Flash Plus 2: Mid Range Redefined - Full detailed Review!
Earlier this week, I did an unboxing of the Flash Plus 2 and also I gave my initial thoughts a.k.a my First Impression on the phone. If you haven’t check that out, make sure you guys read that in case if you’re curious about the contents inside the box and all. Links below.
So, today is the day where I am going to give my full review on the device which I have been waiting to share with you guys so badly. So here it goes. Let’s not waste any time and get right into it.
Take note that I am reviewing the 2GB RAM 16GB ROM variant and not the 3GB RAM variant, as the experience will vary accordingly.
Look and Feel
After using this for 3-4 days, this phone still feels great in the hand in every way possible. Though I am not a huge fan of big phones (screen size above 5” inch), this particular phone is still okay. Thanks to the brushed aluminium metal back finish, it’s not very slippery. In fact, whenever I take it out of my pocket it never slipped out of my hands by accident.
The chamfered edges on the back looks neat and beautiful. The camera bump is just there. It didn’t really bother. One thing which gave me a really hard time was the location of the power button. As a left handed user, I tend to have troubles to reach all the way to the top to press the power button. I accidentally ended up pressing the volume down button many times. Because most of the devices I’ve owned previously had the power button placed exactly at the middle. Right handed user, you guys might not have any trouble as the button is still in reach.
Ratings, 4.0 / 5.
Only if the power button was located at a convenient position, it would have got a solid 5.
Performance
This device runs Mediatek’s recently released Helio P10. Also known as MT6755. An octa core processor which has 4 cores clocked in at 1.8 Ghz and the other 4 at 1.0 Ghz. It has a ARM Mali-T860 MP2 GPU with 700 MHz. As we are entering into an era where every single product is running 64-bit, this processor is a 64-bit processor. Mediatek Helio P10 comes under their flagship series but this processor offers Premium Performances for Mid Range devices such as this one.
I don’t believe in benchmark or even Geekbench test, as it differs in our day to day usage. But what I can tell you is that this particular variant with 2GB RAM runs good thanks to the fantastic memory optimization in the Android OS that’s running the Device.
Gaming in this device is good. As I have tested games like Riptide GP, Leo’s Fortune, Need for Speed and other simple games such as Flappy birds. It did stutter when I played Need for Speed but the other two was okay. I did test pokemon Go which I will be talking about it soon. The graphics held up pretty good, though there were some frame rate dropping once in awhile. But still it didn’t bother me.
When it comes to performance, It was impressive. It did get hot once when I was setting up the device for the first time. Normally every device gets heated up for the first time when you setup your account and all for the first time and the processing power is high. After a point, it goes back to normal.
After that, I barely encountered the phone getting hot in hands. Performance was Snappy and Quick. Even playing Pokemon Go for like an hour or so, still made the phone maintain the normal temperature and there was minimal to no lag. This shows how good it is at handling process. I am impressed with Mediatek. But when throwing the phone into VR, and as the phone uses every single part of it… The sensors and all, made the phone warm and not hot. There’s a difference.
Performance, on point! 4.5 / 5.
Pokemon Go on Flash Plus 2
I know. You guys must be wondering whether did I play Pokemon Go with it. Actually I did for 2 hours or so… And here’s how it went. The phone supports AR because it has the Gyro Sensor in it. And on top of that, the experience with the Flash Plus 2 was not the best but it was still good.
The GPS movement is very accurate. There’s this one issue at my condo, whenever I use my daily driver to play Pokemon Go, it doesn’t stay at one location. It ends up roaming here and there. Whereas the Flash Plus 2, stayed at the very place and it only moved when I moved.
The frame rate dropped a bit, the game was slightly rough especially when you go into your pokedex and your pokemon collection due to the animation. But it didn’t affect my gameplay. In fact, I caught a pokemon without using berries and just throwing pokeballs. 8 times to be precise. Because it kept breaking my Pokeballs. But sadly, I couldn’t catch Gastly. T_T Haha. At least, I was able to encounter one. I was happy bout that.
