Disclosure: Coolpad sponsored the correspondent’s flights and hotel in Dubai for the Cool Play 6 launch event.
Coolpad a Chinese brand in which LeEco is a majority stakeholder a few days back launched their latest smartphone- Cool Play 6. It has got a price tag of Rs 14,999 and will be available exclusively on Amazon from Septemeber 4, and the colour option will be Gold and Black.
If we talk about the specifications, Cool Play 6 has a metal unibody with a 5.5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) in-cell display. It has an octa-core Snapdragon 653 processor (Quad 1.95GHz ARM Cortex A72 + Quad 1.44GHz A53), which is paired with Adreno 510 GPU. The smartphone runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system. It has 6GB RAM, and 64 GB of internal storage, but it doesn’t have a microSD expansion slot.
On the camera front, it has 13-megapixel dual rear cameras which come with f/2.0 aperture, phase detection Autofocus (PDAF), dual tone LED flash on the back, while in its front lies an 8-megapixel snapper with a f/2.2 Aperture for selfies and video calling. The smartphone comes packed with powerful 4000 mAh non-removable battery which claims to offer up to 252 hours on standby, up to 9 hours of internet browsing, 8hours of video watching and 6hours of extreme gaming. The smartphone has a fingerprint sensor on the back panel located just under the rear cameras. This dual SIM device offers 4G with VoLTE, WiFi (802.11 ac/a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, and USB Type-C port. The handset measures 152 x 75.2 x 8.45mm and weighs 170 g.
So, now let’s move to the first impression of the device….
Things we liked:
On paper, Coolpad Cool Play has animpressive spec sheet which will excite a lot of people. Its design language seems to quite similar to LeEco Le Max 2, and actually, it is not bad. One can comfortably hold the device with one hand and even operate it. Though the colours of the display look a bit oversaturated they come nicely, and readability in bright sunlight is not an issue.
The fingerprint scanner used in Coolpad Cool Play 6 is quite fast and responsive. The device has an aggressive price tag and one a single charge we were able to to use the device for days primarily for clicking pictures and browsing.
Things we didn’t like:
First of all, let me make it clear that the Cool Play 6 which we got was test unit and not the final retail unit. So it was expected to buggy. The Journey UI, based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat, used in the device still need to be ironed out as it doesn’t give a constant performance. Sometimes it is smooth, and on occasions, it shows lag.
Though the Camera setup is the USP of the mobile, it needs an update badly. Bokeh effect is not as desired, it takes time to focus, gallery App is missing, and picture output both thru front and rear camera are not consistent. Also, thesmartphone doesn’t have an expandablememory slot which is quite strange because almost the smartphones available in Rs 15,000 price bracket have one.