Alcatel OneTouch recently rebranded their Flash smartphone division as a separate brand – Flash. Building upon their success with the Flash 2 smartphone, they introduced the Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada). For our coverage of the launch, take a look at our article – Flash Plus 2 Smartphone Revealed!
The Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) promises to offer even more value for money with a renewed focus on delivering mobigraphy – the ultimate mobile photographic experience. Let’s take a look!
Flash Plus 2 Smartphone Specifications
| Specifications | Flash Plus 2 (2 GB Variant) | Flash Plus 2 (3 GB Variant) |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 5.5" IPS display (1080 x 1920 pixels, 401 ppi) 1000:1 contrast ratio (typical), 160° viewing angle MiraVision 2.0 image technology |
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| Protection | Asahi Dragon Trail Glass | |
| Operating System | Android 6.0 Marshmallow | |
| SoC Platform | MediaTek Helio P10 (MT6755) | |
| Processor | 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 (1.8 GHz) 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 (1 GHz) |
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| Graphics Processor | ARM Mali-T860 MP2 GPU (550 MHz) | |
| Memory | 2 GB LPDDR3 | 3 GB LPDDR3 |
| Storage | 16 GB eMMC internal flash storage (10.4 GB free) microSD slot (supports up to 128 GB) | 32 GB eMMC internal flash storage (25.4 GB free) microSD slot (supports up to 128 GB) |
| Front Camera | 5 MP sensor with 1.12 μm pixel size f/2.2 wide-angle lens (84.4°) LED flash with CRI of 80 |
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| Rear Camera | 13 MP OmniVision OV13853 sensor Phase-detection auto-focus (PDAF) technology 5P wide-angle f/2.0 lens (76.5°) with blue optical glass filter Dual-tone LED flash 1080p video recording at 60 fps |
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| Connectivity | TDD: B38/B40/B41; FDD: B1/B3/B5/B7 LTE CA4 R9 Cat.4 (150 Mbps / 50 Mbps) UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 GSM 850/900/1800/1900 Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n BT4.1/GPS/AGPS/Micro USB 2.0 |
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| Dual SIM Capability | Dual SIM Dual Standby | |
| Sensors | Light sensor, proximity sensor, G-Sensor, Accelerometer, E-Compass, Hall sensor, Gyro sensor | |
| Fingerprint Sensor | Yes, integrated with Home button | |
| Audio Capability | AKM4375 Chipset + NXP9890 Audio Amplifier Stereo FM radio Dual-microphone noise cancellation |
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| Battery | 3,000 mAh lithium ion battery Talk time: 16hrs(2G) / 15hrs(3G) Standby time: 528hrs(2G) / 405hrs(4G) Music Playback (headset default vol)(54h) / (speaker default vol)(12h) Video Streaming WIFI (4h) WIFI browsing (6h) Video -H.264 (1080P) HW mode Video H.264 (1080P) (6h) |
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| Fast Charging Capability | 9V / 1.67A fast-charging technology Powered by the TI BQ25896 fast-charging chip |
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| Size | 76.4 mm wide x 152.6 mm tall x 8.2 mm thick | |
| Weight | 157 g | |
| Available Colours | Venus Gold / Luna Silver | |
Unboxing The Flash Plus 2
The Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) comes in a classy matte black box. The heart-shaped accent above the Flash Plus 2 logo has a fingerprint imprint, just in case you are not aware that the Flash Plus 2 has a fingerprint sensor. 🙂
With all the contents unpacked, you will find the following items:
- One Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) smartphone
- One 15 W Travel USB charger
- One set of Quick Start Guide, Warranty Certificate, Safety and Warranty Information booklets
- One “Welcome to Flash Community” card
- One micro-USB cable
Surprisingly, the Flash Plus 2 does not come with earphones, a case or a screen protector. They were notable accessories in the Flash 2 smartphone package.
Next Page > Design & Build, Inside The Flash Plus 2, Setting It Up
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Design & Build
With a 5.5″ display, the Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) is a phablet, hence the “Plus” in its name. Beneath the display, there is a home button flanked by a pair of backlit capacitive keys. The home button does double duty as a fingerprint sensor, which allows the Flash Plus 2 to be unlocked in a fraction of a second.
While fingerprint sensors aren’t new, the Flash Plus 2 is the first to include one in this price segment. The choice of combining it with the home button may not be to everyone’s taste though. It requires the Flash Plus 2 to be woken up from standby (by pressing on the home button or power button) before being unlocked.
The Power button and Volume control buttons are located on the right side of the Flash Plus 2, near the top. That is not a very ideal location for the power button, although most users will just use the Home button to wake up the Flash Plus 2.
On the bottom, you will find the micro USB 2.0 port near the left edge, with the microphone port near the right edge. You will find a second microphone port at the top of the Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada), together with the headphone port. The two microphone ports helps with the noise cancellation, allowing for clearer audio to be recorded.
