While the battle for supremacy in the sub-Rs.15, 000 smartphone segment rages on, there’s a new one brewing in the sub-Rs.10, 000 price bracket. Xiaomi recently added fuel to the embers when it launched the Redmi 3s and Redmi 3s Prime ( Review) , two excellent options that deliver great bang for buck.
Coolpad, another Chinese company known for disrupting the budget segment, announced its answer to Xiaomi’s offering with the launch of the Mega 2.5D. Available only through the flash sale model for now, the Mega 2.5D is a selfie-focused smartphone with big emphasis on design. Although it might seem like major competition for the Redmi 3s, we feel the Mega 2.5D is poised to be an alternative for those looking at a larger display in this segment.
But is it any good? Can Coolpad’s new offering make a strong enough case for it to sway buyers away from the obvious choices here?
Design and build
The Mega 2.5D is certainly an attractive looking phone in its gold avatar and we can see Coolpad has paid close attention to the build as well as fit and finish of the chassis. The 2.5D in its name refers to the curved glass on top of the display. This is manufactured by NEG ( Nippon Electric Glass) and we can expect a certain degree of scratch protection. There are black bezels on the either side of the display, which creates a nice illusion of an edge-to-edge panel when the screen is off.
The 5.5-inch display has to make do with HD resolution, which is fairly common in this segment. However, due to size of the display, the pixel density is a bit low which manifests as jagged edges around text. It’s not too prominent but is definitely present. There’s a notification LED on the top and onscreen navigation buttons, so you save some space at the bottom