I recently got blessed with a Cherry Mobile Nova, which is an Android device designed by Cherry Mobile, one of the Philippines’ more innovative local mobile phone companies. The Nova was purchased for me by one of the main clients/bosses I work for. I have no unboxing pictures of the thing, because I already had it out of the box when it was purchased for me.

However, I have a pic of the baby with my other phones. Yes, that’s the tallest one among the three up there. From the left: Cherry Mobile Nova (“Undeserved Blessing”), Blackberry Sprint World Edition 8830 (“Blessing”), and my Cherry Mobile Q1i (“Expedience 2″).

Why I chose this unit: We were choosing between the Cherry Mobile Cosmo and the Cherry Mobile Nova. The Cherry Mobile Cosmo is on a newer version of the Android, has a WiFi hotspot function, and even has a trackpad instead of the Cherry Mobile Nova’s trackball, BUT, it is also chunkier and felt more plasticky. I chose the Cherry Mobile Nova because I saw that its side is silver. Thinking that the silver color means that the middle part of the phone is made of metal, I decided to go for it.

My boss was partial to the Nova because he bought one around 6 months ago. When he went to the US, he witnessed how the phone’s Internet surfing speeds went up phenomenally while he was in US shores. He concluded that our Internet services here just suck are just not fast enough.

Because the Cherry Mobile Cosmo looked cheaper than the Nova, I decided to agree with my boss.

When I got home after a dinner with relatives, I was manically configuring and playing with the device.

Over a span of 3-4 days, I configured its browsers, got me a great, amazing Bible app, battery-saving apps, schedulers and to-do lists and GAMES.

Here are the games I tried:

• Angry Birds
• Angry Birds Rio
• Angry Birds Seasons
• Ant Smasher
• Fruit Slice
• Greedy Spider
• Paper Toss
• Pumpkins vs. Monsters

Since I have limited space, I retained only 3 games:

• Angry Birds
• Greedy Spider
• Pumpkins vs. Monsters

I only play Pumpkins vs. Monsters most of the time, so I don’t need the rest of them. Not even Angry Birds. But I just want options, in case I do get bored. Which hasn’t happened yet.

Also, even though I also love playing Angry Birds and I happen to like Angry Birds Rio more, I feel like having only one Angry Birds app helps me “focus” (start rolling your eyes now) on getting through this game until I can “graduate” through to Angry Birds Rio then Angry Birds Seasons. Yeah. Totally roll your eyes now.

Yesterday, it hit me that I could actually try and play my favorite online radio station, www.elijahstreams.com, via one of the browsers. I did, and realized I should install the native Android app. I did, and I was so happy. I’ve always wanted to listen to Elijahstreams from a device other than my computer, since 2008, at that. Having it around was not only a big relief, it was also an answered prayer.

Pros of the Cherry Mobile Nova:

Lightweight and slim. Unlike its chunky brother, the Cherry Mobile Cosmo, this baby isn’t as ugly-looking. It actually looks elegant and is sexier than a chunkier Samsung unit.

Batteries are compatible across units. I brought my boyfriend’s Cherry Mobile Trident with me to have it fixed in Manila. I discovered that its battery fits my Nova perfectly. So whenever I ran out of battery charge because I played too much Angry Birds or Pumpkins vs. Monsters, I was only happy to just exchange batteries and charge mine in my desktop charger.

Chargers are compatible across units. The Cherry Mobile Nova, the Cherry Mobile Trident and the Cherry Mobile Q1i all have the same charger type. Since the charger the Nova came with is a USB detachable charger, I was even able to extend the length of the cord thanks to a Manhattan USB extension cord.

Android standard. While you would feel the cheapness of the OS when you use other non-Android Cherry Mobile units (They use an OS that seems to be a standard among China-made phones, even the “unbranded” ones. I believe this is based on Linux, but I’m not really sure.), with the Cherry Mobile Nova, you’ll forget that this is essentially a China phone. Everything is slickly Android, from the keyboard to the setup. Indeed, this is a world-class Philippine-designed phone.

Painless 3G setup, WiFi setup you can click and forget. I was intimidated about setting up the 3G of the thing because I used to HATE setting up my old phones’ MMS and GPRS settings. That’s why I never got to maximize my previous phones, because the GPRS setup wasn’t worth my brain cells dying on me. By contrast, the Cherry Mobile Nova’s 3G connection set up perfectly easily and I was so surprised and happy about it. In fact, I didn’t even bother to use the Manila International Airport/domestic airport’s WiFi because Globe’s 3G speeds in the area were so fast. I was updating my accounts and another client’s accounts while waiting for my flight then.

Kickass camera. While I’m not particular about cameras in phones, since I’d rather have a digicam, having a 5.0 Megapixel cam in this baby sure is a great plus. I’ve been praying for a digicam for a while and having 5 Megapixels here makes for great pictures. I realize if I got the Cherry Mobile Cosmo, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy better quality pictures.

Nothing cheap about it. I realize now that while I may want a TV to come with one of my phones so I can at least watch a Koreanovela at night, having a TV in an Android will cheapen the unit. So I don’t know about you, but I think it’s a great idea for Cherry Mobile Androids to not have a TV. Torque Androids have TV’s, however, so if that’s your thing, suit yourself.

Also, the Cherry Mobile Nova comes not only with a Qualcomm processor; it also comes with Yamaha Orientation and Magnetic Field Sensors, as well as a Bosch Accelerometer Sensor. Not bad, huh?

Downsides about the unit:

No WiFi Hotspot function. If there’s one thing the Cherry Mobile Cosmo has better than the Cherry Mobile Nova, it’s the WiFi hotspot. The other day, as I was enduring Globe Tattoo’s network trouble, my phone was registering 3G, but the Globe Tattoo unit wasn’t responding via my 3G Router. At that moment, I actually wished I bought the Cherry Mobile Cosmo instead.

The trackball and soft keys dock are too sensitive. When playing Pumpkins vs. Monsters or texting/scrolling too fast, I bump into some badly-aligned area in the dock area and get “tossed” back to my home screen. A very annoying malfunction, especially if you’re in the heat of playing Pumpkins vs. Monsters and just about ready to obliterate your enemies. BUT, I’m not as annoyed as to actually want to bring the unit to the Cherry Mobile service center just yet. Having had a harrowing experience having my boyfriend’s Trident fixed, I’d rather not.

Upon closer look, I realized that the “metal” part I saw was not metal at all, but airbrushed plastic. So much for perceived sturdiness. But I’ve accidentally dropped the phone and it was fine after. My boss’ Nova is now more than 6 months old. And since he got himself a Cherry Mobile Orbit during one of the sales, it has since been given away, but is still definitely alive. He has also dropped it several times in its lifetime that he advised that I get a silicon case for my unit, because its back cover is now loose, apparently.

Major dealbreaker: 180MB internal disk space. I was wondering why on earth I kept needing to delete apps. When I got me one of those apps that could read the Android’s internal specs and process usage and statuses, I realized that the Cherry Mobile Nova may be expandable up to 16GB via SD Card, but unless you probably root the thing, your apps will have to contend with a 180MB home.

Despite the one major dealbreaker that I found in the Cherry Mobile Nova’s internal memory size (no wonder it’s not published, even on the box!), I love the Android unit that I agreed to get. It is fast, sleek and slick, it does the job: let me go online, listen to music and send and receive email (being able to text and receive calls at times are but bonuses), let me play Pumpkins vs. Monsters and other games, and… It’s beautiful. All in all, I love this phone, warts and all.

Though, my next phone will definitely be a Touchscreen/QWERTY combi.

Android, Cherry Mobile, Mobile Phones