Coolpad entered India less than six months ago with two Both grabbed quite a bit of attention for their low prices, especially the Dazen 1 which seemed like it would put a lot of pressure on Indian as well as fellow Chinese companies in the critical sub-Rs. 10, 000 market. Following those two launches, however, the company went pretty silent.
Now, following a corporate restructuring, the company is leaving the Dazen name and identity behind. Here in India, Coolpad is making up for lost time with a dramatic new launch. Even though we should be used to companies throwing more and more features into low-priced phones, the Coolpad Note 3 really made us sit up and pay attention. For just a shade under Rs. 9, 000, Coolpad is promising a huge screen, large battery, good looks, fast processor, 4G LTE, lots of memory - and as the icing on top, a high-quality fingerprint sensor. There’s a lot of hype to live up to, so let’s get started.
Look and feel
This is quite a large phone by any standards, though there’s no denying the popularity of big screens. The 5.5-inch display takes up most of the front face, and Coolpad has done what it could to reduce size around it. The capacitive navigation buttons are placed on the narrow plastic chin, which makes them a bit hard to reach while maintaining a solid grip on the phone. On-screen buttons might have made more sense for this phone.
There’s a metallic rim running around the front which has an unusual purplish tint, but this is only visible in bright light. While all plastic on the outside, Coolpad tells us that the Note 3 has an aluminium inner frame for stability, which is remarkable for a phone at this price level. The rear has a soft matte texture which is good for grip, but picks up scuffs and smudges way too easily.
The volume buttons are on the left while the power button is on the right. The 3.5mm audio socket on top and the Micro-USB port on the bottom are somewhat masked by the way the Note 3’s edges taper. On the rear, you’ll see slightly protruding camera right up top and in the centre, with its LED flash to one side and the phone’s signature fingerprint reader right beneath it. There’s a small Coolpad logo and a speaker grille towards the bottom.
The rear cover peels off with a little effort, but the battery beneath it is not removable. You only get access to the two Micro-SIM slots and the microSD card slot. Coolpad bundles only a charger, USB cable and headset in the box - no cover or adhesive screen protector like we’ve seen from some other companies.
At 9.3mm thick and 155g in weight, this is not an easy phone to handle. The tapered rear edges and matte finish do help somewhat, but you’ll wind up shuffling it up and down in your hand, and you’ll have to be careful of your grip at all times.
Specifications
Coolpad has managed to cram some fairly impressive hardware into its low-cost offering. The Coolpad Note 3 is based on a MediaTek MT6753 SoC, which is a 64-bit, octa-core model running at 1.3GHz. 3GB of RAM is pretty pathbreaking at this price, though as we’ve seen before, that on its own doesn’t mean much. There’s also a healthy 16GB of built-in storage space as well as support for microSD cards of up to 64GB, and USB-OTG support.
The 5.5-inch screen has a resolution of 720x1280, for an effective density of 320ppi. LTE is supported on Band 40 on both Micro-SIMs. Wi-Fi, including 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0 and FM radio are standard. The battery has a pretty solid capacity rating of 3000mAh. There’s a 13-megapixel camera with an LED flash on the rear, and a 5-megapixel one in front. Then of course there’s the fingerprint sensor, which the company says will be able to correctly identify an enrolled user no matter the angle at which he or she touches it.
Software
The Coolpad Note 3 comes with Android 5.1 and the company’s own Cool UI skin.