I’ve read a little about the Cubot X16 for the past few weeks but honestly wasn’t expecting too much, but once in your hand you realise that the Cubot X16 is cut from a different cloth.
Cubot are selling the X16 now for around 150 Euros through resellers, this is a price point were we see a lot of phones running 2GB RAM and a 1.3Ghz Mediatek MT6735A chipset so it is becoming increasingly difficult for Chinese phone makers to build a device that can stand out from the crowd.
It’s still to early for me to whole heartedly recommend the Cubot X16, but so far I am really impressed by the phone. It ships in a quality package, is wrapped up nice and securely in a thick plastic wrap, and comes with some useful (to newbies) guides and instructions.
Unboxing the Cubot X16 I was struck by the similarity between it and Vivo’s packaging. Cubot have obviously taken a look at Vivo (Oppo and OnePlus) to see how to package a phone correctly and it has paid off. Not only is the phone presented in a professional manner, but the device itself feels like something hitting higher than its price point might suggest.
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The 5-inch phone boasts a 1920 x 1080 display from JDI, slim 6.2mm alloy chassis and glossy rear panel (I’m not sure if it is glass or plastic on the rear at this time). The Cubot X16 is 145g, which for its compact size feels a little heavier than usual in the hand, but this adds to the overall feel of quality that the already great build introduces.
Hardware includes the aforementioned 5-inch FHD JDI IPS display, 2GB RAM, 1.3Ghz Mediatek processor, dual SIM (micro and nano), SD card support (takes the place of the micro SIM), 16 mega-pixel rear camera (interpolated), 8 mega-pixel front camera (also interpolated), dual LED flash, and 2500mAh non-removable battery.
The OS on the Cubot X16 is Android 5.1 and it is mostly stock with the exceptions of added gesture support, and a few added features and neat UI in the camera application.
To see a phone of this build quality from Cubot is impressive. Cubot are generally a quiet phone maker but now and then they do show up with some interesting phones (remember the Qualcomm powered Cubot Zorro?). To compare to other recent phones of a similar price, the Cubot X16 looks and feels better than the UMi eMax mini and the Elephone M1.
Watch out for my Cubot X16 review coming soon.