Coolpad launched its most recent smartphone in the first week of July 2016.
Equipped with an affordable price tag, the Chinese manufacturer made this handset available as a successor to the Coolpad Sky released last year. The Sky 3 is available in both white and gold colors. This device has two dedicated slots to allow you to use two SIM cards with a single gadget. Although termed as an entry level smartphone in Vietnam where it was first released, the handset has most of the basic standard specifications that anyone would expect to find on his or her device. However, if you are looking for features like quick or wireless charging and a fingerprint sensor, you may not find the gadget appealing. But, there are other interesting aspects like voice recognition, smart wake, FM radio, dual social account management, voice assistant, smart gesture controls and multiple device security features.
Size, Weight, Design and Body Material
Even as there are many smartphones and phablets that are sleeker and lighter than the Coolpad Sky 3, the manufacturer presents its offering with modest dimensions and decent weight. Sized at 153 x 76.8 x 7.85 mm, the handset weighs 143g. Designed with round corners for an elegant look, the device is encased in a plastic body that is primarily polycarbonate and has a metallic finish for its front bezels.Overall, the gadget appears to be more eye-catching than its predecessor owing to its premium looks. On the side, there are dedicated power and volume control keys.
Screen Size and Display, Pixel Resolution and Density
The Sky 3 encompasses a 5.5-inch IPS screen with 2.5D curved glass at the top. The HD screen with the standard 16:9 aspect ratio showcases a pixel resolution of 720 x 1280 with a pixel density of 267ppi. Thanks to the IPS display providing wide viewing angles of 178 degrees; reading, gaming, movie watching and browsing experiences are really memorable and pleasant. Added to these features, the fact that the screen is scratch resistant gives the smartphone a truly added advantage.
Secondary and Primary Shooters
The Chinese manufacturer has decided to be at par as far as the pixel value of its snappers is concerned. In other words, the Coolpad Sky 3 flaunts an 8MP camera as both its primary and secondary shooters. Both cameras allow HDR, GIF format for animation, photomontage or collage and HD video recording.
The primary snapper uses a Sony Exmor R CMOS sensor and an LED flash to render 3264 x 2448 image resolution and 1280 x 720 video resolution (at 30fps). Interestingly, there are two ways you can launch this primary camera when the handset is in standby mode. You can either press the volume control button twice or the power and volume control buttons together at the same time. Apart from the standard features, this shooter supports a professional photography mode to offer a gamut of customization options such as color saturation, focus speed and color contrast.
The secondary shooter has an 83-degree wide angle lens with f/2.2 aperture and digital zoom to account for better video calls and selfies.
Hardware, Memory and Operating System
There is nothing spectacular worth mentioning as far as under the hood configuration is concerned. Similar to other smartphones in this price range, the smartphone has 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM for storage. The storage memory can be enhanced externally by a further 64GB. The key processor is a 1GHz quad core processor that works along with a MediaTek chipset and a Mali processor.
As for the operating system, the Sky 3 offers Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box powered by Coolpad 8.0 UI.
Battery and Battery Life
The non-removable battery in the Coolpad Sky 3 is fairly decent with 2,500 mAh capacity, and is capable of offering 260 hours standby time and 9 hours talk time. It also supports up to 24 hours of music playback and 7 hours of video playback.
Connectivity Options
You can avail almost all the commonly used connectivity options with the Sky 3. These include Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 80.211 b/g/n, GPS and A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack and microUSB 2.0. The connection accessories provided along with the handset at the time of purchase include the battery charger, a 3.5mm headphone and a microUSB data cable.