We unbox the Cherry Mobile Omega Icon!
A bunch of goodies just arrived at the Unbox HQ yesterday evening, one of them being Cherry Mobile’s latest smartphone, the Omega Icon. The Omega Icon is notable for a few things, namely it’s one of the new batches of CM phones that use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 200 proccessor. It’s also one of Cherry Mobile’s most stylish smartphones yet, as it sports a faux leather back, similar to the one that’s on Samsung’s more expensive Note series of devices. Today, we’ll be unboxing the retail packaging and showing you what’s inside, as well as giving you our initial impressions of the device.
Cherry Mobile Omega Icon
- 1.2GHz quad-core processor
- 1GB of RAM
- 5-inch HD IPS display, Dragon Trail glass protection, 1280 x 720 resolution
- 4GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 32GB
- 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash
- 5-megapixel front camera with LED flash
- 3G, HSPA+
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
- 2000mAh battery
- Android 4.3
- Php 6,499
Packaging and contents
It looks like Cherry Mobile is consolidating the packaging on all Omega series of smartphones as the Omega Icon came in the same style as their Omega Spectrum and Infinity. There’s a carton sleeve over the actual box itself which has been die-cut to resemble the Omega Icon. On the back of the sleeve lies the specifications of the device.
Once you take out that sleeve, you’re greeted with a white box with the name of the product written on the middle. The box contains the actual unit, headphones, USB cable, charger and a manual.
Cherry Mobile also included a silicone USB cable holder with its own USB cable, so essentially you’re getting two USB cables with the Omega Icon.
Initial impressions: fast, responsive smartphone that’s a real looker
The Omega Icon eschews CM’s normal matte black smartphone designs and goes for something even more ambitious and premium: leather, or at least, faux leather (or pleather). The faux leather design on the back of the Omega Icon closely resembles the one that Samsung uses for its higher end Note smartphones and tablets, down to the fake stitching on the side.
The faux leather isn’t cheaply done either, and has a rigid, solid feel to it, giving you a better extra grip when you hold the device in your hands. There’s an aluminum band that runs on the side of the device to break up the monotonous all black design of the Omega Icon. All in all, the Omega Icon looks and more importantly, feels like a premium smartphone.
As far as button placements go, there are no surprises here: on the left is the volume rocker, while on the right lies the power/unlock button. On the top lies both the USB port and 3.5mm jack. The display is a 5-inch, HD IPS display that’s protected by Asahi’s anti-scratch Dragon Trail glass.
The display quality is good – it’s bright, has generous viewing angles (naturally so because of the IPS panel) and good color reproduction overall. The camera module on the back is typical of CM’s recent efforts, meaning it protrudes slightly from the back a few millimeters, something that you should be aware of when laying the phone down on uneven surfaces.
The Omega Icon is one of the batches of CM phones that use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 200 processor instead of MediaTek’s offering, so we were curious to see how it stacked up, at least in synthetic benchmarks. We’re happy to report that although it’s slower than MediaTek’s typical quad-core offerings (coming in at just 1.2GHz instead of the typical 1.3GHz), it still managed to hold its own, although the obvious speed difference is reflected in our initial benchmarks. Since the Omega Icon uses Qualcomm’s chips, it’s able to use several of Qualcomm’s apps, most notably the Battery Guru app that allows users to extend their battery life further by intelligently making changes that optimize device functionality in phones with Snapdragon mobile processors. As far as the user experience is concerned, the Omega Icon is relatively quick and handled navigation well, with little to no lag at all.
That’s it. Expect a review of the device later on.