The Coolpad Note 3 is a surprisingly nice $140 phone

Coolpad are among the biggest names in the smartphone industry in China, but hardly do we talk about Coolpad (the way we'll be doing so today). The Coolpad Note 3 is a phone that costs a mere 8,999 INR or $138, but packs a punch and then more.

To start off, the Coolpad Note 3 is seen as a phone that offers a seriously high value for your money. The phone is 8,999 INR or $138, and for that much, the Note 3 brings along 3GB of RAM and a fingerprint sensor.

I received the phone earlier today, and was genuinely surprised how nice it felt in the hands. Besides the fact that it is easily the best 'feeling' sub-$150 phone, the Coolpad Note 3 also has the fastest (and by quite a margin) fingerprint sensor on a phone I've come across. Ive used phones from the first-gen (of fingerprint sensors) such as the Elephone P5000, and then the likes of the P8000, OnePlus 2, Meizu MX5 and more. I repeat -- the Coolpad Note 3 has a faster (and presumably, more accurate?) fingerprint sensor than any of those.

It's only been a few hours with the phone for me, but it's apparent how amazed I am with the device.

It doesn't have a full HD display, but whatever there is, doesn't leave you wanting. One gripe I have so far is that the lip around the screen seems to be made out of plastic (and not metal), which doesn't just affect the sturdiness but also the looks; the chrome-ish plastic can look cheap.

With the screen turned off, the Coolpad Note 3 reminds me of the pseudo bezel-less phone, the Letv Le 1, with of course, the shiny plastic around.

I'll use the phone for a bit before posting a full in-depth review of this one (I'm pretty excited about it, if you can't tell already), so keep an eye on this space for more!