Review: Coolpad Cool1 Packs Hot Features and a Lukewarm Camera

Coolpad Cool1 comes with dual lens camera at the back and an inviting price tag. Read our review for the full story.

When LeEco announced it was taking over Coolpad, there was indeed an air of anticipation of what it might lead to. Would it mean more affordable smartphones? What about the already existing LeEco smartphones in a similar price bracket?

What about new launches? It seems as if brand is asking everybody to chill, with an affordable, feature-rich offering called 'Cool1'. At Rs. 13,999, does it raise the temperature or is it a cold turkey? Read our review.

Pros:

• 4 GB RAM
• Good battery life
• Vivid, crisp display
• SLR mode in the camera

Cons:

• No expandable storage
• Slow fingerprint scanner

What’s Good?

The design gives a sense of deja vu. We've seen it all on LeEco's Le2. Cool1 seems to get a few cosmetic upgrades, and a dual-lens camera. Everything else remains, and looks the same. And yes, there's a headphone jack in this, unlike its LeEco counterpart.

Cool1 runs on Android 6.1 Marshmallow paired with a Snapdragon 652 processor, with LeEco's custom EUI overlaid. The phone has 4 GB of RAM, with 32 GB of storage on board. The memory is non-expandable though. The 4060 mAh battery lasts through the day on full charge, very comfortably. If you are a moderate user, it may easily see you through another half day.

Now, the most interesting part of this smartphone – the dual 13 megapixel cameras on the back. This one's definitely one of the better cameras seen in this price range. There are multiple modes to assist the photographer in you. Yes, a full fledged pro mode with all manual controls is also available.

Why dual lens? Because technically, it's supposed to click one colour, and one monochrome photograph and then mix them for an ideal colour-balanced photograph. That did happen some times, but the pictures turned grainy most of the times. Very pastel looking colors, and largely disappointing in low-light conditions.

The SLR mode on the smartphone works well with a good sense of depth of field blur and bokeh effect. Since this is achieved by software-based editing, don't expect Huawei P9, or the iPhone level depth of field. But it's still quite good.

What’s Bad?

On our review device, we found the fingerprint scanner a bit slow. It took almost a second and a half to unlock from standby. The other cause for concern was the non expandable storage. Why kill room for improvement, or expansion in this case?

Why Buy It?

From a crowded mid-range market, Cool1 emerges as a strong competition to the likes of Redmi Note 4 and Moto G4 Plus. Also in the fray is Zuk Z2 Plus, after the recent price cut. The premium experience on Coolpad Cool1 makes it worth buying, and the price is definitely an add-on.