Cherry Mobile Magnum S Specs
- 1.7GHz octa-core processor (MTK 6592)
- Mali-450MP GPU
- 1GB of RAM
- 5-inch HD IPS display with Gorilla Glass 3, 1280 x 720 resolution
- 16GB of storage(non-expandable)
- 18-megapixel rear camera with LED flash
- 8-megapixel front camera with LED flash
- WiFi, Bluetooth, USB OTG
- Android 4.4 KitKat
- 2300mAh non-removable battery
- Php 9,999.00
What's inside the box?
Magnum S comes with:
- USB cable
- Standard 1A USB wall charger
- In-ear earphone
- User manual
Design
Magnum S might be one of the best phone of Cherry Mobile when it comes to design. It uses a plastic body with metallic finish which makes it look like a premium built phone. It has also a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to protect its screen from light scratches due to daily usage. It has a solid built feeling due to its non-removable back cover, the phone is closed tight enough that you would not hear any creaking sound.
On the sides you will find a two sim slots, one regular sim and one micro sim slot. The volume rocker is also located at the left side of the phone beside the regular sim slot. Unfortunately no microSD card slot can be found which means you are stuck up with the built-in memory.
On the top is where the power button and 3.5mm headset and on the bottom is the USB port for charging and for OTG cable to be used to connect your flash drives, keyboard and mouse.
In front is the 8mp wide-angle lens front camera and a front LED flash which is good for low light selfies.
Display
The Magnum S uses a 5-inch IPS HD display protected by Gorilla Glass 3. It has a good viewing angle thanks to the IPS technology. The color production is great and the brightness of the phone is nice.
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| Nice viewing angle |
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| Love the screen :) |
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| Gorgeous display!!! |
The screen has also a 5-point multi-touch which is good for gaming and multitasking gestures.
Cherry Mobile almost kept the UI untouched, just added some wallpaper and pre-installed Cherry apps. The launcher is also some what modified,because when you go to the settings of the launcher it will bring you to the system settings instead of Google Now settings.
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| The stock launcher |
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| Stock lock screen |
Performance
The Magnum S is packed with an Octa-core processor (mtk6592) clocked at 1.7Ghz, paired with 1GB RAM and a Mali-450mp for GPU. No doubt that the Magnum S has a good fight and can perform great with its specs.
The Magnum S is a Kitkat 4.4.2 out of the box, this will give you smooth performance and good multitasking
Unlike other Kitkat smartphones, the Cherry Mobile didn't remove the option to choose whether to use the Dalvik and ART runtime. As we all know ART gives additional boost on performance when it is enabled on Kitkat powered smartphone.
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| Antutu Bechmark v5 score |
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| Antutu Benchmark v6 score |
I didn't experience major lag while using Magnum S. I was able to run Dead trigger 2 at high graphics. Almost all games run smoothly although you will notice some lags at first, buy over all it will run smoothly. With the transitions and multitasking the it will run smoothly as long as you will monitor your running apps, even though it has an octa-core processor the down side is the ram which is only 1GB which is very common now a days and also the minimum requirement for you to be able to multitask smoothly.
Camera
Cherry Mobile Magnum S is equipped with an 18MP autofocus rear camera with dual LED flash and a 8MP wide- angle front camera with single LED flash.
Amazingly Magnum S captures great images, the details and color production are above average. The front camera also satisfies the different wants of user,especially when taking pictures at low light situations (thanks to the front camera shot).
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| Outdoor HDR mode |
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| Outdoor shot |
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| Low light outdoor shot |
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| Indoor shot |
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| Indoor front camera shot w/o flash |
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| Lights of front camera shot with flash |
Battery
After 2 weeks of using it as a primary phone, I can say that the 2300mAh battery is just enough for light to moderate use. A full charge of Magnum S, the battery life would last at least a day or a day and a half depending on how you use it or depending on the settings.
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| Battery usage down to 7% with WiFi on almost all the time |
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| Battery usage of some of system apps |
I manage to get a 2 days and 5 hours of usage as I just use it for texting, calling and browsing. I also manage to get a 4 hours of screen time which is a good sign that the battery can last long.
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| Total screen time |
Verdict
Cherry Mobile Magnum S is a great phone in and out. It can handle your different daily task. Having this phone is a good catch, a phone with great performance without spending much. But Octa-core has getting cheaper and cheaper, for its price of Php 9,999 you can buy a cheaper octa-core from Cherry Mobile or from other brands. But if you are looking for a great looking and solid built octa-core phone this one might be the one you are looking for.
