Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2 Initial Review: Shooting for the Stars?

Yo! Green Lantern and the Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2!

Unboxing the Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2

The Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2 stands tall and proud as one of Cherry Mobile’s flagship smartphones. Priced at Php11,699, the Cosmos X2 is a decked out device complete with a gorgeous 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD Display and 16GB internal storage that’s expandable via micro SD. There’s pretty much nothing to complain about when it comes to the specifications of the Cosmos X2. Speaking of specs, here’s a quick rundown of the spec sheet.

Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2 Partial Spec Sheet

1.2GHz Quad-core Processor
16GB Internal Storage, Expandable via MicroSD up to 32GB
1GB RAM
4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD Display
18.0-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED Flash and BSI
5.0-megapixel front-facing camera
Dual SIM, Dual Standby
3G, HSPA+, Bluetooth, WiFi, WiFi Hotspot, GPS/aGPS, FM Radio
Android Jelly Bean 4.2
2,200mAh battery

The good folks over at Cherry Mobile sent us a review unit. We’ll definitely put this through the paces but for now we just want to share with you guys our unboxing. To make things a little more interesting we asked the help of Green Lantern, lol.

Packaging and Unboxing

Comes in a very small box. Kinda weird packaging.

The box of the Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2 does not do the phone justice. Unlike previous Cherry Mobile smartphones with big solid carton boxes, the Cosmos X2 comes in a small and cramped soft carton box. The product hero shot is still printed up front with specifications at the back but the feel of the box is definitely not premium-level. Actually feels like the box for the entry-level devices of Samsung. To be perfectly honest, we don’t agree with the packaging style and we hope that Cherry Mobile reconsiders for their next line-up for Q4.

Opening was very straightforward. So as to not bore you with the usual unboxing pics, let’s have Green Lantern take a crack at it. 😛

Let's have Green Lantern open it, shall we? — Let’s have Green Lantern open it, shall we?

Open! Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2 officially unboxed!

Inside the box we found the Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2, standard micro USB to USB cable, wall charger, manuals, earphones, and certificates. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Hardware Inspection: Glorious Piano Black Plastic

These days phones keep getting bigger and bigger. Anything below 5-inches is actually “small” already. However you get to appreciate smaller screens once you get used to phablets (5.5-inches and up). That’s how we felt when we wrapped our hands around the 4.8-inch form factor of the Cosmos X2. Definitely easier to manage, navigate, and use even with just one hand.

Anything below 5-inches is a breath of fresh air these days

When it comes to the body the Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2 is predominantly made of glossy piano black plastic. This is the part that becomes a little tricky since we’re starting to see smartphones in this price range use more expensive materials like aluminum and different kinds of metal. For the back plate they put in some sort of line to make it look a little more techie (that’s the impression we get anyway). At least it’s not your usual boring plastic back right? Hehe.

All the ports, buttons, and controls are all neatly placed on the sides. Up front we have one physical home button in between two capacitive buttons. It’s interesting to note that the home button of this device has some kinda of brushed metal finish. If you ask me they should have just used that finish on the entire device.

Fancy looking home button you got there!

Compared to other flagship local brands, the Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2 passes in the looks and hardware department. It’s not the best out there but it’s definitely competitive and respectable.

Over-all form factor is good. Not the best, but still good.

Software Inspection: Smooth Operator

On the software side we got a fluid and smooth Android Jelly Bean experience on the Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2. The quad-core processor combined with the 1GB of RAM is more than enough to deliver an optimal Android experience. There was noticeable lag in using the camera and firing up graphics/memory intensive applications but it’s not really noticeable unless you came from a Galaxy S4, Xperia Z1, or HTC One (our benchmarks for really good Android experience.

We’ll report more on the software once we do the full review.

Initial Verdict

So what’s our initial verdict? Well the Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2 promises to be an excellent local flagship. If you already have a Galaxy S4 or iPhone 5, the Cosmos X2 makes for an excellent back-up or secondary smartphone. If you’re coming from the local mid-range, the Cosmos X2 is definitely worth looking at. The specs are quite good and it also doesn’t fail in the “looks” and aesthetics” department.

If you can’t wait for the full review just hop on to the neatest Cherry Mobile store or kiosk and get your new Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2. Don’t forget to take great photos! That 18MP shooter is perfect for picture-taking-on-the-go.

Everything considered the Cherry Mobile Cosmos X2 is a good challenger for the one of our personal local smartphone favorites, the Starmobile Knight. Watch out for our full review of this smartphone next week!

PS: Thank you Green Lantern for helping us with the unboxing. 😛