Coolpad Cool 5 review: Decent phone, but with some compromises

Coolpad Cool 5 review: Priced just under Rs 8,000, the stylish smartphone packs a 6.22-inch notch display (Express Photo by Karanveer Singh Arora)

Coolpad launched its Coolpad Cool 5 last month aiming at the budget segment of the market. Priced just under Rs 8,000, the stylish smartphone packs a 6.22-inch notch display, along with a Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22 processor and 4,000 mAh battery. But how does it fare on daily usage? Here is our review.

Coolpad Cool 5 specifications: 6.22-inch display with dewdrop notch | MediaTek Helio P22 processor | 4GB RAM+64GB storage | 13MP+2MP rear camera with flash | 16MP front camera | 4,000 mAh battery | Android 9.0 Pie

Coolpad Cool 5 price in India: Rs 7,999 for 4GB RAM/64GB internal storage variant

Coolpad Cool 5 design, display

Just like the Coolpad Cool 3 Plus launched earlier this year, the Cool 5, too, has a glossy back made with polycarbonate with a dual-tone gradient design. The Gradient Blue variant has a black shade merging into the blue. Apart from this colour, there is also another Midnight Blue colour option available.

Coolpad Cool 5 review: The device has a compact form factor and feels solid to hold. (Express Photo by Karanveer Singh Arora)

The glossy back does attract a lot of fingerprint marks and smudges. The device has a compact form factor and feels solid to hold. It is comfortable to hold and use with just one hand. There is a fingerprint scanner at the back along with a 13MP+2MP dual rear camera and an LED flash, which is aligned vertically at the top left corner.

Coolpad Cool 5 review: There is a fingerprint scanner at the back along with a 13MP+2MP dual rear camera and an LED flash (Express Photo by Karanveer Singh Arora)

It has a hybrid dual SIM slot which is located on the left side of the rim, and at the top, there is the 3.5-mm port for connecting headphones. At the bottom, there is a Type-C USB port along with the speaker grille.

Coolpad Cool 5 review: At the bottom, there is a Type-C USB port along with the speaker grille. (Express Photo by Karanveer Singh Arora)

Coolpad Cool 5 comes with an HD+ screen that measures 6.22-inches. The display of the screen provides good brightness and colours. The viewing angles are good and it is only when you tilt it sideways that it gets hard to read on the screen. The brightness of the phone is good enough even when you are moving under the sun.

Coolpad Cool 5 performance, software, battery

The Coolpad Cool 5 does a decent job for your day to day needs. It comes with a powerful battery and expandable storage of up to 128GB. It is powered by Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22 processor which has been paired with 4GB RAM and does not face any lags and issues during the day to day usage like calling, messaging, average web surfing or using light apps.

Coolpad Cool 5 review: At the top, there is the 3.5-mm port for connecting headphones. (Express Photo by Karanveer Singh Arora)

The device smoothly runs most of the games in medium settings, and does not heat up even after almost an hour of gameplay. While it handles light games without breaking a sweat, it did struggle when I tried to run PUBG Mobile. There were some lags in the game even when I was sitting right next to my WiFi router.

The phone comes with security features such as the fingerprint reader at the back and face unlock. Both of these worked pretty well, although on a few instances the fingerprint reader was not able to unlock based on the positioning of my index finger.

Coolpad Cool 5 review: Under the hood, the phone has a Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22 processor and 4,000 mAh battery (Express Photo by Karanveer Singh Arora)

The Cool 5 sports a USB-C port at the bottom and in terms of battery backup, the device performs quite decently with 4,000 mAh battery. It easily lasts a day with average usage but you might require to save the battery through the Power Manager application as the phone takes nearly three hours to charge from 0 to 100 per cent. It runs on the company’s own Android-9 based Coolpad UI.

Coolpad Cool 5 camera performance

Coolpad Cool 5 tends to struggle in the photography department at low light, which I think is a problem with most budget smartphones nowadays. While daylight photography seems quite vibrant and colourful, it fails to bring the natural colours of the object and often overbrightens them.

Coolpad Cool 5 review: Sample image taken from the smartphone at day time. (Express Photo by Debashish Pachal)

At night, the performance gets worse as the sensors tend to struggle in clearly identifying the objects and faces and the output is generally quite grainy.

Coolpad Cool 5 review: Sample image taken from the smartphone at day time. (Express Photo by Debashish Pachal)

If you try zooming on to them, the photos can come pixelated. In low light conditions, the camera lacks clarity and the photos are dull and grainy.

Coolpad Cool 5 review: Sample image taken from the smartphone at day time. (Express Photo by Debashish Pachal)

Coolpad Cool 5 review: Sample image taken from the smartphone inside a room. (Express Photo by Debashish Pachal)

Coolpad Cool 5 review: Sample image taken from the smartphone at night. (Express Photo by Debashish Pachal)

Coolpad Cool 5 review: Sample image taken from the smartphone at night. (Express Photo by Debashish Pachal)

Coolpad Cool 5 review: Sample image taken from the smartphone at night. (Express Photo by Debashish Pachal)

Coolpad Cool 5 review: Sample image taken from the smartphone at night. (Express Photo by Debashish Pachal)

Coolpad Cool 5 verdict

The Coolpad Cool 5 is a fairly good looking device and does most of the basic things right. While it is not the ideal phone for running heavy graphic games such as PUBG Mobile and may not be great with the cameras, it is also not very expensive. However, one must also consider other smartphones such as Redmi 8 before making a purchase.