CoolPad Cool 3 Plus Review: The Good Lookin’ Budget Smartphone

 

CoolPad Cool 3 Plus Review : 

CoolPad is the type of brand which you won’t be remembering it much since it does not compete with the flagship devices. However, one thing they are good at is competing in the budget range market. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer has been launching quite a few devices in the past quarter and on 26th June, the company launched a new addition to the budget-oriented market in the form of CoolPad Cool 3 Plus. It competes directly with the likes of Redmi 7A and Realme C2. Is it worth buying? Let’s take a look. 

 

Unboxing and First Impressions :

The unboxing experience was pretty mainstream with the smartphone placed first followed by the mandatory inclusion of the travel adapter, the micro USB cable, and the SIM ejection tool. You also get some paperwork a cover case and screen protection as well. 

The first impression of the device is the compact form factor that it comes with. It’s very easy and lightweight to hold which helps in our day-to-day life, especially when you are traveling. 

Design and Display : 

Coming to one of the main aspects of a smartphone, that is its design. The rear part of the Cool 3 Plus is made of plastic and the colors on it are decent with a purple and blue-ish gradient that grabs your attention at first sight. The back panel comes with a glossy design which will attract a lot of fingerprint smudges. The panel is curved at the rear, which helps while using it single-handedly. 

The display on the Cool 3 Plus is decent considering the price range it comes in. The display quality is average with a Dewdrop notch on the top which houses the front camera. Despite the addition of a notch, the bezels haven’t been minimized as I would’ve expected from them. However, this is a personal opinion and may differ. 

The screen on the Cool 3 Plus produces good colors and the viewing angles are pretty decent too. It performs well under outdoor lighting when kept at full brightness. 

Performance and Battery Life  : 

The CoolPad Cool 3 Plus is powered by a Quad-Core MediaTek Helio A22 12nm processor which works just fine for basic usage. I’ve used the device for 2-3 days and in my experience the performance and the software were decent. The phone scores around 66,200 points on AnTuTu benchmark which for normal usage is good. 

The device runs on Android 9.0 Pie with 360 OS user interface. It does not come with an app drawer similar to the MIUI and EMUI operating systems. 

The Cool 3 Plus comes with a 3000 mAh battery that can get you through the day with moderate usage. The phone takes around 2-3 hours to charge the device from 0-100. This is mainly because the charger bundled within the box that gives out power at 1Amp.

The phone features a fingerprint sensor at the rear in a traditional manner and it also supports face unlock. The fingerprint sensor is accurate but a bit slower than the other smartphones in this price range. Face unlock won’t recognize you in low light conditions but in a well-lit place, it works just fine. 

Camera : 

The Cool 3 Plus comes with a single rear camera with a 13-megapixel shooter and a front-facing camera that comes with an 8-megapixel lens that is housed inside the Dewdrop notch as mentioned earlier. 

The Camera UI is basic nothing too fancy except for the extra features such as the beauty, face cute, bokeh and etc. In the bokeh effect, you can change the aperture from f/1.0 to f/16. 

The front-facing 8-megapixel camera is good, with a bunch of AI features also available to manipulate. The colors on the selfie camera are natural, nothing too shabby or unnecessary exposure is to be seen. 

The rear camera is also very good, it’s a 13-megapixel shooter which gives out the color very well but sometimes it does overexpose some parts of the scene as you can see in the images provided below. It does take some time to focus and process the image, but for this price range, it’s acceptable.

Verdict:

Now, CoolPad Cool 3 Plus is not one of the devices that you go out to buy to play some of the top games. However, if you are someone who is looking for a device within the 8K price range and still wants some of the latest techs including face unlock, fingerprint sensor with a decent enough design outlook, then id says the Cool 3 Plus might do justice for you.