Coolpad Cool 3 Plus Budget Smartphone Review
If you are in the zone looking for a budget friendly smartphone then you're in luck, Coolpad has got your back. Coolpad Cool 3 Plus is the new entry-level phone in town, launched on 26th June 2005, the smartphone comes with a 5.71 inch display with water-drop notch, Helio A22 processor, 13 Megapixel rear camera, 8 Megapixel front camera and Android 9.0 Pie. On paper, the smartphone seems great for the sub 7K price range but is it worth the price? or you should opt for something else - We'll find out in this review.
The Coolpad Cool 3 Plus smartphone is available in two variants, the 2GB RAM + 16GB storage & 3GB RAM + 32GB storage. The first variant is priced at Rs.5,999 while the latter is priced at Rs.6.499 INR. I've been using the Cool 3 plus smartphone since three weeks now, today I'll be sharing my experience, so let's begin.
The Coolpad Cool 3 Plus smartphone is available in two variants, the 2GB RAM + 16GB storage & 3GB RAM + 32GB storage. The first variant is priced at Rs.5,999 while the latter is priced at Rs.6.499 INR. I've been using the Cool 3 plus smartphone since three weeks now, today I'll be sharing my experience, so let's begin.
Box Contents
There was something unique about Cool 3 plus' box, unlike other brands who use rectangular box, Coolpad Cool 3 Plus came in a small, slim, almost-squarish kind of box. Since this was my first time reviewing a Coolpad phone, a new box design was a welcome relief.
On opening the box, you are greeted by the smartphone which lies facing up on the left side, while there is another small box on the right side. The box contents are as follows; a charging adapter, microUSB charging cable, a SIM ejector tool, a transparent case, a plastic screen guard, some documentation and lastly the Cool 3 plus smartphone. Earphones were not provided in the box which is kind of a norm for most low-budget smartphones these days.
Design & Display
Coolpad Cool 3 plus is a budget-friendly smartphone, it comes with a gradient style dual colored design, two options available - Ocean Blue & Cherry Black. The one which I received was the Ocean Blue, the smartphone has a shiny-glossy two toned blue colored back design with some hint of purple & violet shades. The back & sides are made up of plastic and has a glass like finish which gives the phone a premium look. The smartphone felt sleek & light-weighted in hand, it is very comfortable to hold and does not feel slippery. It measures 8.2 mm in thickness and weighs around 134 grams.
The top section contains the 3.5 mm audio jack, while the bottom contains the loudspeaker, microUSB charging port and the microphone. The back contains the 13 Megapixel camera along with LED flash and a fingerprint scanner.
The left side contains the power button and volume rockers, while the right side contains the SIM tray. Coolpad Cool 3 plus supports dual SIM cards, it has a dedicated SIM slot and a hybrid slot which can be used for SIM 2 or a microSD card.
The display on Cool 3 plus is a 5.71 inch IPS LCD of 1520 x 720 pixels resolution with a 295 ppi pixel density and 19:9 aspect ratio. It comes with a dew-drop style front camera cut-out and rounded corners. The 720p resolution on a 5.71 inch panel seems quite unfitting, but considering that it is a low budget phone, it is quite good for the price. The brightness levels of the display are quite high, as compared to other phones in this budget, the sunlight legibility is good but the contrast levels are on a lower side. The colors seemed a bit washed out when brightness is increased to maximum levels but most people won't notice it. Overall the display is decent for the price.
Hardware & Performance
Talking about hardware, Coolpad Cool 3 Plus packs Mediatek MT6761 Helio A22 chipset, Quad-core 2.0 cortex-A53 processor along with PowerVR GE8320 GPU. The phone is available in two RAM & storage variants, 3GB RAM + 32GB storage & 2GB RAM + 16GB storage. You can also expand the storage up to 128GB using microSD card in the hybrid slot.
The hardware specifications are quite entry-level so I wasn't expecting very much when it came to performance. The unit which I used for reviewing, came with 3GB RAM & 32GB storage. The phone was able to run all the daily tasks like calling, email, browsing etc., with ease. Also I had no issues running basic apps, performing various daily use functions and light gaming. The Cool 3 plus came with Android 9.0 Pie out-of-the-box, topped with 360 OS which is quite similar to stock Android experience. There was some bloatware and unnecessary apps pre-installed, some of them can be uninstalled while some are there to stay. Some company apps like Theme store, Battery saver, Health guard, Game booster etc., were are present on the device.
