. There are three capacitive keys underneath the screen. Keys are marked with actions like multitasking, back, and home symbols.

The left side holds volume buttons. On the right, alongside the power button, the dual SIM tray is hybrid. You can insert either two Nano SIM cards (GSM + GSM) or one Nano SIM and one Micro SD card. It supports 4G network alongside VoLTE. The storage  can be extended up to 64 GB via Micro SD card .

The bottom of the phone has a standard microphhone and a MicroUSB port, not the new USB Type-C. Another microphone is right over the rear camera. At the top, there’s a 3.5 mm sound jack.

At back panel, you see the 13 mega pixel rear camera with LED flash which is located on the left side of the camera, secondary mic and circular fingerprint sensor is just below the rear camera. At the bottom side of the back panel, it has the Coolpad branding and speaker.

Overall build quality is solid. The back panel also has the slight curve at edges to offer better grip. Considering the price, this phone looks alluring.

Display

It comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display with 1920×1080 pixels resolution and 401ppi pixel density. The display is covered with 2.5D curved glass which seems becoming a new trend in the smartphone industry. The display is vivid and bright enough to offer good colors and decent experience.

Camera

It offers a 13 MP f/2.2 rear camera with single LED flash. The camera can record up to 1080p videos. On the front, it is having an 8 MP f/2.2 camera shockingly with front LED flash. So, selfie lovers can now capture selfie even in low-light conditions. Not all phones comes with a front flash hence making Coolpad Note 5 a beast. Front flash is probably something new for this price segment.The camera app is clean with minimal options to avoid confusion. Best thing is that app offers pro mode that allows manual camera control. It offers long exposure mode, panorama, watermark and GIF mode. Few camera effects are also there.

Performance & Hardware

The phone comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow with the modified Cool UI 8.0 interface. It is packed with 4GB RAM along with Qualcomm SD 617 Octacore processor and has a 32 GB of internal storage –which is expandable upto 64GB. It also supports USB OTG as a storage device. This is the cheapest phone with 4GB RAM in the market.

The only dissatisfaction is the older processor because including Snapdragon 450 or 452 could offer better performance with this much of RAM. This processor is also not bad and offers great performance. Coolpad has optimized it well to offer the great experience. Applications opens quickly and app switching is also quick.

Gaming on this phone also impresses. I played games like Asphalt 8, Need For Speed No limit, Frontline Commando 2, Modern Combat and NOVA 3. All these games were fine. Yes, this phone also heats while gaming but heating is under control.

Software

It runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Cool UI 8.0. The interface is smooth and engaging and offers a great deal of customization options. It comes with a Dual Apps feature that gives users a chance to run dual accounts for apps like WhatsApp and Facebook on the same phone at the same time. It accompanies few bloatware including UC Browser, WPS office, Xploree keyboard and more. It supports USB OTG which allows you to watch movies and videos directly using pendrive, without transferring them. It can also be utilized as a backup storage option

Swiping up opens the control center for performing actions rapidly. The best thing is that you can even modify this control center and decide the order and icons.

Connectivity

Coolpad Note 5 is packed with 4G with VoLTE and is compatible with Reliance Jio. Other connectivity features are Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and micro USB. The Note 5 is also equipped with an Accelerometer, Geomagnetic Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Light Sensor and a Fingerprint Sensor.

Fingerprint Sensor

It has very unique fingerprint sensor that rapidly unlocks the phone. Fingerprint sensor performs great and success ratio is amazing.

This fingerprint sensor is additionally multipurpose and can be used for different tasks like close alarm, video record, answer calls, call record and capture photographs.

Battery

The Coolpad Note 5 packed with 4010mAh battery which performs great in terms of battery life. I was able to get more than 24 hours of usage with all time on Wi-Fi or 4G data, multiple email accounts, a couple of phone calls and social media usage. For a large number of people, the Coolpad Note 5 should easily deliver over a day of usage. What else you need from this phone?

Best thing is that phone supports fast charging. There is also a power saving mode. Enable it to get enhanced battery performance.

Price & Availability

The Coolpad Note 5 will be exclusively available on Amazon.in at a price of INR 10,999. It will be available in variants of royal gold, space grey starting October 2016 via open sale from 18th October 2016.