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MagyarCoolpad Modena Smartphone Review
For the original German review, see here.
The company Coolpad, still rather unknown in Germany, is one of the biggest and most successful Chinese smartphone manufacturers. It now brings a device situated in the entry-level to lower mid-range dubbed Modena to Germany. The handset has a 5.5-inch IPS panel with a resolution of 960x540 pixels. It is powered by a Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor by Qualcomm, which finds support in 1 GB of working memory. The LTE smartphone has 8 GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 32 GB via a micro-SD card. Coolpad's Modena, available in black, white and champagne (gold), will have an RRP of 169 Euros (~$186) in Germany.
Rivals of the 5.5-inch phablet from the entry-level sector are, for example, Motorola's Moto G (2015), Huawei's P8 lite, and ZTE's Blade A452.
Case
At first glance, the thin 8.6-millimeter casing of Coolpad's Modena makes a high-quality impression. However, the feel and build of the price range is reflected in the entry-level handset's plastic casing when held in the hand. Pressure on the smartphone's back or edges is enough to produce a cracking noise. The manufacturer states a relatively high weight of 158 grams, but we measured 157 grams, which conveys a certain degree of quality and makes the device pleasant to hold. The back that can be dented marginally is removable to expand the storage via a micro-SD card or to access the micro-SIM card slot. The 2500 mAh battery is, however, not removable and cannot be replaced. In addition to the 8-megapixel camera alongside an LED in the center rear, Coolpad's Modena has a 2-megapixel camera for selfies and video chats on the front.
Both quality and positioning of the physical keys is basically not convincing. Particularly the power button on the handset's right is placed too high. The volume buttons on the left have a lot of play and wobble. However, the pressure point of both plastic keys is well-defined.
The edge between the display and casing make a very narrow impression when the screen of Coolpad's Modena is off. It first becomes very visible when the handset is turned on. The panel's glass is inserted flat in the casing. A lightly curved 2.5-D bezel does not exist, and thus the transition from glass to casing is very palpable. With a height of 153 mm and width of 77.5 mm, the Modena's screen reserves a surface area of 70.3% on the smartphone's front. That is a good ratio compared with rivals like Motorola's Moto G (2015) (67%) or Huawei's P8 lite (68.3%).
Connectivity
The connectivity clearly shows that Coolpad's Modena is a handset from the entry-level to lower mid-range sector. Coolpad does not install a fingerprint scanner, NFC or Quick Charge for fast recharging in the Modena. On the other hand, the handset scores with dual-SIM functionality, as well as the option of using the device as an FM radio via the included headset in conjunction with the audio jack on the smartphone's upper edge.
The internal storage of Coolpad's Modena has a capacity of 8 GB (ROM). However, the user only has 5.04 GB after deducting the operating system. Approximately 0.7 GB of that storage is reserved by preloaded apps. Some can be uninstalled. It is possible to install the App2SD application on the Modena to prevent storage from getting tight. This app allows moving apps from the internal storage to an external memory card.
Software
The Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop) operating system is preloaded on Coolpad's Modena. The Android security patch level is 2015-12 in delivery state. The Cool UI user interface looks modern and restrained although a bit colorful. Like other Chinese manufacturers, Coolpad does not use an app drawer. All applications are distributed over the home screen, but they can be compiled in folders.
The Modena has quite a bit to offer in terms of software considering the price that Coolpad calls for. For example, the camera offers multiple settings like "Beauty Mode", "Smile Mode" or a picture-in-picture feature. Shortcut applications on the lock screen can be customized and swapped as the user pleases. Predefined input options on the disabled screen allow opening apps from standby. For example, it is possible to open the Internet browser by sketching an "e" or to launch the music app by writing "m" on the disabled screen. That functioned quite reliably in the test.
Besides various Google services like Google+ and Google Maps, a multitude of third-party apps are preloaded. Apart from few exceptions, most can be removed completely from the system.
Communication & GPS
Coolpad's Modena utilizes all GSM, 3G and LTE wireless frequencies standard in Germany. Even LTE Cat. 4 at up to 150 megabits per second (download) with all important frequency bands is supported as mobile wireless standard. That enables using up to two micro-SIM cards simultaneously in the handset. The additional SIM card is inserted in the micro-SD card in that case. However, the second micro-SIM card can only be used for making calls in the 2G GSM network.