To give you a better idea about the performance, we ran a couple of benchmark tests on Coolpad Cool 3 plus smartphone. The AnTuTu Benchmark score we got was 64562, the 3D Mark (Ice Storm Extreme) score we got was 5748 and finally the GFXBench score (given below). For some reason the GeekBench benchmark was not running on our review device, so we skipped that. Below are the results.
Overall Coolpad Cool 3 plus was average in terms of performance but still did a decent job during my testing. The performance was good for the price, it was able to run daily tasks smoothly, however you cannot expect it to run graphic intensive games without a few hiccups, but the phone managed fine when used for light gaming.
Talking about hardware, Coolpad Cool 3 Plus packs Mediatek MT6761 Helio A22 chipset, Quad-core 2.0 cortex-A53 processor along with PowerVR GE8320 GPU. The phone is available in two RAM & storage variants, 3GB RAM + 32GB storage & 2GB RAM + 16GB storage. You can also expand the storage up to 128GB using microSD card in the hybrid slot.
The hardware specifications are quite entry-level so I wasn't expecting very much when it came to performance. The unit which I used for reviewing, came with 3GB RAM & 32GB storage. The phone was able to run all the daily tasks like calling, email, browsing etc., with ease. Also I had no issues running basic apps, performing various daily use functions and light gaming. The Cool 3 plus came with Android 9.0 Pie out-of-the-box, topped with 360 OS which is quite similar to stock Android experience. There was some bloatware and unnecessary apps pre-installed, some of them can be uninstalled while some are there to stay. Some company apps like Theme store, Battery saver, Health guard, Game booster etc., were are present on the device.
To give you a better idea about the performance, we ran a couple of benchmark tests on Coolpad Cool 3 plus smartphone. The AnTuTu Benchmark score we got was 64562, the 3D Mark (Ice Storm Extreme) score we got was 5748 and finally the GFXBench score (given below). For some reason the GeekBench benchmark was not running on our review device, so we skipped that. Below are the results.
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| (Left) AnTuTu, (Centre) 3D Mark, (Right) GFXBench |
Overall Coolpad Cool 3 plus was average in terms of performance but still did a decent job during my testing. The performance was good for the price, it was able to run daily tasks smoothly, however you cannot expect it to run graphic intensive games without a few hiccups, but the phone managed fine when used for light gaming.
Camera
Coming to camera, you get a single 13 Megapixel camera on the rear side, along with a LED flash positioned below the sensor. The 13 Megapixel camera comes with autofocus and can shoot full HD videos at 30fps. The front camera is a 8 Megapixel sensor, housed inside the water-drop notch. Both front & rear cameras support AI functions and come with various modes like Beauty, FaceCute, Bokeh, Time Lapse, GIF etc. You also get option to add a watermark in your clicked pictures. The camera can also scan QR codes, no separate app needed, I really liked this feature and was happy to see that Coolpad integrated it in their phone. The front camera comes with an AI portrait mode which does work but I was not happy with the results but it was still good to see the option available. The Beauty video mode helps in enhancing your looks when capturing videos, this too was a good feature for a budget smartphone.
The photos came out quite well, the camera works good in the daylight scenario, it can capture decent bokeh shots if the lighting is well. There are lots of options & modes available in the camera app, using which you can capture decent pictures. However the low-light performance of the camera is very poor, the pictures turned out quite dark and not much details were captured, also the noise levels were a bit high. The Full HD video captured with Cool 3 plus also came out decent enough for the price, provided the lighting was ample. So overall the camera was average, it performed good in daylight conditions but failed miserably in low-light conditions, but still it worked decent enough as compared to similarly priced phones in the market.
Coolpad Cool 3 Plus Sample Camera Photos.
Connectivity & Battery
With Coolpad Cool 3 plus, you get various connectivity options like Dual VoLTE support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 with A2DP & LE support, GPS with A-GPS, microUSB 2.0 with OTG support and 3.5 mm audio jack. There is no FM radio support. The smartphone supports dual SIM cards, it has a nano-SIM card slot and a hybrid SIM slot which supports either a second SIM card or a microSD card.
Battery wise you get a 3000 mAh Li-polymer battery which provides a day worth's battery backup easily. The battery takes a little over 2 hour 30 minutes to charge fully from zero to 100 percent, no fast charging support provided (as expected). The charging adapter which came in the box had 1.0 A output, so you'll have to manage with slow charging. The overall battery performance was decent, it lasted a day easily with moderate usage during my testing days.
