Cherry Mobile’s octa-core smartphone scores big on some fronts, stumbles in others

To call Cherry Mobile’s Cosmos Z2 as one of the most anticipated smartphone from the company is the understatement of the year. Our original announcement post and subsequent initial review received a lot of traffic, unfortunately it’s only now that we managed to nab a review unit from Cherry Mobile. We’ve spent quite a bit of time with the Cosmos Z2, and while it’s one of the best smartphones we’ve ever reviewed from the local brand, there is an issue (which can be resolved) that managed to get in the way of giving the phone a glowing review. Let’s begin.

Cherry Mobile Cosmos Z2 specs

• 1.7GHz MediaTek Octa-core processor
• Mali 450-MP
• 2GB RAM
• 5-inch IPS OGS, full HD display, Dragontrail glass protection, 1920 x 1080 resolution
• Dual SIM (one micro SIM, one regular SIM)
• 16GB storage, expandable via microSD up to 64GB
• 18-megapixel BSI camera with autofocus
• 8-megapixel front camera
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS
• OTG ready
• WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi direct
• 2000mAh battery
• Android Jelly Bean 4.2
• Priced at Php 12,999

One sexy smartphone

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: the Cosmos Z2 is definitely a looker. We were highly impressed by its design when we first saw it back in February, and we’re still digging it a month and a half later. Its simple, elegant build is surprisingly sleek and very handsome, and many people that we showed the device to always mistook it for a smartphone built by an international brand with most of them asking if it was Sony’s new smartphone, hehe. A lot of it is due to the phone’s impressive build quality – there was absolutely no creaks or noticeable gaps anywhere in the device. As we mentioned before, the Z2 is Cherry Mobile’s slimmest phone yet – coming in only at 7.7mm.

The Z2 has a matte black back, which makes the phone grippier and easier to hold overall. The layout of the physical keys are typical for a 5-inch smartphone – volume rocker the left, power button on the right, 3.5mm jack on top and USB port on the bottom. The 18-megapixel camera with autofocus is located on the back, where it usually is.

The camera does protrude just a wee bit from the body of the Z2, creating a noticeable bump on the back.

While the Z2 looks to have a non-removable back, that’s not the case. The back cover of the Z2 is easily removed, though we feel that it’s a bit flimsy and fragile to be honest. Once you remove the back you’ll see the the dual-SIM slots (with one being a micro SIM deal), microSD expansion slot and the 2000mAh battery.

The 5-inch display on the Z2 performs great. It’s very bright, which makes it easy to see under direct sunlight. The OGS solution in the Z2 makes the icons feel that they’re floating on the display. To say that we were very impressed with the Z2’s 5-inch screen is putting it lightly.

One thing that we didn’t like with the design is the placement of the capacitive navigation keys for Android. While the middle button is where it’s supposed to be, the two other buttons are spaced too far apart relative to the middle button. We found that our fingers always reflexively went to the space where the two buttons were supposed to be. This may or may not be a big issue for you.

Blazingly fast, thanks to MediaTek’s octa-core solution

One of the main draws of the Cosmos Z2 is its 1.7GHz MediaTek octa-core processor. We’ve seen the same processor on two of its competitors before, so we know that it’s capable of performing going the distance, as far as performance is concerned. Remember our initial unboxing benchmarks? We found the root of the problem – apparently we had the processor operating in low-power mode, which explained the less than stellar results.

We ran AnTuTu again, this time with the power saving mode off, and got the expected 25937 points that we expected from the Cosmos Z2.

That blistering performance translated to a smooth overall experience with the Z2. Screen transitions and overall navigation was buttery smooth, though we did experience a tiny (and we do mean tiny) bit of lag while navigating through the custom UI that the Z2 used. We did encounter other software related issues that we’ll go into later.

As far as gaming is concerned, the Z2 passes with flying colors. The Z2 is capable of running Dead Trigger 2 with the graphics set on high, which cranks up the detail and effects to max, with little to no lag. It also managed to run Asphalt 8 without any problems, as well as another of Gameloft’s demanding gaming titles, Thor the Dark World.

Cherry Mobile’s Custom UI looks great, but isn’t perfect

We were expecting the Z2 to sport stock Android when it launched, much like Cherry Mobile’s other offerings. That’s not the case though – the company stuck on a custom UI on the Z2 when we initially saw it back in February. The custom UI is actually not bad at all, and had this minimalist air to it that endeared it to us while we were using it. The UI also gave the phone several new features – the phone can be muted while flipping it when its ringing, you can wake the display by using different swipe combinations, and so on.

Unfortunately, we did notice our review unit had the habit of rebooting or locking up in the most inopportune time. It didn’t do it often enough to be a source of major concern, but the mere fact that it did that at all means there may be a problem with the software on the phone, most likely with the custom UI. The silver lining here is that this can be corrected (hopefully soon) through a software update.

 

Stellar camera performance

Cherry Mobile has gotten a bad rap with the quality of the cameras on its devices, something that the company has been trying very hard to erase with their current crop of smartphones. We’re happy to report that the Z2 has an excellent camera, capable of plenty of detail, excellent color reproduction and has strong low-light performance. This is probably the best camera we’ve seen in a Cherry Mobile device yet.

Those photos of the orchids, for example, were taken at 8:00 PM at V-Mall in Greenhills. The photos of Asus officials were taken in 71 Gramercy, at around 7:00 PM.

The skyline photos were taken at the same place, around 5:00 PM in the afternoon. Like we said, the Z2 has the best camera of all of Cherry Mobile’s phones.

Not so stellar battery life

If there’s one thing that really lets the Z2 down, it’s its less than stellar battery life. Many people expressed concern over the 2000mAh battery on the Z2, fearing that it’s not capable of standing up to heavy use. Well, they were partly right. With extremely heavy use (heavy gaming, internet browsing with data, calls and SMS) the Z2 managed to clock in around 7 hours of battery life. With the power saving mode of the phone on (which by the way, knocks 5K off the performance score in AnTuTu) it managed to get a bit farther, clocking in 8 hours of battery life. Like some of Cherry Mobile’s other smartphones, it might be a good idea to invest in a powerbank when you buy the Z2.

Verdict: A software update shy of being the best local octa-core smartphone

The Cherry Mobile Cosmos Z2 may very well be the local octa-core smartphone to beat. It has all the right things going for it – great performance from the octa-core processor, excellent camera and a UI that actually adds functionality instead of just taking up space. Unfortunately the software issue that we pointed out needs to be addressed, as the random restarts really take away from the user experience when it happens. Its less than ideal battery life can also easily be addressed by a power bank, but the software update needs to happen if Cherry Mobile wants to come out on top in the local octa-core war.

The Cherry Mobile Cosmos Z2 retails for Php 12,999.