I have often brought cheap smartphones to your attention, getting excited when I found one capable of performing every task satisfactorily without therefore regretting the purchase I made. Today it's the turn of the CUBOT A10, which after an initial positive impact left a bad taste in my mouth. It is necessary to tell you why, trying to be as concise as possible.
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[World Preview] Cubot A14 Android 10 Smartphone, 12GB RAM(4GB+8GB extended), 128GB ROM(support up to 1TB extended), Octa-core, 6,56 inch screen...
SALES PACKAGE
CUBOT's "entry level" smartphone boasts a well-finished but above all complete package as inside we find a protective cover for the smartphone, charger with European plug and 5V-2A/10W output, pre-applied display film, SIM tray removal pin, manuals and USB-A/USB-C charging and data transfer cable. Only a pair of earphones are missing, but that's no big deal because you can use the ones you already own by counting on the presence of the 3.5 mm jack (spoiler). The only point, which is valid for CUBOT but also for all other brands: instead of inserting manuals that no one reads and that are useless, you could insert a QR Code that refers to these manuals, preserving the environment.
MATERIALS AND DESIGN
CUBOT A10 offers dimensions equal to 165.6 x 75.50 x 10,40 mm for a total weight of 200 grams, which make the device not exactly compact although the "brick" format helps in the grip and stability of the terminal. The smartphone does not have any liquid/dust resistance certification and the back cover is made entirely of plastic, a single body available in three colors: black, light blue and purple. The rear only shows the brand logo, CE marking (intended for China Export) and a rather flashy photographic compartment considering that we only have 2 lenses (one actually usable) and an LED flash.
The upper profile is clean, except for the 3.5 mm jack already mentioned above while on the left one we find the SIM tray, capable of hosting two nano SIMs with 4G Dual connectivity, or by giving up the Dual SIM function we can insert a micro SD to expand the system memory with support up to 1 TB. We do not have e-SIM so it is up to you to choose whether to have two numbers or whether to give more space to the storage of photos, videos etc. The right profile houses the volume rocker and the power button. I say right now that there is no biometric sensor for unlocking the phone via fingerprint, so the only unlocking options are those via code / pin / pattern or unlocking via face via the selfie camera. For the latter, the camera is not always able to recognize the face at first glance in addition to the fact that in low ambient light conditions, the whole thing becomes unreliable. So CUBOT A10 is basically an unsafe smartphone, to which I would not willingly entrust banking apps.
Finally, the lower profile gives space to the microphone (the only one since the secondary one is missing for noise reduction during calls), Type-C input for charging and data transfer with OTG support and the mono 1217 loudspeaker system speaker that I didn't particularly like, not so much for the audio output, but for the not very generous volume. We can certainly have a greater boost in quality and volume with wired headphones, but we can't use them for listening to FM radio since it is absent at the system level. Overall, the design is not convincing at all, too obsolete and too "cheap".
DISPLAY
Just to complete the design discussion, I didn't understand the brand's reason for inserting the ear capsule in a decentralized way, considering that there is plenty of space for the brightness and proximity sensors, given the size of the frames that surround the display.
CUBOT A10 offers a panel interrupted by the presence of a teardrop notch with an attached selfie camera, something that hasn't been seen on current smartphones for at least 3 years. The quality of the display could leave a bad taste in the mouth, but not entirely: we are equipped with a 6,56″ IPS display, 267 ppi, in 20:9 format with HD+ resolution (720 x 1612 pixels), whose brightness peak is not high (I don't know the real value but it shouldn't exceed 400 nits). The specifications are out of place nowadays and therefore the presence of a 90 Hz refresh rate is rather useless if we consider that the Widevine DRMs are L3. However, I was surprised by the fact that although the display is not certified as HDR, on Youtube at 720p resolution it recognizes such content, providing good color rendering and fluidity.
The 90 Hz refresh rate can be managed at a fixed value or let the system decide the refresh rate based on the content shown on the screen. I don't totally reject the CUBOT A10 panel, in fact compared to other cheap devices I've tried I also found it satisfying but it's certainly not a standout element. However, the functioning of the proximity sensor was positive while the lighting sensor was a bit conservative. Finally, I would like to point out the presence of the dark theme, the possibility of resizing the font, icons, having the text bold or with high contrast, improving the quality of video viewing on some apps and adjusting the contrast and color temperature.