But I have to say, for a 2GB RAM variant handling Pokemon Go without any problem was quite shocking to me. Some phone barely has memory left to handle the game and ends up crashing or your phone just hangs right there. But this one, did a better. My bet is that the Pokemon Go on the 3GB variant would be even better.
So, I definitely give a green light when it comes to Pokemon Go with the Flash Plus 2.
Here's a recording of myself playing Pokemon Go on the Flash Plus 2
Here's a recording of myself playing Pokemon Go on the Flash Plus 2
Display
Flash Plus 2 sports a 5.5” FHD 1080p Display. It’s huge and watching contents on it, is kinda nice. With the ppi of 400 / 401, it provides accurate color tones. It’s sharp and vibrant. The brightness under a bright sunlight is okay-ish. Not the best, but you can still view it. On top of that, this phone screen as a technology called MiraVision v2.0 where you could change the tone of the screen according to your liking, whether you like a warmer tone or a colder tone. And there’s the Blue Filter option located in the settings.
Thank god the phone doesn’t suffer a lot when you view it in a different angle. May be a little but not that much. And this phone has a OneGlass Solution Display which “reduces the thickness of a display by removing one of the layers of glass from the traditional capacitive touchscreen stack. The basic idea is to replace the touch module glass by a thin layer of insulating material.” - Stole from a site.
Watching my favorite series on iflix or even on YouTube was fine. I enjoyed watching on it. And the touch response on the display is average. It did respond properly, but it feels like there’s a delay at odd times.
One thing I like is the inclusion of Double tap to awake and sleep. If you don’t know, to make this work you should have a display which has an active digitizer when the display is turned off. So that it could read that you’re double tapping. In short, it’s a hardware thing not a software thing. It works pretty well and I have to tell you. I loved it. The response is quick.
Display, 4.0 / 5.0.
Camera
The rear camera has a 13MP f/2.0 Shooter with PDAF support at 0.3 seconds. The sensor in this device was
manufactured by a company called OmniVision. Another smartphone company used a different sensor from the same company. They do make really great sensors. So, I tested the camera and I have to say, a part of myself was happy but a part of me was disappointed. Here’s why.
The camera PDAF works well, focus is good. Some shots are pretty good. The HDR works perfectly fine. In fact some of the pictures look gorgeous. Here’s some sample shots below. Some of the low light shots are not that great but still it’s okay ish.
Here’s the problem. Shot’s taken at night ends up grainy and sometimes unusable. But I hope they have a software fix for this. And another thing with the camera is, it takes really long to process a HDR shot. Let’s say if I want to take a picture of a flower under that light with HDR, it’s quite hard. And sometimes the picture looks washed out, but after you close and open the app, it gets fine. As I can tweak the color to my liking when I shoot, I guess it wouldn’t be a problem.
The front camera has a 5MP with LED flash and has a 84 degree. Selfies are wider, so you can fit in more friends in just one click. I am not a huge selfie lover, but here’s one taken with the device.
So, under Moderate usage. I unplugged the phone from the charger around 11 a.m. and I started to use the normal stuff like all my Social Networks, and watch some series. And snap some pictures. It lasted till 12:38 a.m. the next day. So, It was pretty impressive. I was able to use the phone until 3%.
On this particular day, I unplugged the phone from the charger around 11:45 a.m. and it was one busy day. I was heading on my way to the city. Used the GPS for navigation, WiFi was on the whole time forgot to turn off. And the data was on 4G. As I was using the public transport, I took the advantage to play Pokemon Go all the way. It was good and around in the afternoon, I had around 60% juice.
This particular day, I used my phone on and off because as I was busy with my work the whole day, and I even forgot to connect to the charger at night. When I left for bed, the phone had 40% percent, and I woke up the next day morning… It has 30%. And around 2:37 p.m., the phone had 2% left, so I connected to the charger.
