Cherry Mobile W500 Titan Review

10:25 PM Lrence 2 comments

Cherry Mobile released their next generation line of dual-core android smartphones and somehow CM have managed to keep the price down regardless of the good feedback they got from these devices, one of which is the W500 Titan, the price is insanely low for a phone with this stature, at 6,500 pesos I got it just in time for the holidays.

After testing the Titan for more than 20 minutes I got impressed almost immediately, CM had redeemed itself from the negative impression that I had from their previous phone (the ultra crappy W50 Touch phone). The Titan feels sturdy and looks solid, it has a minimalistic design written all over it, in fact it only has 2 hardware buttons overall, the power button on top and the volume rocker on the right side. The Titan boasts a generous 5 inch capacitive touch screen with (480x800) resolution, it's not the sharpest 5 inch screen out there, however, considering the price, you actually get the most out of it. The processor is the Titan's major asset it sports a 1 GHz dual-core Mediatek processor (MT6577), as expected, it gets the job done; browsing speed is fast, it opens and closes apps at great speed, scrolling through web pages, pinching in and out is seamless, there's hardly any lag on this one, it also comes with a Power VR GPU (SGX531), this Power VR model may be outdated but it already had proven itself in handling 3D graphics well, in the later portion of this article I'll show you how the Titan handles 3D gaming.

What I do like about the Titan; it already comes pre-installed with useful apps such as Viber and Opera browser and out of the box it comes with a leather flip case that automatically sleep the device when closed you'll also get a screen protector as a bonus, nice move Cherry Mobile.

In order to keep the price down, obviously some sacrifices must be made, in the Titan's case it is only blessed with a 512 MB of RAM and it suffers from poor camera performance, don't get it wrong low RAM doesn't mean slow performance, it's just that you can't open apps as much as you want and some games that uses more than half of it will seldom crash and games with a requirement of a 1 Gig RAM is out of the picture i.e, Justice league and Avenger's Initiative. The camera on the Titan is terrible CM claims it's a 5 meg shooter but is it? The Alcatel OT918N's 3 meg shooter takes better picture, to make things even worst, the LED flash only covers a limited range, and the auto-focus feature is a bit messed up, but it's not too much of an issue for me, for I don't normally take pictures on a smartphone except for FB purposes, besides, all those numerous positive features will let your brain automatically ignore those few negative ones.

A smartphone ain't so smart if it's always out of juice, guess what? we're in luck the Titan runs ICS and some agreed that ICS is the most energy efficient firmware of android and to top it all, the Titan holds a battery capacity of 2,350 mah that will give you at least 3 days of standby time, more than a day and a half with wifi on and with moderate use it will surely last you a day, come to think of it, it's a smartphone with 5 inch screen, fare enough!

The Titan as a music player is great it comes with a built-in equalizer and sound effects like bass boost and 3D effect, if in any way you find yourself craving for more enhancements, then feel free to download 3rd party music enhancement app via Google Play or better yet, use Dr. Dre headphones, the Titan uses a 3.5 mm jack, which will allow you to choose from a wide array of headphone brands.

ShadowGun HD The Leftover (expansion pack)

Dead Space HD

Dead Trigger


The Titan is quite impressive as a gaming console, truly the Power VR GPU is on a league of its own, it delivers high definition 3D graphics with jaw dropping qualities. Here are the list of games I currently have on my Titan; Dead Trigger, ShadowGun HD The Leftover, Dead Space HD, Splinter Cell Conviction, Contract Killer zombies, Predators and Death Dome. These are graphic intensive games and demands a lot from your system, surprisingly the Titan handles it well, an example of what a dual-core and Power VR can do, Dead Space HD is by far the most impressive of all, it looks great on a 5 inch display, despite having limited screen qualities, the Power VR still delivers it well in a 480x800 screen resolution and not even a slight graphical details have been compromised, the PSVita suddenly have an alternative and a cheaper one too. Next on my list is ShadowGun HD The Leftover, if you got a 20k android tablet that runs ShadowGun, well I got my 6,500 peso version and it runs it just as good.....with the Titan you'll never need a pure breed gaming handheld.

BOTTOM LINE: Who would have thought that a device as affordable as the Titan can do pretty much everything we need, which most of as thought is only plausible on high-end devices, most consumers stay away from cheap devices as far away as they can because of the stereotype, experiencing the Titan, however, will change your perspective on that matter and will make you reconsider owning one. Cherry Mobile really do value our lifestyle.


W500 TITAN SPECIFICATIONS

OS: Android, ICS 4.0.4

PROCESSOR: Mediatek 1ghz dual-core (MT6577), Power VR GPU (SGX531)

SCREEN: LCD 5 inch capacitive touch panel (480x800)

ROM: 4GB/512RAM

MEMORY: micro SD up to 32 GB

NETWORK: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900/UMTS 2100

CONNECTIVITY: WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1/ micro USB

CAMERA: 5MP back with LED flash/ VGA front

OTHERS: 2,350mah battery, 3.5 mm audio jack

Posted in: Cellphone Review