Tech | Stylish and snappy

Coolpad has been launching quite a few budget phones in Nepal and Cool 10A is one of the recent additions.

Cool 10A (2/64GB variant) comes with a price tag of Rs. 12,495 and it is one of the most stylish- looking smartphones for the price.

Along with that, it provides 64GB storage as well. So, Is Cool 10A a good budget phone? Find out in our impressions.

Coolpad Cool 10A First Impressions

Cool Design

• 165 x 76 x 8.8 mm
• Dual Sim (Nano)
• 90Hz

Coolpad Cool 10A has good aesthetics to be fair. The plastic rear has a textured finish, so it is not prone to fingerprints and smudges. And, the gradient finish makes it stand out in the entry-level segment.

At the back, there's a fingerprint sensor and dual camera module with a flash. The power and volume buttons are on the right. Whereas there's a triple-slot tray for dual nano sim and a micro-SD on the left, at the bottom, there's a mic, a micro-USB port, and a speaker.

Cool 10A’s good design doesn't make it feel that it it’s an entry-level smartphone.

Overall, the plastic build feels durable and the phone can be easily used with a single hand as well.

Display

• 6.517 inches LCD Panel
• HD+ resolution

Cool 10A's display panel punches higher than what I had initially expected. Even though it is an HD+ panel, the display feels sharp.

While the colors are not impressive, the display is more than good enough for content viewing. And, the brightness doesn't disappoint too. You can use it outdoors as well.

Camera

• Rear Camera: 13MP
  • 0.3MP
  • Video: 1080p@30fps
• Front Camera: 5MP
  • Video: 1080p@30fps

Cool 10A has a dual camera on the rear with a 13MP main sensor and a 0.3MP main sensor.

Main sensor

For a budget phone, the Cool 10A has an average image quality. Images do not have a good dynamic range and they look flat.

Some images also have that oversaturated and oversharpened look. Furthermore, the shutter speed also feels a bit slow.

The additional 0.3MP sensor doesn't have a designation as it is apparently an AI sensor. So, it could be helping the main sensor by providing extra information.

Interestingly, it does have night mode and slow-mo features. We will talk about these features in detail in our full review.

Front camera

Now on to the front camera, the 5MP sensor takes decent selfies under good lighting. And, the Auto HDR also does a good job of controlling background highlights.

There's no portrait mode for the front camera but surprisingly it does have night mode.

Video

Coolpad Cool 10A can capture up to 1080p 30fps videos with the rear camera and 720p videos from the front. We will discuss the video quality in our review article.

Performance

• Unisoc SC9863A chipset
• Octa-core (4×1.6 GHz Cortex-A55 & 4×1.2 GHz Cortex-A55) CPU
• IMG8322 GPU
• 64GB 2GB RAM, expandable up to 128GB

Cool 10A is equipped with a Unisoc SC9863A chipset paired with 2GB of RAM and 64GB internal storage.

SC9863A is an octa-core chipset with 8 cortex-A55 cores in two clusters. The performance cores are clocked up to 1.6GHz and the efficiency cores are clocked up to 1.2GHz. It also uses IMG8322 GPU.

On paper, the CPU and GPU are equivalent to that of the MediaTek G25 but it is not an efficient chip as it is made in a 28nm process.

The phone feels smooth and snappy for an entry-level phone and it can run games like Altos Odyssey without any difficulties. I'll further test PUBG mobile and COD mobile for our full review.

Battery and Charging

• Non-removable Li-Po 4900mAh battery
• 10W charging
• Micro USB

It's strange but the company has been promoting Cool 10A's battery capacity as 4000mAh when it has a 4900mAh battery.

The battery life is pretty good for a budget phone. Under normal conditions, Cool 10A provides a day of usage, but it doesn't have fast charging support.

Software

• Android 11
• Stock OS

One of the good things about Cool 10A is the stock OS. Well, it runs on Android 11 with slight modifications, and it looks like Cool 10A is using the Android Go skin.

Some Android Go apps like Google Go, Gallery Go, and Assistant Go are pre-installed. Furthermore, it does not have an app drawer and there are only 6 themes to customize your experience.

Though the UI is barebone stock Android, the optimization is really good.

Follow Up

Cool 10A is looking like a good budget option if you want a stylish and snappy phone.

I like its design and the display is surprisingly good. I was not expecting the Cool 10A to be slick and smooth but the Unisoc chipset combined with barebone UI provides a good experience.

Well, this is only our first impression. I will be testing out its camera performance and endurance further in our full review. But, it has impressed me so far.