The Modena sports Bluetooth 4.0 for wireless communication between terminals; NFC is unfortunately not supported. Beyond that, Wi-Fi in 802.11 b/g/n standards is on board. The reception quality of the installed Wi-Fi module did not give us reason for complaint.
Mobile tracking is performed via aGPS and GLONASS. Localization was fast with an accuracy of 10 feet (~3 meters) outdoors. The signal was not strong enough to track us indoors. The comparison with the Garmin GPS exhibits inaccuracies in the route. At the end of the approximately 5.5-kilometer test route, a difference of approximately 60 meters separates the Modena and the Garmin Edge 500 navigation system.
Telephone & Call Quality
Test calls made with Coolpad's Modena did not exhibit static nor did the sound quality give us reason for complaint. The same is true for the included headset. The speaker's position on the rear is noticed unfavorably when the smartphone is used as a hands-free device while on a table. The volume and intelligibility were restrained here.
A clear image noise was visible in video test calls via Skype. The microphone also rendered the sound very quietly and sometimes unintelligible for other participants.
Cameras
The primary camera on the handset's rear with an aperture of f/2.2 and a 28 mm wide angle has a resolution of 8 megapixels at a format of 4:3. The camera's resolution drops to 5 megapixels when pictures are taken in the 16:9 format. The primary camera records videos in maximum 1080p, and the front-facing camera with 720p.
Photos made using the auto-focus are characterized by blurriness (room photo) and lack of details (ambient photo). Pictures shot with the Modena even in good light conditions are rather low in quality. A visible color inaccuracy can be seen when comparing the camera's colors with the ColorChecker color chart.
The front-facing camera in the Modena features a BSI CMOS sensor with an aperture of f/2.4. The image quality of the 2-megapixel camera is also only enough for snapshots. Like in the primary camera, the photos look blurry.
Accessories
Besides the Modena itself, the box of our review sample contained a user's guide, warranty conditions, and a USB cable and power supply for recharging the battery. Coolpad also adds an in-ear headset. All accessories were white.
Warranty
According to the included warranty card, the manufacturer gives a 24-month warranty from date of purchase. That excludes parts of wear, such as battery, charger and included headphones. Coolpad only covers these components for 6 months.
Input Devices & Handling
The Modena does not have on-screen buttons. The controls are implemented as capacitive buttons in Android Lollipop style below the display. They cannot be illuminated.
Coolpad preloads the keyboard by SwiftKey as the on-screen input option. It offers multiple settings, themes and customization options. Input is stored in the SwiftKey Cloud and used for personalized word suggestions. Users who are not happy with the handling can also switch to the preloaded Google stock keyboard.
The touchscreen's sensitivity and accuracy, as well as the feel of the panel glass are acceptable for a device from this price range. Swiping over the home screen was sometimes mistaken for an input, which launched an app unexpectedly.
Display
In times of UHD panels (3840x2160, Sony Xperia Z5 Premium), qHD screens with a resolution of 960x540 pixels like in the Modena have become rare even in this price range. That results in a pixel density of just 200 PPI at a screen diagonal of 5.5-inches. Rivals like Motorola's Moto G (2015), ZTE's Blade A452 or Huawei's P8 lite have a considerably higher resolution with 294 PPI. The low resolution is primarily noticed in texts with small fonts in routine use. They look blurred, which could be stressful for the eyes when viewed for a longer time.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 93 %
Center on Battery: 345 cd/m²
Contrast: 1190:1 (Black: 0.29 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 5.59 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.93
ΔE Greyscale 6.75 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
Gamma: 2.38
| Coolpad Modena Adreno 306, 410 MSM8916, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Motorola Moto G 3. Gen 2015 XT1541 Adreno 306, 410 MSM8916, 8 GB eMMC Flash | ZTE Blade A452 Mali-T720, MT6735, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Huawei P8 lite Mali-450 MP4, Kirin 620, 16 GB eMMC Flash | Huawei Mate 8 Mali-T880 MP4, Kirin 950, 32 GB eMMC Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | 3% | -17% | -6% | 19% | |
| Brightness middle | 345 | 418 21% | 446 29% | 365 6% | 514 49% |
| Brightness | 338 | 407 20% | 411 22% | 353 4% | 513 52% |
| Brightness Distribution | 93 | 95 2% | 83 -11% | 93 0% | 94 1% |
| Black Level * | 0.29 | 0.49 -69% | 0.65 -124% | 0.42 -45% | 0.35 -21% |
| Contrast | 1190 | 853 -28% | 686 -42% | 869 -27% | 1469 23% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 5.59 | 3.92 30% | 6.29 -13% | 5.2 7% | 5.08 9% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 10.58 | 8.28 22% | |||
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 6.75 | 3.81 44% | 5.58 17% | 5.85 13% | 5.49 19% |
| Gamma | 2.38 92% | 2.27 97% | 2.04 108% | 2.17 101% | 2.08 106% |
| CCT | 8290 78% | 7361 88% | 7636 85% | 7252 90% | 7254 90% |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 70.86 | 79.95 | |||
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 91.25 | 99.84 |
* ... smaller is better
The screen's maximum brightness of 350 cd/m² is not exactly high. The screen's brightness when bright and dark content is distributed evenly (APL50) is also on this level. Comparable handsets from this price range, such as ZTE's Blade A452 or Motorola's Moto G (2015), are considerably brighter. Reflections and sunlight limit the content's legibility especially outdoors. Then again, the panel's illumination of 93% is very good.
