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

Cubot KingKong AX - a strange continuation of the line

A series of rugged smartphones from the Chinese company Cubot has always been popular. The model with the index “9” sold especially widely, which offered a reasonable price, excellent autonomy, and excellent functionality for the value segment. The hero of today's review is actually a follower of the mentioned hit, but in addition to improvements, the new product also contains a number of simplifications. Will the audience like this phone?

The appearance of the device has become slightly more modern. The thickness of the case with moisture protection according to IP68 standards has been reduced, the texture of the rear panel has been updated, the additional 1.3-inch screen has not disappeared (displays the time, notifications, controls music, assists in shooting and other functions), and a side fingerprint scanner. Unfortunately, the display bezels are still wide, and the design of the 32-megapixel selfie camera from Sony brings it straight back to 2019. The 6.58-inch IPS display has not increased in brightness; direct rays of the sun still take up most of the picture visibility, but the FullHD+ resolution, 120-Hz image refresh rate, and realistic color reproduction are preserved. The manufacturer has installed a protective film on the glass.

Technical characteristics are presented by the familiar MediaTek Helio G99 CPU, 12GB of RAM and Mali G57MC2 video accelerator. The bundle cannot yet be considered irrelevant, but the number of more interesting alternatives is growing every month. A result of almost 400 thousand points in the AnTuTu benchmark indicates that the interface of the latest Android 14 will not be replete with lags. However, demanding gamers are unlikely to like the chipset used, because truly resource-intensive projects like Genshin Impact are playable only with minimal graphics settings. The battery capacity has decreased to 5100mAh. This fact has a positive impact on the ergonomics of the unit, but it will now have to be charged every day and a half instead of three previously. The power of the charger was 33W; it needs to be at the outlet for about 100 minutes. 256GB of permanent memory are allocated; they can be expanded with MicroSD cards at any second.

The main photo modules were the main 108-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor, a 5-megapixel macro module and a 0.3-megapixel depth sensor. Daytime images have good detail, correct color reproduction and no visible artifacts. But evening shots without optical stabilization are not so outstanding. Noise and blur appear, the number of captured details is noticeably less. There is no stereo sound, but the only speaker has a volume of 90dB and a relatively flat frequency response. NFC contactless payments are available, paying for purchases in stores is fast and convenient. As a result, the device makes a mixed impression. Fans of long-term battery life of a mobile assistant are recommended to pay attention to the gadget’s predecessor.