Fingerprint sensor, 3GB RAM, 3,000mAh battery, 13MP rear camera, HD display— appears to be a high-end smartphone, right?
But it's not. These specs come at a jaw-dropping price of Rs 8,999.
Chinese device maker Coolpad's Note 3 is a sub-Rs 10,000 smartphone which, according to the company, crossed over 5,00,000 registrations on Amazon.in within 2 days and sold 15,000 units in 5 minutes.
We review the Coolpad Note 3 to find out if it lives up to the company's promise of offering a feature packed device at an affordable price.
Display
Coolpad Note 3 sports a 5.5-inch display that offers vibrant colours and decent viewing angles. It offers HD (720x1280p) resolution, delivering pixel density of 267ppi. While the display doesn't pack a lot of pixels (per inch), we didn't notice a lot of pixilation. The panel offers good brightness levels and is very responsive to touch.
The sunlight legibility offered by the smartphone is pretty decent but the display is little more reflective than what most people would prefer.
Design
Coolpad Note 3 doesn't really stand out amongst the crowd when it comes to design. Having said that, it doesn't look too shabby either. It's got curved edges at the back and a soft matte finish that Coolpad calls Baby Skin.
As per the company the finish prevents staining. The back cover is removable and hides the sealed battery, a stacked micro-sim+microSD card and a secondary micro-sim card slot. The fingerprint sensor is also at the back, slightly recessed just below the 13MP camera lens and LED flash. The speaker grill is towards the bottom on the same side.
There's a chrome finish rim around the front panel that reminds you of older Samsung phones. The front panel also sports some matte finish and features capacitive touch navigation keys that are not backlit. The display gives the illusion of being bezel-free till you turn on the backlight; you'll notice black-coloured borders that don't really look good but remember that it's a budget device.
The power button is on the right edge while the volume rocker sits at the left. The 3.5mm headset jack and micro-USB port are placed at the top and bottom edges, respectively. The keys offer decent tactile feedback but don't have much travel. The phone isn't very large despite the big screen and isn't difficult to use with one hand.
Software
Coolpad Note 3 runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with the company's Cool UI 6.0 skin running on top. It features unified app launcher-homescreen navigation and a highly customised interface that supports themes. It comes with customized system apps and some third party apps are also preloaded.
The phone's UI has no app drawer, and all the app icons are displayed on the phone's homescreen. The phone comes preloaded with a number of apps including WeChat, WPS Office, Facebook, SwiftKey, among others. Some of these preloaded apps were specifically designed for Coolpad including FP Lock, CoolShow, Rock Wallpaper, and Cool store.
We'd like to specially mention the shortcut feature of the smartphone in the notification panel. This feature lets you use the most commonly used actions such as home, lock, auto-rotation, brightness control and even a screenshot with a single tap.
Through the multi-tasking feature, the phone also lets users operate two apps at the same time, just like the Coolpad Dazen 1. Besides this, the phone comes with smart control features such as wakeup gestures, glove mode and cover mode. In our experience, the phone was smooth and we did not notice any lag.
Hardware & performance
Coolpad Note 3 is powered by a 1.3GHz 64-bit Mediatek MT6753 octa-core processor, the phone is the only one in this price range to come with 3GB of RAM. It offers 16GB storage expandable up to 64GB via microSD card.
In terms of connectivity, the dual-sim phone comes with support for 4G LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. Both sim slots support 4G LTE. The Coolpad Note 3 is backed by a 3,000mAh battery.
In our time with the phone we did not experience any lag or stutter while opening and switching between apps and playing casual games.
The Coolpad Note 3 is also the only device available under Rs 10,000 to sport a fingerprint sensor at the back that supports authentication and gesture functions to launch apps and perform functions like activating the camera shutter.
Setting up the fingerprint sensor was also very simple and we found it to be pretty responsive. The Touch ID is the USP of the CoolPad Note 3 and delivers what it promises. The phone's sensor is as good as the Samsung Note5, the high-end smartphone from the Korean giant. It is capable of reading fingerprints in 360-degree, giving users the flexibility of placing their finger in any orientation. In our use, we did not encounter any hiccups while using it.