Compared with the resolution and brightness, the quality of the LC display is on a good level. Colors look rich and vivid in real-world use. The color reproduction remains relatively stable even in extremely flat viewing angles thanks to the IPS panel; color inverting was barely visible. These positive impressions are continued in the measurements of the screen in the Modena. Both the black level and contrast are very good.
The review sample's panel also achieves a superb rate in sRGB color-space coverage. Solely ZTE's Blade A452 reached similarly good color-space coverage in the comparison field. The average DeltaE shifts in colors (5.59) and grayscale levels (6.75) in relation to the sRGB color space are quite high (ideal <3). The measured color temperature of 8290 K indicates that the screen has a light bluish tint in grayscale reproduction compared with the ideal rate of 6500K.
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 240 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 120 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 120 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 100 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (21 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 17146 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. | |||
Performance
The Modena is powered by a 64-bit quad-core processor by Qualcomm from 2013, the Snapdragon 410 MSM8916. The ARM-based mid-range SoC with four Cortex A53 cores clock at a maximum of 1.2 GHz. In our standard benchmarks, the Modena places itself at the lower end of the score chart compared with its rivals.
Smooth handling of Coolpad's Modena was only conditionally possible in real-world use. Evident jerks and hang-ups as well as delays when launching apps were noticed during multitasking. Browsing via the preloaded Chrome browser functioned mostly without problems. However, loading content sometimes also took longer here.
The evaluated performance of the card reader using our Toshiba Exceria SD-CX32UHSI reference card is below average with 42 MB/s in write and 14 MB/s in read.
| AnTuTu v6 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Coolpad Modena | |
| ZTE Blade A452 | |
| Huawei Mate 8 | |
| Geekbench 3 | |
| 32 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Motorola Moto G 3. Gen 2015 XT1541 | |
| 32 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Motorola Moto G 3. Gen 2015 XT1541 | |
| 64 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Coolpad Modena | |
| Motorola Moto G 3. Gen 2015 XT1541 | |
| ZTE Blade A452 | |
| Huawei P8 lite | |
| Huawei Mate 8 | |
| 64 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Coolpad Modena | |
| Motorola Moto G 3. Gen 2015 XT1541 | |
| ZTE Blade A452 | |
| Huawei P8 lite | |
| Huawei Mate 8 | |
| PCMark for Android | |
| Work 2.0 performance score (sort by value) | |
| Huawei Mate 8 | |
| Work performance score (sort by value) | |
| Coolpad Modena | |
| Motorola Moto G 3. Gen 2015 XT1541 | |
| Huawei P8 lite | |
| Huawei Mate 8 | |
| Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total (sort by value) | |
| Coolpad Modena | |
| Motorola Moto G 3. Gen 2015 XT1541 | |
| ZTE Blade A452 | |
| Huawei P8 lite | |
| Huawei Mate 8 | |
| JetStream 1.1 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Coolpad Modena | |
| Motorola Moto G 3. Gen 2015 XT1541 | |
| ZTE Blade A452 | |
| Huawei Mate 8 | |
| Octane V2 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Coolpad Modena | |
| Motorola Moto G 3. Gen 2015 XT1541 | |
| ZTE Blade A452 | |
| Huawei P8 lite | |
| Huawei Mate 8 | |
* ... smaller is better
Games
The installed Qualcomm Adreno 306 GPU is responsible for video output, and its power was enough for smoothly rendering graphics-driven games like Real Racing 3 and Modern Combat 5 in the test. However, Coolpad's Modena sometimes needed some time for reloading during the game. Resuming with the game was possible after short waiting times.
