Cherry Mobile has consistently come out with value offering after value offering, and it doesn’t look like they’re showing any signs of stopping. Heck, if the recent slew of Superion tablets are an indicator of anything, it’s that we’re just going to keep getting better value for money with every tablet they come out with. One such tablet is the Cherry Mobile Superion Probe. What’s remarkable about the Superion Probe is that it covers all of the tablet basics while sticking to the Php4K mark.
![Loudspeaker]()
Naturally, when the Superion Probe was announced, I was intrigued. Exactly how much are you getting for the money? Thankfully, Cherry Mobile was kind enough to lend me a review unit. Read on to find out if it’s worth the money in my full Cherry Mobile Superion Probe review.
What’s in the Box?
![Accessories]()
The Cherry Mobile Superion Probe comes in a pretty decent-looking box. Packaging is obviously a huge part of marketing and it’s nice to see that Cherry Mobile consistently gets it right. As for the box contents, I found it to be pretty sparse:
- tablet
- micro USB transfer cable
- 1.5A wall charger
As far as standard retail packages go, that’s about as bare as it gets. Of course, Apple gets away with it just fine with the iPad, so why shouldn’t Cherry Mobile?
Design and Construction
![Cherry Mobile Superion Probe]()
Without even turning the tablet on, I was already pretty impressed by the Superion Probe. The front may be nothing to look at, but the back is quite a sight, featuring a brushed metallic back panel that made it look more expensive than it really was. Anyway, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
![Cherry Mobile Superion Probe Front]()
As I said, the front of the tablet is pretty nondescript. The screen dominates this side, naturally, but then there’s this tinny little earpiece right above it for making calls. If that’s your thing on a tablet, that is.
![Left Side]()
On the left is the power/lock button and volume rocker, as well as a microphone pinhole toward the bottom for calls.
![Mic Pinhole]()
The right side is bare of any hardware controls.
![Right Side]()
On top, there’s a small pinhole to perform a hard reset. Since, the Superion Probe doesn’t have a removable battery, you’ll have to use this hidden reset button should the device freeze up and stop responding. There’s also a micro USB port and 3.5mm headset port, as well as a flap that hides access to the micro SD card slot and SIM slot.
![Top]()
You won’t find any notable hardware features at the bottom.
![Bottom]()
At the back though, there’s the 5mp autofocus camera at the top, Superion Probe branding in the middle, and Cherry Mobile branding and loudspeaker toward the bottom.
![Back]()
The Screen
![Screen Front]()
The Superion Probe features a 7 inch WSVGA screen. The panel is probably a low-end TN LCD because the colors are only barely accurate from head-on then wash out easily when you look at it from an off-angle toward the sides. To be honest, the viewing angles are really bad. You wouldn’t believe the screen is actually on in this next photo.
![Screen Wide Angle]()
Another thing I noticed about the screen is that the tempered glass used to protect the touch panel doesn’t seem to be of very high quality. A good quality glass panel would be flat, but there seems to be a bit of random imperfections in the flat surface. You can easily notice this be turning the screen off and looking at it from the edges while holding it up against the light. You’ll see how the reflections on the surface tend to curve where there’s an imperfection.
The Chipset
The Superion Probe is powered by a Qualcomm MSM8225Q 1.2GHz quad core processor coupled with an Adreno 203 GPU. It’s about as entry-level as you can get even if it’s a quad core chip although it delivers plenty enough performance for the Superion Probe and it’s WSVGA screen. The relatively low resolution helps mask the shortcomings of the chipset because it doesn’t require as much rendering power from the GPU.
![Quadrant 8,272]()
![Vellamo Multicore 957]()
![Vellamo Metal 589]()
![Vellamo Browser 1,615]()
The result is relatively fluid and buttery navigation through the UI and decent overall performance when running games and other apps. Of course, some of you might still want some evidence in the form of benchmarks and I’m more than happy to oblige.
Software and UI
The Cherry Mobile Superion Probe runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out of the box. The UI is specifically tablet-oriented so you won’t find a dock at the bottom of the screen. Instead, you’ll find a bare layout with access to the app drawer in the upper right corner of any homescreen.
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![Lockscreen]()
The stock UI is a vanilla implementation of Android. About the only change Cherry Mobile made was to the stock wallpapers. All you’ll find are Cherry Mobile-branded wallpapers. They didn’t even bother to include some alternative non-branded wallpapers like they did in the past with phones like the Cosmos X2 or Apollo.
![Homescreen]()
There are also a few bloatware apps in the form of the Cherry Fun Club, eWarranty, KakaoTalk, Opera Mini Browser, Pinoy App Shop and TouchPal X keyboard. I understand the necessity of the eWarranty app, but I hate the redundancy of the Cherry Fun Club and Pinoy App Shop apps. I can already download apps from Google Play so why would I even bother with either one? I don’t mind KakaoTalk, Opera Mini and TouchPal X since some people actually do use those.
