Cloudfone Thrill Plus Hands-on, First Impressions

My quest to find a new replacement phone continues! More than a week ago, I bought the Cloudfone Thrill Plus, an entertainment-centric device packed with a 5.5-inch HD display, an eight-megapixel rear camera with a f/2.0 aperture, and Android Marshmallow right out of the box.

The Thrill Plus is a symmetrically-designed device that may look a bit odd at first due to the huge chunk of bezels surrounding the 5.5-inch HD display, but one would soon realize the importance of its design. The front has both the top and bottom covered with a row of speaker grill right on the edge, and each one has its own call speaker. As such, this phone can be used in either way when answering calls as it features a Rotate Inversion feature.

There’s also the front selfie flash and a couple of sensors right at the middle of the top part of the device, with the camera laying at the top-right area.

The right side of the device houses the power/lock button protruding from the chamfered edges of the unibody back casing. The placement of the buttons are quite convenient as it is easily reachable, and they are easy to press.

At the bottom lays the microUSB 2.0 port, which is places at the left side. The other speaker gill, call speaker, and a proximity sensor is also noticeable. At the top of the device is the 3.5mm audio jack, which is placed directly in proportion with the microUSB port at the bottom.

Flipping the device around is the back plate with a premium-looking design. The hybrid back plate in itself is built with a metal plate placed over a polycarbonate shell to create better signal reception. Our unit, donning a dark gray color, presents itself with textured patterns both at the top and bottom parts, an eight-megapixel rear camera emblazoned inside a shiny metal accent, and an LED flash bearing the same design characteristic as the module placed above it.

Prying the device open would reveal its internals: the antenna modules are exposed at the back casing, as well as the 2500mAh removable battery, and slots for two micro SIM cards and a microSD card. Our initial benchmark with AnTuTu clocked the device at 24,239.

CloudFone Thrill Plus specs:
5.5-inch IPS LCD display @ 1280 x 720 pixels, 267ppi
1.3GHz MediaTek MT6580 quad-core processor
2GB of RAM
16GB internal storage
Expandable via microSD card
8-megapixel autofocus rear camera w/ LED flash
5-megapixel wide-angle front camera
Dual SIM
3G
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
GPS w/ A-GPS support
Android 6.0 Marshmallow
2500mAh removable battery

What’s inside the box?
Device
Battery
Green Spotify Earphones
microUSB 2.0 cord
Wall adapter
Clear jelly case
Screen protector
Manuals and other paperwork

Cloudfone’s media-flavored Thrill Plus is now available in stores for Php3,999 in dark gray, metal silver, gold, and rose gold color offerings. Does it get plus points for bringing entertainment at an affordable price? I’m using it as a daily driver, so expect a full review soon.

Author’s Note: I personally buy the budget phones featured on this quest to find a new replacement phone for personal use. This one was bought from Cloudfone’s kiosk at SM Light Mall in Mandaluyong.