Table of contents:
Introduction
The Thrill Boost 3 is Cloudfone‘s smartphone in the low priced entry-level for about P2,999. Even in this segment, you will find well capable cameras, decent battery life and sufficient time for everyday use. To stand out from the crowd, the Thrill Boost 3 offers a robust build with 18:9 screen, making it the most affordable smartphone to have such aspect ratio. But is that suitable to differentiate itself from other competitors of this sub-P3K price segment? Let’s find out.
Key specs:
- 5.45-inch FWVGA+ IPS LCD display, 960 X 480 resolution, 267 ppi
- Android 7.0 “Nougat”
- Dual-SIM, dual standby
- 1.3Ghz MediaTek MT6580M quad-core processor
- Mali-400MP2 GPU
- 8GB internal storage
- Expandable microSD slot up to 64GB (dedicated)
- 1GB RAM
- 5-megapixel rear camera
- 5-megapixel front camera
- 1080p at 30fps of video recording
- 4G LTE (Category 4)
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 4.0
- GPS, with A-GPS
- FM Radio
- micro-USB 2.0 connector
- 148.8 x 72.9 x 9.1 mm
- 175 grams
- 2,500 mAh removable battery
Unboxing
Display & Build
The 5.45-inch size of the Thrill Boost 3 fits perfectly in our hands. It feels solid and very comfortable while holding. The screen has nice viewing angles and color reproduction. But because of the low amount of brightness at maximum level, we found it not to be usable under sunlight.
Software, UI & Apps
The Cloudfone Thrill Boost 3 runs on nearly-stock Android 7.0 “Nougat”. It does have an app drawer that shows all the applications installed and downloaded. Meanwhile, the notification panel when we swipe down the screen is similar to the stock Android.
Performance & Benchmarks
The Thrill Boost 3 is powered by a quad-core MediaTek MT6580M manufactured in 28 nm. The Cortex-A7 processor has a maximum clock speed of 1.3GHz across the four cores. Graphics are handled by the ARM Mali-400 MP2 clocked at 416MHz.
Overall, the performance is only average for everyday use. There are some lags and stutters, with multitasking causing hinders and load times being evident. Unfortunately, the Thrill Boost 3 overcomes its relatively weak CPU and GPU when gaming, playing 3D games at low quality.
| Antutu: | 20,913 |
| Geekbench: | |
| Single-core | 424 |
| Multi-core | 1,236 |
| Renderscript | 801 |
| Ice Storm Unlimited: | 2,841 |
Camera
The rear camera on the Thrill Boost 3 has a 5-megapixel sensor with single LED flash to support in capturing images in low-light scenes. However, the biggest criticism on the rear camera is the absence of auto-focus. Since there’s no autofocus, and though it takes good quality photos with ample light conditions, the dynamics and sharpness are somewhat poor.
The 5-megapixel front-facing camera performs well in good light conditions. The picture quality is fair for selfies and group selfies, but photos often become gloomy. For video recording, both the rear and front can shoot in 1080p at up to 30 fps with the front-facing camera.
Rear camera
Front camera
Connectivity, Audio quality & Battery life
The Wi-Fi module on the phone is the standard IEEE 802.11 network and b/g/n protocols. The smartphone also supports Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS for navigation. The data network transmits via GSM and four HSPA+ bands. Sadly, there’s no LTE but that is acceptable for the price.
The main speaker of Thrill Boost 3 is located at the bottom part of the back panel. It is loud enough to fill a small room, but there are some infrequent tinny sounds which restrain the general sound quality. The included Spotify earphones sound reasonable.
The Thrill Boost 3’s removable battery has a 2,500 mAh capacity and can be charged in under three hours, as there’s no fast charging capability. Our PC Mark benchmark test keeps on crashing while we’re testing the battery score. Besides, it’ll last for a day in a light to moderate usage.
Verdict
The Cloudfone Thrill Boost 3 is an aesthetically pleasing, well made low-end smartphone. In our judgment. The positives of the phone include a decent battery life, sturdy build quality, and the viewing angles. However, there are some drawbacks to consider such as the lack of autofocus and those annoying pop-up advertisements.
Pros
- Solid build quality
- Dedicated microSD card slot
- Viewing angles are good
- Decent battery life
Cons
- No autofocus on the back camera
- Low brightness at maximum level
- Pop-up ads