Emissions
Temperature
The temperature development of Coolpad's Modena was hardly perceptible in real-world use. The handset remained pleasant to hold even during computing-intensive use. The Modena heated up to a maximum of 39 °C on its upper side in the stress test via the Stability Test app (CPU and GPU under full load), while the other parts remained below 34 °C. Only ZTE's Blade A452 is cooler here.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 39.5 °C / 103 F, compared to the average of 35 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 63.2 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 36.6 °C / 98 F, compared to the average of 33.8 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 30.7 °C / 87 F, compared to the device average of 32.8 °C / 91 F.
Speaker
The rear-sided speaker's maximum volume is sufficiently high for everyday use. Up to 86.7 dB was measured in the test. The speaker's playback quality was mostly satisfactory. However, the sound is impaired as soon as the smartphone is picked up because the speaker openings are largely covered. The Pink Noise diagram illustrates that the medium and high frequencies from 1 to 9 KHz are rendered quite consistently. As typical for smartphones, basses are virtually non-existent. The included headset renders music clearly even at maximum volume. Playing music via the audio jack delivered subjectively good results although basses are virtually imperceptible when using the included headset.
Energy Management
Power Consumption
Coolpad's Modena does an exemplary job in power consumption. The low energy requirement in idle and in particular during load is the result of the relatively weak hardware. Only the Motorola Moto G (2015) achieved similarly good power consumption rates.
The non-removable 2500 mAh battery is recharged via the conventional micro-USB port on the handset's lower edge. The Qi standard for wireless charging is not installed as typical for the price range. The Modena needs 2 hours and 54 minutes to recharge a fully depleted battery (device on, screen off).
| Off / Standby |   0 / 0.55 Watt |
| Idle |  0.79 / 1.51 / 1.63 Watt |
| Load |
3.37 / 4.67 Watt |
    
| |
Battery Runtime
It is quite possible to get through a day with the non-removable battery even without an external power source when using the handset intensely. According to the manufacturer, the Modena should achieve up to 270 hours in standby when using 3G wireless frequencies with one battery load. The handset exhibited very good runtimes in the test under real-world conditions (screen brightness: 150 cd/m², energy-savings mode). Coolpad's Modena is on par with the rivals with 10 hours and 16 minutes in the Wi-Fi test. Coolpad does not install any special energy-saving features for achieving longer runtimes in its Modena. The user can use the Android-integrated energy-saving modes.
| Coolpad Modena Adreno 306, 410 MSM8916, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Motorola Moto G 3. Gen 2015 XT1541 Adreno 306, 410 MSM8916, 8 GB eMMC Flash | ZTE Blade A452 Mali-T720, MT6735, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Huawei P8 lite Mali-450 MP4, Kirin 620, 16 GB eMMC Flash | Huawei Mate 8 Mali-T880 MP4, Kirin 950, 32 GB eMMC Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | |||||
| WiFi v1.3 | 616 | 526 -15% | 816 32% | 351 -43% | 865 40% |
Pros
Cons
Verdict
The still unknown manufacturer Coolpad makes its first attempts to enter the German market with its model Modena. The verdict: Worthy of improvement. Coolpad made cutbacks in the wrong places in the 5.5-inch entry-level smartphone. The qHD screen resolution (960x540 pixels, 200 PPI) is outdated, and photos shot with the 8-megapixel camera are characterized by haziness and lack of detail even in good light conditions.
The plastic casing makes an overall good impression although the build quality shows weaknesses in some places, such as the somewhat wobbly keys. The screen's color reproduction is also satisfactory. Colors look rich and high contrast. The screen's maximum brightness is sooner below-average, though.
Despite the very good battery life, Coolpad's Modena would need a better camera, brighter screen and higher resolution to make it a rounded bundle.
Other manufacturers simply have more to offer for a price of 170 Euros (~$187). Motorola's Moto G (2015) and ZTE's Blade A452 can convince with a better price-performance package.
Coolpad Modena
-
02/29/2016 v5 (old)
Marcus Herbrich
Price comparison
