Cherry Mobile Fusion ice ICS tablet review

8:40 AM Lrence 41 comments

Cherry Mobile has launched, yet another low-end ICS tablet that's light on the budget but heavy on features, it sells at around 3,690php, now that's low-end at its lowest, a price tag that directly compete with the generic no name tablets that you can buy at your local tiangge.

The Fusion ice as CM named it is actually known as the Altina A600 in China, in fact the Opera app store still recognizes it from its former brand, a product originally manufactured by Ainol, which was then re-branded by Cherry Mobile then was reintroduce thereafter as the fusion ice........ I bought this tablet for my 4yr old son basically to aid him learn the alphabets, numbers, colors etc. until recently I found out that it was me who was reaching for it more. The Fusion ice is anything but flawless, something that you'd expect on a cheap device, the browser is a bit slow and it's not what you'd call a smooth web browsing experience, lags are visible too, but at such a low price it is almost forgivable.

CM Fusion ice, Arnova 7 G2 comparison

The CM Fusion ice and Arnova 7 G2 both clocks at 1Ghz, Fusion ice using A13 processor and the Arnova 7 G2 with Cortex A8 both having the same amount of RAM (512MB). Based on user experience and live side by side comparison, the Arnova 7 G2 out-perform the Fusion ice in almost all aspect, except gaming, the features highlighted the most was browsing speed, stability and responsiveness, the Arnova 7 G2 clearly was on top of the Fusion ice, but surprisingly, benchmark results using Quadrant Standard tell a rather different story; results shows that the Fusion ice have better overall performance than the Arnova 7 G2, scoring a total of 2,128 while the Arnova 7 G2 only got 1,021 barely half of what the Fusion ice had scored.

Fusion ice benchmark result

Surprisingly, with an emphatic lead over well known brands like HTC Desire HD and Samsung Nexus S, scoring a total of 2128.

Arnova 7 G2 benchmark result

Lags far behind the bottom position with a total score of only 1021.

LCD on the Fusion ice is sharp and is capable of playing HD videos up to 2160p, unfortunately it suffers from poor viewing angles, "a catch from the price" it's kind of cliche` to see a 7 inch screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio it became the norm for most tablets, however, the Fusion ice is unique, it is the only 7 inch tablet with 4:3 aspect ratio that I've seen so far. The square screen provides better room for your fingers to move around and give better visuals on your documents and presentations, it also did great in displaying web pages; in a tablet's perspective. Music on the other hand is great on the Fusion ice I was completely blown away by the audio quality that this cheap device could give whether on speakers or headset. The mono speaker at the back of the tablet is loud, loud enough to fill up a mid-sized room and is great in watching online videos and playing games without the hassle of a headset wire.

The battery life is a tablet user's must-know feature and has great effect on the device overall ratings, fortunately the Fusion ice dealt with it with flying colors, the 3700mAh battery lasted for more than 4 hrs of non-stop use and gave me at least 2 days of standby time, though charging time is frustratingly long, still, fare enough for such a cheap device.

Internet browsing may be full of disappointments on the Fusion ice but Skype on the other hand will greatly exceed your expectations for a device as cheap as this, I did a lot of Skype calls with this tablet and so far it handles it well, conversations between two parties are well understood, all features of Skype are in working order including video calls, I actually prefer using the Fusion ice for Skype calls rather than my W500 Titan mainly because of its bigger screen.

CM Fusion ice as a gaming console

The Fusion ice is quite a gaming machine, the combination of a 1Ghz A13 processor with mali 400 GPU and a 5 point touch panel did well in handling games of sort, but still not strong enough to handle games like Dead Trigger and the likes, but to everything else you'll find it amusing here on the Fusion ice.

Arcane Legends online RPG, I first had this on my Titan but later on I find the 5 inch screen a bit small for mmorpg games, so I decided to play it on the Fusion ice without any disappointments, honestly it did better on the Titan but the bigger screen put the Fusion ice on edge, you get to read the text and messages a lot clearer and see the mmorpg world in a bigger picture, more details on a sharp 7 inch screen.

Predators, not much of a game too much expectations from fans put this game down but still a nice game to play with, it runs smooth on the Fusion ice and the 7 inch screen with 4:3 aspect ratio added more spice to the game.

Call of Mini zombies, a zombie shooter game wherein you get to mingle with cute characters, even the zombies here are cute but not as cute as the zombie dogs, you'll have to fight your way a day at a time to finish a level, it is a fast pace full 3D shooter that feels almost at home on the Fusion ice.




Bottom line: The Cherry Mobile Fusion ice may have its shortcomings, but given a chance, it still has a lot of good features to offer. For those who just wanted an ICS tablet experience and doesn't want to burn holes in their pockets, this tab is for you.


PROS: very affordable, comes pre-loaded with useful apps i.e, viber, Kingsoft office, ES task manager, instagram, excellent multi media device, capable in gaming, works well with Skype, excellent slim design, decent battery life.

CONS: slow browsing speed, visible lags, screen is warped. long charging time.


CHERRY MOBILE FUSION ICE SPECIFICATIONS:

PROCESSOR: 1Ghz A13 with mali 400 GPU.

OS: Android 4.0 ICS.

DISPLAY: 7 capacitive screen, 5 point touch panel, 4:3 aspect ratio, 800x600 resolution, 16 million colors.

CAMERA: Front facing VGA 0.3 mega pixels.

MEMORY: 8GB(ROM), 512MB(DDR3), expandable via micro SD 32gig max.

USB: High speed USB 2.0, mini USB.

WIFI: 802.11 b/g/n.

BATTERY: 3700mAh.

Posted in: Tablet Review