This varies according to the service provider you have. But my experience with the device when it comes to call quality, is pretty good. There’s no interference and the sound on the earpiece is pretty clear, it can also get loud enough. On the other side, people were able to listen to what I say thanks to the dual mic Noise cancellation.
Fingerprint Sensor
Ahh yes. The fingerprint sensor that’s located at the front of the device. The performance is pretty impressive. The recognition is on point, no matter if you keep in any angle. You can register upto 5 fingerprints and interestingly, there’s some software tweak that could take use of the fingerprint sensor. Like registering certain apps when you unlock with certain finger, so that they open right away. There’s other features.
Let’s start off with the speaker. It’s rear facing and has that small looking bump, which gives a small lift. So that it doesn’t give that muffled sound when it is placed on a table. The sound that comes from the speaker, it is loud. You won’t have any trouble noticing someone is calling you, when the phone is in your pocket.
VR is getting popular time to time. And I myself am a huge fan of Virtual Reality. Although things like the Vive and Oculus is on the pricey side, I enjoy VR by using a Google Cardboard version of VR.
Hope to see you guys coming out with a successor in the near future.
Here’s the problem. Shot’s taken at night ends up grainy and sometimes unusable. But I hope they have a software fix for this. And another thing with the camera is, it takes really long to process a HDR shot. Let’s say if I want to take a picture of a flower under that light with HDR, it’s quite hard. And sometimes the picture looks washed out, but after you close and open the app, it gets fine. As I can tweak the color to my liking when I shoot, I guess it wouldn’t be a problem.
Video. It’s interesting because the rear facing camera has EIS. Electronic Image Stabilization. Here’s a video that I shot with the EIS enabled. I want to hear it from you folks. So, please do comment below.
But overall the rear camera, is good but needs some fine tuning. Especially at the software department. If possible, lower the touch focus beep volume, it's way too high and irritating as well.
My score for this at the moment is 3.0 / 5.
My score for this at the moment is 3.0 / 5.
The front camera has a 5MP with LED flash and has a 84 degree. Selfies are wider, so you can fit in more friends in just one click. I am not a huge selfie lover, but here’s one taken with the device.
Front camera, My Score is 4.0/5.
Good move in including a Front facing flash.
Battery Life & Charging
This phone packs a 3000 mAh non-user replaceable battery. And the battery life? I have tested this phone in three condition. First is the phone battery on light to normal usage, Second is heavy usage and finally to test the standby.
1. Moderate usage
So, under Moderate usage. I unplugged the phone from the charger around 11 a.m. and I started to use the normal stuff like all my Social Networks, and watch some series. And snap some pictures. It lasted till 12:38 a.m. the next day. So, It was pretty impressive. I was able to use the phone until 3%.
2. Heavy Usage
On this particular day, I unplugged the phone from the charger around 11:45 a.m. and it was one busy day. I was heading on my way to the city. Used the GPS for navigation, WiFi was on the whole time forgot to turn off. And the data was on 4G. As I was using the public transport, I took the advantage to play Pokemon Go all the way. It was good and around in the afternoon, I had around 60% juice.
Around, 5 p.m., I was heading to watch a movie. So, I just charged my device for like 1-2 minute. And I was back on the move. The movie started around 7:30, but before that I was even able to update my Instagram Stories and other stuff. Close to 8 p.m., the phone had 2%. And the screen on time with intense usage was 2 hours 45 minutes ++.
3. Very light usage and Standby time
This particular day, I used my phone on and off because as I was busy with my work the whole day, and I even forgot to connect to the charger at night. When I left for bed, the phone had 40% percent, and I woke up the next day morning… It has 30%. And around 2:37 p.m., the phone had 2% left, so I connected to the charger.
In conclusion, The flash plus 2 can last longer than you think. The battery optimization is very impressive. On a heavy usage, you can expect it to last for 7-8 hours tops. On a moderate usage, 11-12 hour. And on a light usage to none, expect the phone to last more than a day for sure.
