Cubot A1 Review: specs and features, camera quality test, gaming benchmark, user opinions and photos

Cubot A1 - cheap but tasteful

The Chinese company Cubot is trying to keep up with the times and produce more or less competitive smartphones in both the middle and low price segments. The hero of today's review offers not the worst functionality, decent autonomy and a well-developed design for its extremely modest price. Is this enough for success?

As mentioned earlier, the appearance of the new product is not bad. The block of photomodules copied from recent Xiaomi flagships, the pleasing colors of the casings made of good quality polycarbonate, and the relatively narrow display frames allow the phone to look better than most opponents in the price category. The 6.56-inch IPS screen does not surprise with the clarity of the picture at a resolution of 1612x720 pixels, but it does not disappoint with a brightness reserve of about 500 nits or contrast. It is difficult to view the image in direct sunlight, but it is possible.

The technical characteristics selected were the UNISOC SC9863A processor, 4GB of RAM and the PowerVR GE8322 video adapter. The combination does not impress with its performance (a little over 100 thousand points in the AnTuTu benchmark), but still ensures fairly stable operation of the Android 13 OS. Freezes and shell stutters are not so common. The gaming capabilities are limited, but you can try out undemanding games like PUBG Mobile with minimal or close graphics settings. 128GB of permanent memory will be enough for many users, and there is also a slot for MicroSD cards. There is no saving on battery capacity, which has reached 5100 mAh. You will have to think about the sockets once every couple of days, but you will have to stay at them for about two and a half hours, since the charging power is 10W.

The main cameras were simple 13- and 0.3-megapixel sensors. With them you can count on capturing documents, satisfactory daytime photographs taken from several takes, but no more. The 8-megapixel selfie camera should be used exclusively for video calls. There are no stereo speakers or NFC contactless payments; the developer also saved on the fingerprint scanner. However, the listed shortcomings almost do not spoil the impression of an inexpensive and balanced device, which is suitable either for getting to know the operating system or for the role of a spare mobile assistant.