Even though it still uses a plastic frame, the metal back cover stiffens the Flash Plus 2, and gives it a more premium feel. The brushed aluminium finish also gives it a classier look. The top half of its back is dominated by its 13 MP camera, accompanied by a dual-tone LED flash. The bottom half features a speaker vent with a slight bump to maximise audio output when placed on flat surfaces.
While phablets are usually less ergonomic for those with smaller hands, the Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) fits our hands quite well. This is probably due to the rounded edges on its back. They allow for a more comfortable grip, although the brushed finish feels a little slippery. On the other hand, the finish is virtually impervious to fingerprint smudges!
Inside The Flash Plus 2
Now, we will show you how to carefully remove the metal back cover to gain access to the two SIM slots and the microSD card slot.
Setting Up The Flash Plus 2
When you power up the Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) for the first time, it will take about 36 seconds to boot up. If you set it up as a fresh device, it will take you no more than 5 minutes to complete the initial setup. Check it out!
Next Page > The Flash Plus 2 Cameras, Display & Performance, Our Verdict
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The Flash Plus 2 Cameras
Like its predecessor, the Flash 2 smartphone, the Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) is focused on photography. Flash even coined a term for the ultimate mobile photography experience – mobigraphy. To achieve that, the Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) has a 5 MP front camera that not only uses larger 1.12 μm pixels, it is supported by a dedicated LED flash. The front camera also has a 84.4° wide-angle lens with f/2.2 aperture.
The 13 MP main camera at the back features PDAF (phase-detection autofocus) technology, which allows for faster focusing. It has a bright f/2.0 lens with a wide angle of 76.5° and a blue optical glass filter. It is supported by a dual-tone LED flash, for more realistic skin tones.
The main camera is not only capable of recording full HD (1080p) videos, it can even do so at 60 fps. So the Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) is not only great for taking photos, it’s great for taking videos. But with limited storage, it’s best to add a microSD card if you intend to take many videos.
Display
The Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) comes with a 5.5″ Full HD OGS (one glass solution) display with a pixel density of ~401 ppi. Coupled with MiraVision 2.0 technology, we find it very pleasing to our eyes in use. The screen looks crisp, with colours that aren’t overly vivid, while remaining properly saturated.
The screen brightness was pretty satisfactory, although the adaptive brightness feature does seem a little slow in responding to changes in ambient light levels. The viewing angles are mostly acceptable with minimal colour shift when viewing from an indirect angle.
The Full HD resolution of 1080 x 1920 is perfect at this price point. It offers much greater resolution than competing devices with 720p displays, and you can really tell the difference. On the other hand, it saps less power than QHD displays (1440 x 2560) without a noticeable difference in sharpness.
The Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) uses Asahi Dragon Trail Glass to protect its display. This is similar to Gorilla Glass, offering a little extra ruggedness as well as high scratch resistance. Despite not fitting the Flash Plus 2 with a screen protector, we had not encountered any scratches within our period of use.
Performance
Under the hood, the Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) is powered by the MediaTek Helio P10 SoC. Also known as the MediaTek MT6755, it has an octa-core processor that consists of a set of 4 ARM Cortex-A53 cores running at 1.8 GHz, and a set of 4 ARM Cortex-A53 cores running at 1 GHz. It also has a dual-core ARM Mali-T860 MP2 GPU to handle 2D and 3G graphics.
The Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) comes in two variants. The basic model has 2 GB of LPDDR3 memory and 16 GB of internal flash storage. A higher-end model comes with 3 GB of LPDDR3 memory and 32 GB of internal flash storage. The model we tested came was the 2 GB model with 16 GB of storage.
As expected, the Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) generally ran very smoothly, and switched between apps instantly. However, we did notice some slight lag after 2-3 days of continuous use. It could be due to the lack of polish in the UI, or an overly aggressive memory saving algorithm.
So, how does the processing package compare to other smartphones? Here are some results from common benchmarks :
AnTuTu Benchmark : 41,896
GeekBench 3 : 781 (Single Core), 3014 (Multi-Core)
Basemark OS II : 879 (Overall Score), 506 (Graphics Score)
This is decent performance, albeit nothing to shout about. Overall, this is no speed demon, but it’s fast enough to get the job done.
Our Verdict
The Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) is big jump in quality and capability from the Flash 2 smartphone. If you were impressed by the performance and value offered by the Flash 2 smartphone, you will undoubtedly be impressed by the Flash Plus 2. It is better than its predecessor in every way, and yet remains affordably priced.
Now, the Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) is not designed to take on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Amazon | Lazada) or the HTC 10 (Amazon | Lazada). It is targeted at those who want an affordable phablet with decent performance and photographic capabilities. In that perspective, the Flash Plus 2 has certainly achieved its goal.
At its price point, you will be hard-pressed to find a smartphone with similar performance and photographic capabilities, a fast fingerprint sensor and build quality. The Flash Plus 2 (Amazon | Lazada) challenges the perception that you can’t have a decent smartphone with good photographic capabilities at an affordable price point. We can’t wait to see what Flash will come up with next!
Support Tech ARP!
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!