Coolpad Mega 2.5D First Impressions

Talking to Gadgets 360, Syed Tajuddin, CEO Coolpad India, stated that the company is looking to capture 13-15 percent of the market share of smartphones selling online for under Rs. 8,000. He also confirmed that while the first batch of Coolpad Mega 2.5D phones will be imported from China, units will later be manufactured in India under the 'Make in India' initiative. At the launch event in New Delhi, we spent some time with the Mega 2.5D, and here are our first impressions.

At first glance, the Coolpad Mega 2.5D looks like an all-metal smartphone, though only the frame is actually metal. It feels sturdy, but the 5.5-inch screen makes it slightly hard to use with just one hand. We had trouble reaching the notifications shade while using the Mega 2.5D with just one hand. We also observed that without any curves, the edges of the Mega 2.5D felt a bit too sharp in our hands. At 140 grams, the phone felt light for its size.

(Also see:  Coolpad Mega 2.5D vs Coolpad Note 3 Plus)

The power button is on the right and we felt the placement was a bit too high to be reached easily. The volume buttons are on the left. The 3.5mm audio jack is on top, while the Micro-USB port and microphone are on the bottom. The front features the 'Coolpad' branding just below the screen.

We found the back of the Coolpad Mega 2.5D very minimalistic, with the primary camera with an LED flash. The Coolpad branding is present at the bottom, accompanied by a speaker grille.

The 5.5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) IPS display has a pixel density of 294ppi, and the phone overall has a 73-percent screen-to-body ratio. As the name suggests, the handset features 2.5D curved glass across the front. During our usage, the display looked sharp enough though black levels were poor. The viewing angles were decent.

One of the highlights of the Coolpad Mega 2.5D, as marketed by the company, is its 8-megapixel front camera which has an f/2.2 aperture and an 83.6 degree field of view. There's also an 8-megapixel rear camera with a Sony sensor. The camera app has features such as Smart Beautification and Age Detection which enhance selfies automatically, and integrated filters for users to choose from. There are automatic Photo and Video modes apart from Night, Beauty, and Pro modes.

In our short time using the Coolpad Mega 2.5D, we found that images taken with the rear camera under well-lit conditions were crisp, though some looked washed out with missing details. Photos taken with the front camera were vibrant and reproduced colours well. Low-light shots taken with the front camera seemed better than ones taken with the rear camera, which were slightly blurry and had low detail levels. Stay tuned for our detailed review when we really get a chance to test the camera under varied conditions.

The phone runs the company's proprietary CoolUI 8.0 skin based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and it looked heavily customised. We get no app drawer and all app icons are spread across three home screens. There are some tweaks in the software attempting to make the Mega 2.5D different from its competitors. The slide-up quick settings feature, which we have earlier seen on Gionee phones, is present on the Mega 2.5D. The company touts a 'Screenshot 2.0' tool which lets users take customised screenshots with a three finger gesture. Under the hood, the Coolpad Mega 2.5D is powered by a 1GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6735P processor coupled with 3GB of RAM. There is 16GB of on-board storage that is expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB). During our short time using this phone, we found that it responded well to touch inputs and was quick while switching between multiple running apps. We will reserve our verdict on the Coolpad Mega 2.5D smartphone's performance and software till we get a chance to put it through our detailed review process.

The smartphone packs a 2500mAh battery that's rated to deliver up to 9 hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby time. The phone supports 4G LTE with support for carrier aggregation, and other standard connectivity options.

Final Thoughts
At Rs. 6,999, the Coolpad Mega 2.5D makes for a good package, though the quad-core MediaTek MT6735P seems underpowered compared to other phones in the same price segment. The phone will be available only through flash sales, and so it will be interesting to see how strong demand is.

One of the possible alternatives to the Coolpad Mega 2.5D is the Xiaomi Redmi 3S which comes in at the same price and sports an all-metal body and a larger 4100mAh battery.