So, my comment on the battery. Superb. 5 / 5.
Charging
This phone supports, Flash Charging. It helps the phone to charge fast and give you higher percentage in a very short timespan. In my test, I connected the charger when the phone had 5% and was left uninterrupted. After 30 Minutes, the phone had around 50% and within 1 Hour, the phone was close to 100%.
This was charged using the Flash Adapter. So, Charging. No problem.
Call Quality & Connectivity*
This varies according to the service provider you have. But my experience with the device when it comes to call quality, is pretty good. There’s no interference and the sound on the earpiece is pretty clear, it can also get loud enough. On the other side, people were able to listen to what I say thanks to the dual mic Noise cancellation.
And connectivity, this phone supports 4G and my connection on the telco I use was pretty good. I had a really great time playing Pokemon Go (which I mentioned earlier), browsing on the go (4G). Webpages loaded faster and music / Video streaming on the go was pretty good. Some website with high graphics took a while to load. But nonetheless, it’s good.
I have give this a solid 4.0 / 5
WiFi & Bluetooth Connectivity
When it comes to WiFi, this particular device has 802.11 b/g/n and no a and ac. But still, there won’t be any problem as a lot of wifi connectivity still runs on either of these and if there’s no ac, you could still survive. Internet on wifi is fast enough* (Still it depends on what connection you’re on). On public WiFi, it’s meh but I’d rather stick with my Data Connection for a better response.
It runs Bluetooth 4.1. I have been emphasizing on bluetooth for quite some time because when I’m on the move especially in public transports, I prefer using my bluetooth in ears instead of my wired Over Ear. Few devices that I’ve used via bluetooth for listening, had sound distortion. With that being said, Flash Plus 2 faced no issues when listening via bluetooth. I was able to enjoy my favorite song without the odd sound distortion, sudden shift in pitch and then going back to normal.
Things like selfie stick and others, worked fine. Though I barely use it.
Call Quality & Connectivity, Good enough.*
*This rating can change according to the telco you use.
Fingerprint Sensor
Ahh yes. The fingerprint sensor that’s located at the front of the device. The performance is pretty impressive. The recognition is on point, no matter if you keep in any angle. You can register upto 5 fingerprints and interestingly, there’s some software tweak that could take use of the fingerprint sensor. Like registering certain apps when you unlock with certain finger, so that they open right away. There’s other features.
And since it has fingerprint sensor, you could buy apps from the Play store by verifying that it’s you with your fingerprint instead of a password. Neat.
Fingerprint Sensor, 5 / 5.
Audio Experience
Let’s start off with the speaker. It’s rear facing and has that small looking bump, which gives a small lift. So that it doesn’t give that muffled sound when it is placed on a table. The sound that comes from the speaker, it is loud. You won’t have any trouble noticing someone is calling you, when the phone is in your pocket.
Now on to my favorite part, the Built in Hi-Fi chip and Amplifier. This phone has a 32-bit DAC and Amplifier from a well reputable company called Asahi Kasei Microdevices. For those who are way too audiophile and loves technical stuff, you might wanna check their website. So the particular DAC in this device is a portable one (AK4375). And at the moment, not a lot of phone has Hi-Fi chip built in at this price other than the flagship devices.
The sound. As much as I listen to my songs via my Portable DAC and Amplifier. I enjoyed listening with the Flash Plus 2. The sound was clear and on point. One thing I was impressed that I didn’t have to go around and tweak the amplifier to get the exact way I like. It just worked nicely just the way it is. The bass response was natural and had that Oomph factor. The vocal pitch was kinda high (depending on the song and the quality you play). Most of the song format I played was FLAC, WAV, M4A and 3-4 songs which is MP3. The MP3 format are the ones that gave me the odd vocal pitch. But it also depends on the quality of the songs too.