The sound output through the phone's speaker grill was also loud and clear. Call quality was very good and the phone works well even in weak signal areas. We observed that the phone catches signal even weak Wi-Fi signals.
The 4G connectivity of the smartphone was not that great. While other devices were able to catch a 4G signal, Coolpad Note 3 was losing signal at times.
The phone comes with an FM radio tuner but lacks NFC connectivity. While the fingerprint sensor supports different authentication options, the lack of NFC may prevent the phone from being used for mobile payments at physical terminals. The phone comes with a non-removable 3,000mAh battery and lasts a full day with normal to high usage. This may differ depending on usage and the apps used.
Camera
Coolpad Note 3 has a 13MP rear camera with a 5 piece lens arrangement, f2.0 aperture and 1.4 micron pixel size. The camera is accompanied by an LED flash and supports full-HD 1080p video recording.
The phone has a 5MP front camera for clicking selfies. We observed that there was no shutter lag and the camera was able to quickly focus on objects.
Most of the photos we took using the rear camera of the smartphone under direct sunlight came out pretty well with decent level of detail, accurate colour reproduction and good contrast.
Though we were not expecting much from the front camera, we were surprised as it shot good quality selfies and offered all the tools to make you look good.
(Front camera)
Verdict
Priced at Rs 8,999, the Coolpad Note 3 smartphone offers hardware specs that are available in only high-end smartphones — fingerprint sensor, 3GB RAM, 3,000mAh battery, good camera and HD display.
In terms of features, the smartphone is quite unlike any other handset in this segment. Coolpad Note 3 is the only sub-10,000 smartphone that comes with a fingerprint sensor and 3GB RAM.
However, it has its set of downers -- it's heavy, lacks a Full-HD display and the design doesn't really inspire.
But, all said and done, it won't be wrong to say that it marks a big step in the evolution of the budget smartphone and sets a benchmark.
But it's not. These specs come at a jaw-dropping price of Rs 8,999.
Chinese device maker Coolpad's Note 3 is a sub-Rs 10,000 smartphone which, according to the company, crossed over 5,00,000 registrations on Amazon.in within 2 days and sold 15,000 units in 5 minutes.
We review the Coolpad Note 3 to find out if it lives up to the company's promise of offering a feature packed device at an affordable price.
Display
Coolpad Note 3 sports a 5.5-inch display that offers vibrant colours and decent viewing angles. It offers HD (720x1280p) resolution, delivering pixel density of 267ppi. While the display doesn't pack a lot of pixels (per inch), we didn't notice a lot of pixilation. The panel offers good brightness levels and is very responsive to touch.
The sunlight legibility offered by the smartphone is pretty decent but the display is little more reflective than what most people would prefer.
Design
Coolpad Note 3 doesn't really stand out amongst the crowd when it comes to design. Having said that, it doesn't look too shabby either. It's got curved edges at the back and a soft matte finish that Coolpad calls Baby Skin.
As per the company the finish prevents staining. The back cover is removable and hides the sealed battery, a stacked micro-sim+microSD card and a secondary micro-sim card slot. The fingerprint sensor is also at the back, slightly recessed just below the 13MP camera lens and LED flash. The speaker grill is towards the bottom on the same side.
There's a chrome finish rim around the front panel that reminds you of older Samsung phones. The front panel also sports some matte finish and features capacitive touch navigation keys that are not backlit. The display gives the illusion of being bezel-free till you turn on the backlight; you'll notice black-coloured borders that don't really look good but remember that it's a budget device.
The power button is on the right edge while the volume rocker sits at the left. The 3.5mm headset jack and micro-USB port are placed at the top and bottom edges, respectively. The keys offer decent tactile feedback but don't have much travel. The phone isn't very large despite the big screen and isn't difficult to use with one hand.