SOUND AND CONNECTIVITY
As already mentioned, the speaker is mono and the audio returned seems to suffer from a certain imbalance towards the medium-high tones to the detriment of the bass. Even the audio in the capsule was poor in terms of quality and volume: I didn't understand if it depends on the position of the ear capsule, although I must admit overall the result was crystal clear.
There is a Bluetooth 5.0 module, 3,5 mm jack, GPS with "theoretically" coupling of Galileo satellites, which does not seem to fix the satellite or at least takes an eternity to pick up the signal, with considerable difficulties during navigation. Finally we find OTG and WiFi Dual 2.4/5.0 GHz. The functioning of everything is not guaranteed with Android Auto, in fact in my tests the system kept constantly disconnecting while the data navigation is of the 4G Dual type whose navigation speed is within expectations . In short, the failure to fix the satellites weighs heavily on the final considerations of this phone.
HARDWARE, PERFORMANCE AND SOFTWARE
CUBOT A10 adopts a very low-end SoC, namely the UNISOC T606, an octacore processor with a maximum clock of 1.6 GHz and a 12nm production process (6x Cortex A55 + 2x Cortex A75), already seen on other models already discussed here on the blog, accompanied by a 3 GB DDR4 RAM that can be virtually expanded by an additional 8 GB. The GPU is the Mali G57 and the storage is 128 GB of the eMMC type, expandable up to 1 TB via a micro SD card. You read that right, no mistake, we are talking about old and decidedly low-performance hardware, even if for example the processor mentioned on other models was running like a charm. On CUBOT A10 everything seems to be slowed down, even though I have never encountered any type of freeze or sudden reboot. I would not have expected the device to be able to perform stressful operations such as with the latest generation gaming, but all daily operations are performed without particular effort, but not quickly.
The positive thing is the software, based on Android 14 with patches updated in May 2024. I wouldn't count too much on the company releasing major releases and security-related updates, but it's a good starting point for not having an existing phone straight away. old. We don't find any customization or bloatware, but personally I found it strange that when I first started the camera I had to give permission to manage calls. Speaking of calls, Google's stock dialer is present which allows recording but with the alert in the background.
AUTONOMY
The battery is a 5100 mAh unit. The company declares a battery life of up to 3 days and guarantees 800 complete charging cycles while maintaining 80% of the original performance before deterioration. There is no wireless charging and the maximum charging power supported is a modest 10W, so it takes at least 4 hours to have full energy. The 3 days declared are perhaps declared in an exaggerated manner but with average use you will easily reach 2 days.
CAMERA AND VIDEO
An aspect that instead surprised me, in relation to the price and the components of the device, is that relating to the photographic sector and related performance. The main camera of the CUBOT A10 is made up of a 48 MP, f/2.4 primary sensor which actually uses the 4 in 1 pixel binning technique, so you shoot at 12 MP in 4:4 mode, a resolution that drops to 4,6, 16 MP for 9:0.3 shots. The primary sensor is accompanied by a 0.5 MP auxiliary camera which serves solely to collect light and depth of field data, all accompanied by a XNUMXA single tone LED flash.
The videos are not stabilized in any way even in the presence of the EIS function and the maximum resolution at which we can shoot them is 1080p 30 fps. The selfie camera is a 16 MP, f/2.0 unit which allows video capture at only 720p 30 fps. Given that at night it is better to leave aside trying to take home a worthy memory, in natural conditions the photos come out quite well and full of details with fairly natural colours. The success of the photos is probably due to the presence of a sort of AI that processes the scene and automatically sets the shooting parameters for the success of the photo. CUBOT A10 is not a camera phone but I reiterate my positive surprise in seeing the shots taken, I would say promoted under this scope.
[World Preview] Cubot A14 Android 10 Smartphone, 12GB RAM(4GB+8GB extended), 128GB ROM(support up to 1TB extended), Octa-core, 6,56 inch screen...
CONCLUSIONS AND PRICE
CUBOT A10 costs just under 100 euros on the brand's official store on the AliExpress platform. A seemingly on-point price if you are looking for an economical device, a bit of an all-rounder. Here, however, we must consider that we have the uncertainty of receiving any major firmware updates, but above all that Android Auto does not work and, what is even more serious, the GPS does not work, so if you rely on it in a city you do not know, you risk that friends and relatives will have to turn to Chi l'ha visto? The fierce competition that at lower prices offers much, much more, just look at Motorola, does not lead me to recommend this CUBOT A10, net of what I have told you.