Coming to camera, you get a single 13 Megapixel camera on the rear side, along with a LED flash positioned below the sensor. The 13 Megapixel camera comes with autofocus and can shoot full HD videos at 30fps. The front camera is a 8 Megapixel sensor, housed inside the water-drop notch. Both front & rear cameras support AI functions and come with various modes like Beauty, FaceCute, Bokeh, Time Lapse, GIF etc. You also get option to add a watermark in your clicked pictures. The camera can also scan QR codes, no separate app needed, I really liked this feature and was happy to see that Coolpad integrated it in their phone. The front camera comes with an AI portrait mode which does work but I was not happy with the results but it was still good to see the option available. The Beauty video mode helps in enhancing your looks when capturing videos, this too was a good feature for a budget smartphone.
The photos came out quite well, the camera works good in the daylight scenario, it can capture decent bokeh shots if the lighting is well. There are lots of options & modes available in the camera app, using which you can capture decent pictures. However the low-light performance of the camera is very poor, the pictures turned out quite dark and not much details were captured, also the noise levels were a bit high. The Full HD video captured with Cool 3 plus also came out decent enough for the price, provided the lighting was ample. So overall the camera was average, it performed good in daylight conditions but failed miserably in low-light conditions, but still it worked decent enough as compared to similarly priced phones in the market.
Coolpad Cool 3 Plus Sample Camera Photos.
Connectivity & Battery
With Coolpad Cool 3 plus, you get various connectivity options like Dual VoLTE support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 with A2DP & LE support, GPS with A-GPS, microUSB 2.0 with OTG support and 3.5 mm audio jack. There is no FM radio support. The smartphone supports dual SIM cards, it has a nano-SIM card slot and a hybrid SIM slot which supports either a second SIM card or a microSD card.
Battery wise you get a 3000 mAh Li-polymer battery which provides a day worth's battery backup easily. The battery takes a little over 2 hour 30 minutes to charge fully from zero to 100 percent, no fast charging support provided (as expected). The charging adapter which came in the box had 1.0 A output, so you'll have to manage with slow charging. The overall battery performance was decent, it lasted a day easily with moderate usage during my testing days.
Verdict
Overall I am happy with the product, I think it does a good job for the price, however there were also some areas where it failed to impress me. Lets check out the good things first, the phone was very well designed and quite comfortable to hold, It wasn't slippery at all and was quite easy to grip. Although the back is made up of plastic, the phone still flaunts a glass like finish which gives it a premium look. The fingerprint sensor was quite fast and accurate most of the times, you also get face unlock option which I thought was great. The display was decent, the battery backup was also good enough for a day long moderate usage. The camera however was average, it worked well in good lighting but failed in low-lighting conditions. The overall performance of the hardware was decent for moderate users, it can perform daily tasks with ease, but don't expect it to perform well when it comes to gaming, but still you can play decent amount of games on it.
Pricing & Availability
The Coolpad Cool 3 Plus 3GB+32GB variant is priced at Rs.6,499 in India, and the 2GB+16GB variant is available for Rs.5,999. The smartphone is available online via Amazon. If you are low on budget and are looking for a stylish yet all-round performer smartphone then look no further, you can go with Coolpad Cool 3 plus. I hope this review helped you in making a decision, you can comment below your queries and also share this review with your friends.
Buy from Amazon: Coolpad Cool 3 Plus (3GB+32GB) | Coolpad Cool 3 Plus (2GB+16GB)
Overall I am happy with the product, I think it does a good job for the price, however there were also some areas where it failed to impress me. Lets check out the good things first, the phone was very well designed and quite comfortable to hold, It wasn't slippery at all and was quite easy to grip. Although the back is made up of plastic, the phone still flaunts a glass like finish which gives it a premium look. The fingerprint sensor was quite fast and accurate most of the times, you also get face unlock option which I thought was great. The display was decent, the battery backup was also good enough for a day long moderate usage. The camera however was average, it worked well in good lighting but failed in low-lighting conditions. The overall performance of the hardware was decent for moderate users, it can perform daily tasks with ease, but don't expect it to perform well when it comes to gaming, but still you can play decent amount of games on it.
Pricing & Availability
The Coolpad Cool 3 Plus 3GB+32GB variant is priced at Rs.6,499 in India, and the 2GB+16GB variant is available for Rs.5,999. The smartphone is available online via Amazon. If you are low on budget and are looking for a stylish yet all-round performer smartphone then look no further, you can go with Coolpad Cool 3 plus. I hope this review helped you in making a decision, you can comment below your queries and also share this review with your friends.
Buy from Amazon: Coolpad Cool 3 Plus (3GB+32GB) | Coolpad Cool 3 Plus (2GB+16GB)
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