Software
Coolpad Note 3 runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with the company's Cool UI 6.0 skin running on top. It features unified app launcher-homescreen navigation and a highly customised interface that supports themes. It comes with customized system apps and some third party apps are also preloaded.
The phone's UI has no app drawer, and all the app icons are displayed on the phone's homescreen. The phone comes preloaded with a number of apps including WeChat, WPS Office, Facebook, SwiftKey, among others. Some of these preloaded apps were specifically designed for Coolpad including FP Lock, CoolShow, Rock Wallpaper, and Cool store.
We'd like to specially mention the shortcut feature of the smartphone in the notification panel. This feature lets you use the most commonly used actions such as home, lock, auto-rotation, brightness control and even a screenshot with a single tap.
Through the multi-tasking feature, the phone also lets users operate two apps at the same time, just like the Coolpad Dazen 1. Besides this, the phone comes with smart control features such as wakeup gestures, glove mode and cover mode. In our experience, the phone was smooth and we did not notice any lag.
Hardware & performance
Coolpad Note 3 is powered by a 1.3GHz 64-bit Mediatek MT6753 octa-core processor, the phone is the only one in this price range to come with 3GB of RAM. It offers 16GB storage expandable up to 64GB via microSD card.
In terms of connectivity, the dual-sim phone comes with support for 4G LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. Both sim slots support 4G LTE. The Coolpad Note 3 is backed by a 3,000mAh battery.
In our time with the phone we did not experience any lag or stutter while opening and switching between apps and playing casual games.
The Coolpad Note 3 is also the only device available under Rs 10,000 to sport a fingerprint sensor at the back that supports authentication and gesture functions to launch apps and perform functions like activating the camera shutter.
Setting up the fingerprint sensor was also very simple and we found it to be pretty responsive. The Touch ID is the USP of the CoolPad Note 3 and delivers what it promises. The phone's sensor is as good as the Samsung Note5, the high-end smartphone from the Korean giant. It is capable of reading fingerprints in 360-degree, giving users the flexibility of placing their finger in any orientation. In our use, we did not encounter any hiccups while using it.
The sound output through the phone's speaker grill was also loud and clear. Call quality was very good and the phone works well even in weak signal areas. We observed that the phone catches signal even weak Wi-Fi signals.
The 4G connectivity of the smartphone was not that great. While other devices were able to catch a 4G signal, Coolpad Note 3 was losing signal at times.
The phone comes with an FM radio tuner but lacks NFC connectivity. While the fingerprint sensor supports different authentication options, the lack of NFC may prevent the phone from being used for mobile payments at physical terminals. The phone comes with a non-removable 3,000mAh battery and lasts a full day with normal to high usage. This may differ depending on usage and the apps used.
Camera
Coolpad Note 3 has a 13MP rear camera with a 5 piece lens arrangement, f2.0 aperture and 1.4 micron pixel size. The camera is accompanied by an LED flash and supports full-HD 1080p video recording.
The phone has a 5MP front camera for clicking selfies. We observed that there was no shutter lag and the camera was able to quickly focus on objects.
Most of the photos we took using the rear camera of the smartphone under direct sunlight came out pretty well with decent level of detail, accurate colour reproduction and good contrast.
Though we were not expecting much from the front camera, we were surprised as it shot good quality selfies and offered all the tools to make you look good.
(Front camera)
Verdict
Priced at Rs 8,999, the Coolpad Note 3 smartphone offers hardware specs that are available in only high-end smartphones — fingerprint sensor, 3GB RAM, 3,000mAh battery, good camera and HD display.
In terms of features, the smartphone is quite unlike any other handset in this segment. Coolpad Note 3 is the only sub-10,000 smartphone that comes with a fingerprint sensor and 3GB RAM.
However, it has its set of downers -- it's heavy, lacks a Full-HD display and the design doesn't really inspire.
But, all said and done, it won't be wrong to say that it marks a big step in the evolution of the budget smartphone and sets a benchmark.
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