Telephony and Wireless Connectivity
Like any tablet from the Superion series, the Superion Probe is call and text capable, not to mention supports connectivity through mobile data. Messaging on the Superion Probe is a breeze because of the spacious onscreen keyboard and large area for viewing text. It’s also pretty easy to hold the tablet while typing because of its relatively small and slim profile.
![Dialer]()
For those with big hands, you can realistically call on the Superion Probe as well. You’ll want to take note of where the microphone pinhole is though depending on whether you’re left or right-handed. Of course, you can always make use of a wired headset so you don’t look like a dork. Unfortunately, such a headset isn’t included.
![Messaging]()
Now, if you want to preserve your battery and avoid using 3G when there’s a hotspot nearby, you can always just switch to WiFi. You can also use the tablet with Bluetooth accessories like keyboards and mice. Of course, it also has GPS built-in so the Superion Probe can double as your car’s navigation system. Now that’s what I call a do-it-all tablet!
Imaging
![Camera]()
The Cherry Mobile Superion Probe is equipped with a 3mp rear-facing autofocus camera coupled with a VGA front camera. To be honest, neither one is that good although the 3mp primary shooter is capable of some decent shots in good lighting. Unfortunately, since it doesn’t have a flash, you’ll only be able to use it in good lighting anyway. The front camera likewise shouldn’t be used outside of good lighting, but since it will mostly be used for video calls more than anything else, it’s not too bad. Here are a few samples for you to check out.
![Sample Outdoor Shot]()
![100% Crop of Outdoor Shot]()
![Closeup of Subject, Soft Lighting]()
![HDR Low Lighting]()
Entertainment
![Movies]()
7 inch tablets are great because they are extremely portable and make for excellent on-the-go multimedia centers. However, the Cherry Mobile Superion Probe falls flat because of its screen. Our primary means of interaction and media consumption on a tablet is through its screen so the poor quality images that the Superion Probe is limited to has a huge impact on how you can enjoy things like browsing through images, watching movies or surfing the Web.
![Cherry Mobile Superion Probe Music]()
However, it is pretty slim and has a small footprint. The bezels aren’t as slim as on the SKK Marian Tab, but they’re still plenty slim, especially when compared to something like the Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt. This contributes to its portability.
Thankfully, the Superion Probe comes with support for a micro SD card, so you can expand your media library and simply pop a card inside. There’s no USB OTG support though. I haz a sad ![:(]()
Gaming
Ah, this is probably everyone’s favorite section and one of the main reasons anyone would consider buying a tablet or not. What games can it play? I installed a couple of my favorite test games to find out.
The first game I installed was Dead Trigger 2, which is a popular first person shooter on the Play Store. I like it because it’s a small download and has a high graphics setting to quickly push your device to the test. The Superion Probe ran on high graphics settings without a hiccup, rendering effects like lens flares and smoke without slowing down noticeably. The controls were also very responsive, which is important in a game that requires great hand-held coordination.
Another game I like to test review devices with is Despicable Me: Minion Rush. It’s a notoriously bloated game that used to run fine on midrange devices until the developer decided to ramp up the graphics at the expense of wider device support. Unfortunately, the Superion Probe stutters here a bit. Responsiveness slows down so there’s a bit of a delay between a swipe and when the onscreen minion actually moves to where you want it to move. No biggie though. This is just a Php4k device after all.
Battery Life
The Superion Probe is equipped with a 3,000mAh, which is about right for a tablet of this size. It has decent battery life during regular usage and has pretty great standby time too. In a straight gaming scenario, it can last up to 406 minutes or 6.77 hours until the battery dies. Wow!
![Cherry Mobile Superion Probe Gaming Battery Life Test]()
Where it really shines is with the Snapdragon Battery Guru app, which helps calibrate battery usage by limiting whether certain apps can run in the background or not. When you start up the Battery Guru app for the first time, there’s a learning period of a couple of days where it learns your app usage habits. Once the learning period is over, it starts limiting apps that you don’t use while those that you do use are left alone. Background apps are one of the main contributors to why smartphones and tablets drain power more quickly and the Battery Guru app remedies this by only letting apps that you actually use run in the background.
So Should You Buy the Cherry Mobile Superion Probe?
![Cherry Mobile Superion Probe Brushed Metal Backing]()
As far as call and text tablets go, the Cherry Mobile Superion Probe has the bare minimum specs that I would consider acceptable. The WSVGA resolution is just right for the screen size and the overall performance is good enough that it won’t stutter across a range of games and apps. It’s also one of the best-looking local tablets I’ve seen yet and even beats out some devices that are twice its price.
![Cherry Mobile Superion Probe Bad Screen]()
That screen is a huge downside for me though. Sure, it gives you call and text functionality as well, not to mention the ability to surf the internet on the go, but a user’s primary means of interacting with their screen and consuming content is through the screen.
![Cherry Mobile Superion Probe Back and Branding]()
At Php3,999, it’s an incredible value too and gives you plenty of reason to ditch your smartphone and go with just a tablet as your main communication device. Of course, if you were to upgrade to the Superion Endeavor for just an additional Php1k, you would get a better quality HD IPS screen. Honestly, if you have the extra Php1k to burn, the Superion Endeavor is the better choice between the two.
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