Cherry Mobile Flare S4 Max Review: Par Performance, Phablet Size and Better Battery than S4 in Lower Price

As my back up phone aside from Flare S5, meet the not so new but soo good Cherry Mobile Flare S4 Max, the bigger phone from its sibling Flare S4 but less performance. The original Flare S4 has an Octa Core processor and LTE while the Flare S4 Max has Marshmallow OS and 4,200mAh of battery. Again, 4,200mAh of REMOVABLE battery!

   Again, I don't need to show in the box unless if you are gonna click my unboxing video last August 2016. Just check it out.

Cherry Mobile Flare S4 Max Specs:

SRP PHP3,499
OS: Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Display: 5.5" HD IPS, 267ppi w/ 2.5D Curved Glass
CPU: 1.3GHz Quad Core
SoC: Mediatek MT6580 Chipset
GPU: Mali-400MP2
ROM: 8GB (SD card expandable up to 64GB)
RAM: 1GB
Rear Camera: 13MP f/2.0 AF w/ LED Flash

Front Camera: 5MP f/2.8
Connectivity: 3G HSPA+, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, Dual Micro SIM, USB-OTG
Battery Capacity: 4,200mAh Li-Ion Removable
Sensors: Proximity, Light, Accelerometer

Design/Ergonomics

   This handset sports a large 5.5-inch HD display, 1280*720 resolution at 267ppi. It has 2.5D glass. At the front has sensor, earpiece and a 5-megapixel front camera.

    The front also 3 capacitive keys. On the top, there's a 3.5mm audio jack and micro-USB port. At the right side, there's volume rocker and a power button. Just, it's not so easy grip unless you have big hands enough for this phablet.

 

  At the rear facing, there's a 13MP rear camera with single LED flash, the speaker grill at the bottom. Like its siblings (Flare S4, Flare S4 Lite, Flare S4 Mini), the Flare S4 Max has a beautiful and shiny deluxe chassis cover. It feels also like the premium device especially if you got a gold variant.

  Removing the back cover, it uses the dual micro SIM and a BIG, REMOVABLE battery which has 4,200mAh! Huh? So, not as heavy as that. But for me, the Flare S4 Max is not so heavy to hold.

Display

  Again, the Flare S4 Max comes with 5.5-inch HD screen. Since I got the gold variant, so you can notice the not-so-thick bezel that might some 'bezelboys' doesn't love the display. But nevertheless, it's very fine for me and it's a budget smartphone.

 This device surprisingly equipped with 2.5D glass that makes it impressive. At the price range of Php3,499, you are getting this beautiful 2.5D device like the Flare S4 Lite and Flare HD 2.0.
  The display is not bad with sharp enough of 267ppi. It's not yellowish display and still it's good enough.

Look! The display is not bad actually!

  Good thing, Flare S4 Max has 5-multi touch support and I haven't got touch issues just as the phone don't get some wet thingy.

Audio

  The speaker is pretty good but not good as Dolby Atmos like, it can go with almost high volume, so you can play your favorite music and movies. But this is not an audio centric device but its better than I've expect with the speakers at the back.

   In microphone quality, I haven't encountered some issues so far.

Connectivity

   As the connectivity goes, I do not have encountered problems with 3G HSPA+ and WiFi connectivity. Unfortunately, the  Flare S4 Max doesn't have LTE support unlike the Flare S4 and Flare S5.

 Compared to other 3G capable phones, the Flare S4 Max can receive signals so far. But expect minimal heat depends on signal area's strength.

Battery

  The most highlight of the Flare S4 Max is of course, the 4,200mAh of battery! That's pretty huge. It lasts up to 12 hours straight data/WiFi depends on user. Non-straight can do even 20 hours as the battery goes life longer. The screen on time as I've recorded is mostly 11-12hrs. So, you don't need to worry about the battery life even you can go straight.

  The charging time using 1A stock charger is 3 hours straight, but do not use your S4 Max while charging or else the charging time increases. You need to turn off data, Bluetooth or WiFi connectivity.

Performance

 

  Moving on to the Flare S4 Max's performance, the Flare S4 Max comes with 1.3GHz quad core processor powered by Mediatek MT6580 chipset paired with Mali-400MP2 GPU and has 1GB of RAM. It's quite good but not recommended for recently high demanded games like NBA 2k17. Of course, you expect minimal lags but unlike other Marshmallow devices, it didn't go with popular screen overlay. So I think, it is just a stable enough Marshmallow OS unlike my Flare S5.

  The Flare S4 Max uses stock vanilla Android Marshmallow OS. So, its quite smooth and impressive. But added Cherry bloatwares can be disable. And uhh, the Flare S4, Flare S4 Plus and Flare S4 Lite is still stuck at Lollipop OS, and good thing the Flare S4 Max loads Marshmallow out-of-the-box.

 There are three sensors: namely the Accelerometer, Proximity and Light. So don't get crazy with AR games because it has no Gyroscope unfortunately. So, you might go with Touch XL 2 for that.

  I tried Minecraft PE and Clash of Clans, and its playable and manageable without noticeable lags. And also I played the Mobile Legends at low settings, and wow! Can play as long as you have stable connection, it's smooth actually.

Camera

 The Flare S4 Max uses 13MP f/2.0 (8MP int) sensor on the rear camera. It's very good taking pictures in the lighting condition and macroshots but do not get crazy on other situations. The colors are quite punchy and enough. If you do have problems on taking pictures on darker result, you might turn on "zero shutter delay" and ASAP set ISO to 1600.
 The LED flash, performs quite enough and not resulting in yellowish results but again, do not go crazy.
  And overall, the 13MP rear camera performs good and acceptable for its price

Rear Camera samples:

  The 5MP front facing camera is good enough taking selfies in good lighting condition but needs less shaky hands.. The colors at the front camera are not much accurate depends on the environment situation. And do not go into low light, that's expected to get worse image result. But nevertheless, the 5MP front camera performs quite good in good lighting environment and not bad at all.

Front Camera samples:

Features:

Big Battery 4,200mAh

 The Flare S4 Max's highlight is 4,200mAh of battery paired with 5.5-inch HD display and can lasts up to 20 hours almost straight. You can prefer the Flare J5 and Flare S5 Max for another unit with big battery. The Flare S4 Max has also USB-OTG capable.

Conditions

- No LTE

- 1GB RAM not enough for gamers

- Front camera should be better in other light situations.

- No gyroscope

- Charging time can be increase unless you turn off the data or WiFi or Bluetooth.

- No fast charging support

Pros

- 5.5" HD display, 2.5D glass

- 4,200mAh of Battery, REMOVABLE!

- 13MP rear camera is capable in its price

- USB-OTG

  Overall, the Flare S4 Max is a type of good back up phone that highlights a LEGIT 4,200mAh of battery at a price of PHP3,499. You might consider the Flare J5 with same 5.5" size but 4,500mAh battery and fast charging support and also the bigger Flare S5 Max with 6" and 4,100mAh battery with front LED flash. :)

Rating: 8.75/10