For those audiophile who is on a budget but wants to get a good device with a decent HiFi Chip in it, Flash Plus 2 is a good choice.
Sadly you’d have to get a Hi-res headphones in order to listen to the difference. But there’s one or two in the market that doesn’t break the bank. :)
Audio, 4.8/5.
Software: UI & OS
The part I love about this phone. Unlike other companies do, which is making Custom UI on top of android which either ends up being a huge mess or turns out to be great. This particular one runs under pure android. Version 6.0. One of the reason why the phone is buttery smooth.
Flash does have some of their very own apps such as the My Mix (Music app), 7am News, Booster, Email, File Manager, FM Radio, Gallery, Camera, Hotspot (more like a shortcut), Sound Recorder, Update, Weather, Wi-Fi Transfer and last but not least Wi-Di (Wireless Display). Atleast it’s the only app that exist instead having two of the very same app that could cause a huge mess.
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| Super Battery saver mode |
Under the Android 6.0 settings, Flash has some nifty trick up it’s sleeves. For instance, Turbo download enables you to download using both Wi-fi and 3G/4G network at the same time. Gesture (Double tap which I talked earlier), MiraVision under Display, Scheduled Power On and Off and other stock android stuff that makes people like myself happy.
The launcher that the phone comes with looks exactly like the Google Launcher but you can’t slide to the left to access Google Now.
I have to say Flash made a smart move by going with a Stock android as it’s not only light but it can take the full capabilities instead of wasting the background running for other UI related Resources.
Software department, is a total win for me. 5/5.
Vesper Special: VR on Flash Plus 2
VR is getting popular time to time. And I myself am a huge fan of Virtual Reality. Although things like the Vive and Oculus is on the pricey side, I enjoy VR by using a Google Cardboard version of VR.
This also gives you on how the phone handles all the sensors that works along with the phones. And I have to say I am pretty impressed. The Helios P10 is no slouch. The phone handled very well but odd thing is the screen split ratio for the Cardboard was weird. I didn’t get an equal ratio for some reason. But then the sensors and other content worked flawlessly.
Media content apps like Fulldive and other VR related games took the phone full potential. Best part is that the phone barely crashed. Frame drop, yes. App crash, nope. Again thank’s to the Pure Android 6.0.
Conclusion
It’s nice to see how far we have come to get a really good device which does not only look good on paper but also performs great in hand. Flash Plus 2 is no exception. With it’s premium mid range processor that does not get hot at all times (Thanks to Mediatek), great designed body, reliable fingerprint sensor, superb audio Hi - Fi chip that can give to the capability to play songs with studio quality… All at a very good deal.
The camera performance is okay. Above average. With a software update with fix would definitely solve the problem. And inclusion of an Equalizer would be good because I had to install Play Music in order to use the equalizer. But yeah, Flash Plus 2 caught my attention and proved me that they are indeed throwing their effort. Let me get my very own Flash Plus 2 from the stores soon. :)
SO, DID I LIKE IT OR LOVE IT?
Now, you can get your very own Flash Plus 2 for a really great price of RM 569 for the 2GB RAM + 16 GB ROM and RM 719 for the 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM. Link to the Lazada site below!
Hope to see you guys coming out with a successor in the near future.
As always, thank you so much for reading this guys. And huge thanks to my friends at TechENT for hooking me up with the 2GB Variant. Giving me an opportunity to try and review the device. Be sure to check out their website where they post cool reviews and article on tech and more! With out them, I guess it’s impossible for me to test this device out. :) Link to their site below.
And also they posted an article regarding Flash Releasing it's Flash Plus 2 in Stores!
Click here to read about it!
And also, check Flash Malaysia's Site to learn more on the device and make sure you guys like their Facebook Page as well!
Hope to see you guys on my next Unboxing and review of the an upcoming product. I know this one is very long but next time will do my best to keep it short. :)
This is Prithivi Raj / Vesper
Signing off!
