REVIEWS: CLOUDFONE GO SP Spotify Edition
Words and Photos By: Dindin Moreno (Drummer – Parokya ni Edgar)
Having a smart phone has never been more popular than now. But choosing one requires a lot of time for research to find the perfect one for you. Of course, you also have to consider your budget. You can almost never go wrong if you go with the high-end flagships from Apple, HTC, or Samsung. Even the mid-level models from Huawei, Oppo, or Asus are good enough. But you can even save more money if you get one of the models from Cloudfone.
CLOUDFONE is a company that envisions every Filipino to be connected to the Internet. They have achieved this by offering a wide-range of affordable but quality smartphones with the latest technology available in the market today. What I have for review right now is the CLOUDFONE GO SP Spotify Edition. This is an entry-level budget smartphone. But nonetheless, the CLOUDFONE GO SP can still hold its own in its class in the Royal Rumble like smartphone market.
The first thing that I noticed when I picked it up from the box is that it feels solid. It’s all black color also exudes class and distinction above other entry-level smartphones. The carbon fiber like texture of the back cover not only prevents slippage, but also gives you a feeling that this costs more than it’s Php 2299 list price. You have to pry open the back cover to insert the Dual SIMs, microSD card, and 2000mAh Li-ion battery. Other specs are a 1.3 GHz MT6580 quad core processor, 512MB RAM, 8GB ROM expandable via microSD slot up to 32GB, 5MP rear camera with flash, VGA front camera, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Android 6.0 Marshmallow. These are not top-of-the-line features of a smartphone, but with its price, there is not so much to complain about.
This is a CLOUDFONE with Spotify branding. So after powering-up the phone, you will be greeted by the phone’s animations and Spotify themed wallpaper. Spotify branding means that the Spotify app, which is one of, if not the best music app available today, is already pre-loaded. The included earphones are also in Spotify branding.
This being a budget-friendly phone, we should expect ‘budget-friendly’ features also. So don’t expect lightning-fast and flagship like performance on this phone. Though the 512MB RAM is good enough for the Spotify music app to run flawlessly, it will definitely stutter a bit if you play some graphic-intensive and 3D games on it. The internal 8GB ROM which is actually only around 4.7GB usable, is also good enough for a few apps and a few hundred songs downloaded on the Spotify app. Be sure to fill the empty microSD card slot to maximize the phone’s usability.
The phone is equipped with a 5-inch FWVGA (854×480) touchscreen. Not exactly what I call pin sharp, but it does the job. It is quite a bit reflective though. So the optimum way to view the screen is to be right in front and angled away a bit from you. The reflective screen also makes it a bit hard to read under direct sunlight.
The built-in speaker is not mind blowing, but it’s okay for playing classical music, lullabies, or ballads when going to sleep. Even the included earphones didn’t sit well on my liking. But when I used it with Spotify, I enhanced the sound by tweaking the built-in graphic equalizer in the app. I was so surprised that it sounded better than some of the other more expensive earphones that I use.
Battery life is acceptable as it was able to last me the whole day while listening to music, browsing, and playing simple games. I think this is mainly because of the screen’s fairly low resolution.
There is not much that you can ask for in a budget smartphone. For sure, manufacturers have to keep costs down in order to keep the price competitive. So they have to forgo using components and features that may jack up the price. The CLOUDFONE GO SP is a full-featured budget smartphone. It may not be the best, but it certainly gets the job done.
TECHBEATPH AWESOME REVIEW: 8/10
