If you can’t get a Flare, try the BURST. That’s exactly what i am doing. I have subscribed to Sun Cellular’s Regular Plan 350, at first, with the intention of getting the Flare unit free of charge. But as always the Flare is rare to catch nowadays. So, i opted the Burst device, also from local brand marketer-Cherry Mobile.
The Burst has almost the same specs with the Flare as i’d told you earlier here in my blog. The only differences are illustrated in the table below.
BURST FLARE
PROCESSOR Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8225 SKU51GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8625 S41.2GHz dual-core
FM RADIO Built-in/Out-of-the-box Need an update installation
CAPACITIVE BUTTONS Menu, Home, Back Home, Menu, Back, Search
BUILD & DESIGN Rounded cornersPlastic-covered displayGlossy finish back cover RectangularGlass-covered displaySemi-matte finish back cover
Since i haven’t tried the Flare, i will base my comparison with some existing reviews of the Flare by other reviewers. Also, i’ll make a differentiation with the much bigger unit- the Cherry Mobile Titan that i had reviewed here.
CONSTRUCTION
The Burst is about the same size as the Flare but its back cover is made of a glossy plastic unlike the semi-matte finish of the Flare. It has only one variant, with black body and a white back cover.
The front is covered with plastic all over. On its top are the front camera, the proximity sensor, and the earpiece. Below the front panel are the usual capacitive Menu, Home, and Back buttons.
The Burst has a clean design with nothing on its sides but the Volume rocker on the left side and the Power/Sleep button on the right.The microphone is discreetly found just below the Back button on the front. The USB port is at the bottom while the 3.5mm earphone jack is at the top.
Since it’s mostly made of plastic, the Burst is very light but comfortable in your hands because of the convex design of its back cover. Unlike the Flare, the Burst is more curve/round on its corners. It’s lightweight and comfortable both in your hands and pocket, unlike the Titan which is heavier.
DISPLAY TOUCH PANEL
The Burst has the same screen resolution as the Flare and the Titan. However, like the Flare, the Burst has a denser screen than the 5-inch display of the Titan. It has 240dpi. In short, its display is better than the Titan. However, the display is not as bright as the Titan.
The touch panel of the Burst is only two-point touch. However the screen is responsive of the tap, swipe, drag, and pinch.
CAMERA PERFORMANCE
The Burst has also a 5MP rear camera which is now the minimum for smartphones, capable of at most 2592 x 1944 images. Though, its front camera still sports the inferior 0.3MP VGA camera capable of only 640 x 480 resolution.
The picture size can be set at QCIF, QVGA, CIF, VGA, WVGA, SVGA, 1MP, HD720, WXGA, 1.3MP, 2MP, 3MP and 5MP. Check some samples below with settings at optimum to reflect the best images that this phone are capable of.
VIDEO PERFORMANCE
Video Recording in Burst is not good and way behind Titan’s video recording.
Since the unit i have is locked to Sun and only the SIM 1 is a 3G slot, so i am left with the measly Sun Cellular signal. I had to wait for several minutes of buffering before i could watch a video stream from YouTube.
AUDIO PERFORMANCE
The Burst is louder than the Titan because of the convex back cover that serves as its sound box. Though, the sound quality still lacks the deep bass. The treble sounds better than the Titan. The earphone sounds like an average earpiece without the bass. The sound experiences are the same whether it’s playing via the music player or the FM radio.
One thing good with the Burst is a good earpiece sound during calls. It’s much better and clearer than the Titan.
BROWSING & NAVIGATION
The Burst has a different and improved UI than the Titan. Notifications pop up on the screen like in the left-most image below. This makes the user interactions immediate. Additional local apps are now present in the Burst like the Kabayan, Cherry Market, Cherry Fun Club, and eWArranty. The eWarranty app allows the first-time user of the phone to register the phone to Cherry Mobile by sending MMS message and therefore eliminates the need to fill-up the Warranty Card which has to be sent via mail to avail of the warranty in the future.
UNDER THE HOOD
One thing good with the Burst is the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 1GHz Dual-core processor on it just like the Flare. It’s seldom for a China-made phone to sport a Snapdragon. The generic China phones and even the Lenovo phones are opting the cheaper MediaTek chips. This phone is a little slower than the Titan. It boots at more than 10 seconds unlike the Titan which can be turned on in just about 8 seconds.
Tethering of the Burst is fine when i made the draft of this post on the iPad mini connected via the former’s hotspot. But again uploading is dependent of the Sun’s data speed which is on the average-sluggish in several areas in Metro Manila. You can choose either WiFi Tethering or the Bluetooth Tethering which less consumes power of the battery. However, you can only connect one device at a single time in Bluetooth Tethering unlike in WiFi Tethering which can carry up to five devices.
- SPECIFICATIONS:
- Android 4.0.4 ICS
- Snapdragon QRD MSM8225 SKU5 1GHz Dual Core ARMv7 processor
- 4.0 inch WVGA capacitive touch panel 480 x 800 pixels, 240dpi screen density
- 4G ROM 512MB RAM
- Expandable storage via microSD up to 32GB
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800 UMTS 2100
- WiiFi b/g/n, Wi-Fi Tethering, Bluetooth Tethering
- bluetooth 3.0
- 3.5mm stereo audio jack
- standard micro usb 2.0
- 5MP rear camera 2592 x 1944, 0.3MP VGA front camera 640 x 480
BENCHMARKING
The benchmark tests using the AnTuTu Benchmark scores the Burst at 5757 which places the Burst at the bottom in the same category that is being topped by Samsung Galaxy SIV.
The Quadrant Standard test is at 2745 (other test done by other reviewer of Flare is at 2932), and the NenaMark2 Test gauges the Qualcomm Andreno (TM) 203 GPU at 27.9fps which is a little better than the Titan (27.3fps).
I also tried running the AnTuTu Stability Test on the Burst which shows some changes in the curve as shown in the screenshot below. The biggest change is when it drops to about 25 on the scale. This is far below the Titan’s stability test which shows a more stable readings. Temperature test on the Burst is constant all through out at 32.
CONCLUSION
The Burst is an ideal replacement of the Flare if you can’t get the latter. In few days that i tested the Burst, there was no issue that i had encountered except that i’d noticed the battery life is shorter when you connect it to 3G while turning on the WiFi Tethering at the same time. In my test, it consumes 50% of the battery in just an hour. Though, you can find a remedy here by using the Bluetooth Tethering instead to save power.
LIKES
- Touch Panel’s responses, especially during texting, is good
- Navigation and browsing is fine
- Sound in the earpiece during calls is good
- Speaker is loud enough
DISLIKES
- Only SIM1 slot is 3G (If you’re locked to a network, you will be left with no choice for data connectivity.)
- Battery life, probably, an issue based on my short test
- Video recording is not good
Nevertheless, this phone is an affordable smartphone and a good replacement of the Flare.
