Coolpad Note 5 review

Coolpad Note 5 sports a metal unibody design and the smartphone has impressive specifications on paper.

Coolpad has managed to create a space for itself in the Indian smartphone market thanks to its budget offerings. The company has been fairly active in bringing new devices to India. It recently partnered with its Chinese counterpart LeEco, and Coolpad Note 5 is the first smartphone since the acquisition. Coolpad Note 5 is priced competitively at Rs 10,999 and packs a big 4,010 mAh battery.

Coolpad Note 5

Similar to most budget smartphones that we come across these days, Coolpad Note 5 sports a metal unibody design. The smartphone has impressive specifications on paper given the price and directly competes with the likes of Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, Lenovo K6 Power and Asus Zenfone 3 Max. It comes with a 5.5-inch full HD display and runs Android Marshmallow with CoolUI on top. But the highlight of the device is its 4,010 mAh battery that should easily get you through at least two days. So, how did Coolpad Note 5 performed when we put it to test? Here’s our review.

Price: Rs 10,999

What’s good?

Coolpad Note 5’s design will remind you of a lot of similar metal unibody design phones out there, especially Redmi Note 3. The Note 5 has a sturdy built and does not feel heavy even with the big 4,010 mAh battery inside. The 2.5D curved glass design on the front gives it a stylish look and the device is easy to hold. Its got shiny metal rims running along the edges and visible antenna lines on top and bottom at the back.

The fingerprint scanner is almost the same size as the camera lens and the two are placed one below another. Overall, the Note 5 feels premium give its price.

The display is quite impressive, one that reproduces accurate colours and has great viewing angles. The icons look sharp and vibrant. Plus, I didn’t have to struggle to use the camera or read on the Note 5 in bright sunlight.

The battery easily lasts for one and a half day on heavy usage. You can squeeze in another half day, if you put the device on moderate usage. Even with the Internet switched on at all times and playing games, watching videos on the Note 5, it refused to die in a day.

Coolpad Note 5 is surprisingly good with multitasking. During our review period, I didn’t encounter lag while opening apps or any other performance issues. I used it to play games, browse the Internet and watch video. However, the phone does start to get a bit warm within 10 minutes of playing graphic heavy games.The phone runs Cool UI on top of Android Marshmallow, which I liked. The UI brings the ability to run dual apps on the device along with several other customisation options. For example, there’s the three-finger screenshot that allows you to swipe up or down with three fingers to screenshot and Finger Touch that lets you perform various tasks such as take pictures, close alarm or answer calls with the fingerprint scanner.

What’s not good?

The camera in Coolpad Note 5 failed to impress me. For starters, pictures that were taken with the rear camera, even in bright outdoors do not look sharp. The colour reproduction isn’t quite accurate. Pictures in low-light have a lot of noise and are grainy. The beautification mode in the front camera does a poor job. The capacitive buttons are not backlit either, which is not so good.

Verdict

Coolpad Note 5 does have quite a few points going for it like design, display, and battery. But the brand faces competition from rivals such as Xiaomi and Lenovo. Given Coolpad as a brand, isn’t as popular, it will have a tough time convincing users that it is worthy of the price tag.