Coolpad Cool Play 6 Review: This Has To Be The New Mid-Budget King

Coolpad Cool Play 6 has been launched in India with a price tag of Rs 14,999 and this is a succor to Coolpad Cool 1 which stole our hearts with its dual-rear camera setup, last year. Now coming to 2017, many companies have tried to establish themselves in the sub-Rs 15,000 segment but failed miserably, however, with the Coolpad Cool Play 6, the Chinese manufacturer is here to crack the toughest nut in Indian smartphone business.

Chinese smartphone manufacturers have always been known to price their offering very competitively and Coolpad is no exception to the fact. In order to compete with the likes of Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, Moto G5 Plus and Lenovo K6 Power, all of which are the best sellers from this segment, Coolpad Cool Play 6 is the biggest trump card by the company as it is launched to target users looking for the best option for heavy gaming and camera smartphone.

However, the only reason Coolpad Cool 1, despite all the bells and whistles it carries, wasn’t able to turn up huge sales figures was the fact that other competitors have already established themselves in the Indian market and enjoys a huge user base. The same reason has forced Coolpad to launch the ultimate smartphone in the form of Coolpad Cool Play 6 with dual-rear cameras and that too with an unbelievable price tag.

But will Coolpad Cool Play 6 turn of the numbers for the company this time? Let’s see!!

Coolpad Cool Play 6 Specifications

• 5.5-inch (1920×1080) Full HD IPS display with 2.5 Curved Glass, offering 403 ppi.
• 1.95GHz Octa Core Snapdragon 653 Processor Coupled with Adreno 510 GPU
• 6GB RAM and 64GB Internal Storage with no option of expandable memory.
• Android 7.1.1 (Nougat) with Journey UI, upgradable to Android 8.0
• Dual SIM (nano + nano) and Fingerprint sensor
• 13MP dual rear cameras with dual-tone, PDAF, LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, HDR, Bokeh Mode, Night Mode, 4K video support, slow mo, long exposure, mono photo, panorama, and more.
• 8MP front camera with fixed focus and f/2.2 aperture.
• 4000mAh battery with quick charge support, offering up to 300 hours of standby time.
• 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.1, 3.5mm audio jack and USB 2.0 Type-C
• Dimensions: 152.4×75.2×8.45mm;Weight: 175g
• Color Options: Gold and Black

What’s Good About Coolpad Cool Play 6

Perfectly built metal unibody design that oozes premiumness and despite its size, the Coolpad Cool Play 6 easily fits into one’s hands as well as isn’t much of a slippery device. Overall, Cool Play 6 looks great, despite huge bezels, and the build quality is quite nice.

The 5.5-inch screen looks beautiful and the results are sharp. There is an eye care mode for low-light environments and the viewing angles are good.

The 13MP+13MP rear camera is something, not even a single competitor can boast about. While the first one acts as monochrome, the other can capture pictures in RGB, as well. Pictures taken from the rear camera are detailed, sharp and there are unnoticeable grains. Night mode further increases its performance under low lighting conditions while Bokeh mode is also up to the mark.

Considering the price tag, the 8MP front camera will leave to more than satisfied.

As for as the processor is concerned, long gaming session and seamless multitasking are what Coolpad Cool Play 6 sets standards for, thanks to the SD 653 and 6GB of RAM.

On the software front, Journey UI comes with less bloatware than its predecessor and with Android 7.1.1 Nougat at heart, the UI feels pretty smooth.

What’s Not So Good About Coolpad Cool Play 6

• There are no back-lit capacitive keys

• Visibility under direct sunlight is not that good, but it will do considering the price tag.

• The rear camera struggles to focus under low lighting.

• There is no option of expandable storage.

• No NFC Support

Verdict

Except the fact that Coolpad Cool Play 6 doesn’t come with an expandable memory option, the smartphone seems to have done what it was expected to and that is, stand out in an already crowded segment.

Coolpad Cool Play 6 offers never-ending performance and an exceptional multimedia experience, two things that have created the segment itself.

There only smartphones that come close to what Coolpad Cool Play 6 is capable of, are Lenovo K8 Note and Honor 6X. As far as Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 and Moto G5 Plus are concerned, Coolpad Cool Play 6 has left them way back in the competition. Yes, it’s true.

However, it remains to be seen how the market approached towards a mid-budget smartphone that doesn’t come with expandable storage and NFC support.

But until then, Coolpad Cool Play 6 is one of the easiest to recommend smartphones in the market.