Very big. Very long.
The popular smartphone manufacturer Cubot has released a new “profitable” smartphone for Russia called Cubot Power.
This time the company again decided to rely on a combination of low price and good characteristics, adding a huge 6000 mAh battery to the familiar cocktail with a huge amount of memory. For a stylish $220 phone, this is a unique idea.
Characteristics and equipment
- 5.99-inch display, 18:9 aspect ratio, Full HD+ resolution (2160 x 1080 pixels);
- processor from MediaTek, Helio P23 (codenamed MT6763T), 16 nm process technology, clock frequency up to 2.5 GHz;
- 6 GB of RAM;
- 128 GB storage expandable with a memory card, up to 128 GB;
- 16 MP (interpolation up to 20 MP) main camera, 6 lenses (the manufacturer claims that this is a better solution than using two lower quality sensors);
- 8 MP (interpolation up to 13 MP) front camera;
- two SIM cards (Nano-SIM), 3G (WCDMA 900 / 2100 MHz), 4G (FDD-LTE B1 / 3 / 7 / 8 20), Dual 4G support;
- GPS + AGPS + GLONASS + BDS, Bluetooth 4.2, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n;
- battery 6000 mAh;
- OS Android 8.1 Oreo.
Cubot traditionally offers a rather meager kit, but with its help you can start using a smartphone immediately after purchase: documents, a USB cable, a charger and a soft bumper case made of silicone.
Appearance
Despite positioning Cubot Power as a smartphone with long battery life, engineers managed to create a mass-produced handset without the colossal metal frames popular with Blackview and Oukitel and leatherette.
The smartphone has a traditional candy bar layout with rounded edges and a metal frame in the center of the side edge, which is necessary to ensure durability.
To reduce the cost, I had to settle for a plastic case, although this can be counted as a plus: heating when charging, it is distributed evenly, heat dissipation works perfectly, and the tactile sensations are simply excellent. The gloss of the lid collects fingerprints, but adds a couple of extra points to the visual appearance and looks stylish.
But the back cover is nicely decorated with a bright metal camera insert, and the same silver fingerprint scanner. As a result, Cubot Power gets a completely unique design - unique and recognizable.
The fingerprint reader is quite accurate, but as usual there is a slight delay between the touch and the screen turning on.
The layout of the controls is traditional: on the left side there is a slot for memory cards and SIM cards, on the right there is a volume rocker and a power button.
The smartphone has not lost the mini-jack on the top edge, so music lovers can rest easy.
The bottom edge is decorated with a pair of grilles, behind one of which the external speaker is hidden. Between them is a USB-C connector for data transfer.
The front part is occupied by an elongated 18:9 screen. Unfortunately, the bottom and top bezels are too wide to call the Cubot Power a bezel-less smartphone. There are more “frameless” devices.
For those who are used to miniature devices, the smartphone may seem a little thick and heavy - and there's nothing you can do about it, the bulk of the weight is the massive 6000 mAh battery.
Display
Cubot Power is equipped with a 5.99-inch screen with Full HD+ resolution (2160 x 1080 pixels). The matrix is a very good IPS. The developers managed to maintain the dimensions of a regular 5.5-inch smartphone - of course, of the appropriate class, with a large battery.
Brightness, contrast and all other panel parameters are simply excellent. Separately, it is worth noting the brightness reserve - the screen does not lose color in direct sunlight.
White balance and color gamut can be changed in the system settings to suit every taste, although it is worth choosing one of the proposed schemes. They are sufficient even for the most demanding user, because you can set both dim colors corresponding to old IPS matrices and bright colors of OLED panels.
Hardware capabilities
The heart of the smartphone is the MediaTek Helio P23 single-chip platform. Not new, but still relevant. Not the most powerful, but energy efficient, proven and with enough performance reserves for the future.
Cubot Power's performance is boosted by 6 gigabytes of RAM. It also has a special drive - 128 GB, although not the fastest, but soldered memory. In addition, one of the SIM cards can be replaced with microSD up to 128 GB.
Thanks to the characteristics, you can play most 3D games - although not at maximum settings. But this will only apply to Asphalt Extreme or Shadow Fight 3. Pubg fans may be disappointed - the graphics are mostly average, and frame drops are possible in difficult scenes.
operating system
The Cubot Power shell is pure Android 8.1 Oreo without any add-ons. The overall performance is excellent and the phone runs stable and smooth even after installing all the required apps.
The translation is correct. No third-party Chinese applications were found. The ideal option is that updates will not be required for a very long time, and the manufacturer promises support for the current version for 2 years.
Cameras and sound
Although the developers chose a single-camera design, instead of the original OmniVision, they chose Samsung's excellent high-quality 16 MP sensor, interpolated to 20 MP.
I didn't expect this, but the quality of the photos in good lighting is excellent. Perhaps the Power is Cubot's best camera: the image is detailed, the dynamic range is huge. Noise appears only in the dark - artificial lighting is processed correctly.
Unfortunately, photos from the front camera interpolated from 8 to 13 megapixels are not encouraging: it’s enough for selfies, but you shouldn’t expect artistic shots from the front camera.
Cubot Power is one of the rare smartphones equipped with stereo speakers. Unfortunately, the sound of the speakers is not ideal, hard and flat. But with headphones everything is fine.
Autonomous operation
Although the Cubot Power's battery capacity is as much as 6000 mAh, you won't get more than 15 hours of pure screen time. It's not very much. But with mixed use, you will have to charge your smartphone no more than once every 2-3 days.
An excellent result in 2018, and it can be improved by using the system's energy-saving features.
It takes approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes to fully charge the battery using the included charger. It's all about MediaTek Pump Express fast charging.
conclusions
Overall, the Cubot Power is a pretty good budget phone. While it's not perfect, it exceeds expectations and performs well in a work environment.
Among the advantages, it is definitely worth noting the enormous amount of permanent and RAM memory, which will be sufficient with a large margin. The latest version of clean Android and excellent battery life should also not leave users indifferent.
Separately, it is worth highlighting the good multimedia capabilities - the cameras are capable of beautiful shots, the sound is worthy of more expensive devices.
The build quality of Cubot Power is very high. However, the plastic case is not ideal and will quickly become scratched; fortunately, the manufacturer includes a thin and convenient protective case.
At the end of the day, no budget phone is perfect, but the Cubot Power is a pretty solid phone for the money. It's simply impossible to get more for $200 right now.
