Cubot Pocket Smartphone Review: Extremely handy Android phone for little money
Possible competitors in comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Drive | Size | Resolution | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
75.3 % v7 (old) | 07 / 2022 | Cubot Pocket T310, PowerVR GE8300 | 128 g | 64 GB eMMC Flash | 4.00" | 1080x540 | |
73.5 % v7 (old) | 02 / 2021 | Cubot King Kong Mini 2 Helio A22 MT6761, PowerVR GE8300 | 123 g | 32 GB eMMC Flash | 4.00" | 1080x540 | |
86.1 % v7 (old) | 04 / 2022 | Apple iPhone SE 2022 A15, A15 GPU 5-Core | 144 g | 64 GB SSD | 4.70" | 1334x750 | |
77.6 % v7 (old) | 05 / 2022 | Realme C35 T7255 (T616), Mali-G57 MP1 | 189 g | 64 GB UFS 2.2 Flash | 6.60" | 2408x1080 |
Case and features: This would-be designer phone actually looks chic
There are only a few manufacturers that still produce really handy smartphones with relatively small screens. These include Apple with its iPhone minis and iPhone SEs, and the lesser-known manufacturer Cubot from Shenzhen, China. While the phones have been known for the last few years as King Kong Mini, and have focused on robustness, the Cubot Pocket aspires to be a bit more stylish — like a lifestyle accessory next to the latest fashion magazine.
Cubot has adapted the exterior of its very compact phone to that effect. It still has a rubberized back, but now in chic colors like lime green with gold or black with red metal frames. Interestingly, the visible screws, which are actually more common in resistant ruggedized phones, also give a chic industrial touch.
The Pocket is once again significantly smaller and lighter than an iPhone SE 2022 but it is also considerably thicker: 12.1 mm is no longer what we are used to from modern phones. The phone feels good in the hand, but crunches quietly when pressure is applied to the back somewhat diminishing the quality impression.
Cubot charges €169 for its phone, which is considerably more than for the Cubot King Kong Mini 2 that retails for €119. But you still get 64 GB of storage and NFC for mobile payment services.
A microSD card reader is on board for memory expansion, and it is on par with other inexpensive smartphones in terms of speed.
SD Card Reader - average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
Average of class Smartphone (7.7 - 77, n=77, last 2 years) | |
Realme C35 (Angelbird V60) | |
Cubot Pocket (Angelbird V60) |
Cross Platform Disk Test (CPDT)
Communication, software and operation: LTE and Wi-Fi 4 only
LTE is available in the Cubot Pocket, but only a few frequencies are accessible. Although our review sample, which was designed for the European market, will probably be able to access mobile internet in Europe most of the time, things may get difficult difficult when traveling to distant countries.
WiFi 4 is the fastest WLAN standard that the Cubot Pocket can handle. It achieves typical transmission rates, but we feel higher data receive speeds could have been possible. The phone cannot compete with the likes of the iPhone SEs, which are in a completely different performance and price class.
Android 11 is on board, and the manufacturer hasn't change anything in the software, so you can easily find your way around. Buttons and the keyboard feel somewhat tiny on the small screen, but you can usually find the right spot even with big hands thanks to the accurate touchscreen. There is no fingerprint sensor for unlocking, but software-based face recognition is available via the front-facing camera.
Networking | |
iperf3 transmit AX12 | |
Cubot King Kong Mini 2 | |
iperf3 receive AX12 | |
Cubot King Kong Mini 2 | |
iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
Apple iPhone SE 2022 | |
Cubot Pocket | |
Realme C35 | |
iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
Apple iPhone SE 2022 | |
Realme C35 | |
Cubot Pocket |
Cameras: For snapshots only, please
In contrast to the King Kong Mini 2, whose camera had a dubious use anyways, the Cubot Pocket offers a 16 MP camera, which should be sufficient for everyday use. However, the camera seems overstrained in normal daylight and burns out bright areas or takes quite dark pictures. Details are somewhat recognizable but are mostly muddy.
The Cubot Pocket's camera is not able to brighten very dark areas in low light, and the image sharpness leaves much to be desired here as well. Compared to the photos from the Cubot Pocket, the camera of the similarly priced realme C35 seems at least a class above. Our test device only offers basic imaging performance.
The front-facing 5 MP camera also needs very good light to take decent selfies. The subject can be recognized in our test picture, but many details are lost and only very coarse structures are partly shown in darker areas.
Image Comparison
Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.
Hauptkamera BlumeHauptkamera UmgebungHauptkamera Low Light

Display: Bright IPS screen in the Cubot Pocket
The IPS screen with a rather low resolution only offers a quarter of the pixels of the realme C35, but this seems OK on the small screen and leads to a sufficiently accurate display. The maximum brightness of 632 cd/m² is good on average, and the screen is also quite evenly illuminated.
We did not notice any PWM. As is common for IPS screens, the response times are a bit longer. In our measurements with the spectrophotometer and the CalMAN software, we found that strong color tones and browns are displayed highly inaccurately whereas the grayscale levels are quite accurate only being a bit too bright at most.
|
Brightness Distribution: 93 %
Center on Battery: 628 cd/m²
Contrast: 1102:1 (Black: 0.57 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 4.23 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.89
ΔE Greyscale 2.3 | 0.5-98 Ø5.1
83.3% sRGB (Calman 2D)
Gamma: 2.136
Cubot Pocket IPS, 1080x540, 4" | Cubot King Kong Mini 2 IPS, 1080x540, 4" | Apple iPhone SE 2022 Retina HD, IPS, 1334x750, 4.7" | Realme C35 IPS, 2408x1080, 6.6" | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Response Times | -18% | -28% | -28% | |
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 34 ? | 46 ? -35% | 56 ? -65% | 50 ? -47% |
Response Time Black / White * | 22 ? | 22 ? -0% | 20 ? 9% | 24 ? -9% |
PWM Frequency | 354.6 ? | |||
Screen | -31% | 28% | -25% | |
Brightness middle | 628 | 624 -1% | 662 5% | 585 -7% |
Brightness | 632 | 633 0% | 647 2% | 558 -12% |
Brightness Distribution | 93 | 90 -3% | 92 -1% | 89 -4% |
Black Level * | 0.57 | 0.87 -53% | 0.4 30% | 0.6 -5% |
Contrast | 1102 | 717 -35% | 1655 50% | 975 -12% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 4.23 | 5.21 -23% | 1.44 66% | 4.4 -4% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 8.81 | 10.59 -20% | 4.74 46% | 8.77 -0% |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 2.3 | 4.8 -109% | 1.7 26% | 5.9 -157% |
Gamma | 2.136 103% | 2.585 85% | 2.179 101% | 2.228 99% |
CCT | 6945 94% | 6953 93% | 6746 96% | 8001 81% |
Total Average (Program / Settings) | -25% /
-28% | 0% /
17% | -27% /
-26% |
* ... smaller is better
Display Response Times
↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
---|---|---|
22 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 10 ms rise | |
↘ 12 ms fall | ||
The screen shows good response rates in our tests, but may be too slow for competitive gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 44 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is similar to the average of all tested devices (20.9 ms). | ||
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
34 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 17 ms rise | |
↘ 17 ms fall | ||
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 43 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is similar to the average of all tested devices (32.7 ms). |
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
Screen flickering / PWM not detected | |||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8619 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. |
Performance, emissions and battery life: Handy Cubot Pocket lasts long
As you would expect in this price range, the Unisoc Tiger T310 in the Cubot Pocket is an SoC for entry-level devices. It represents a significant performance leap compared to the MediaTek Helio A22 in the Cubot King Kong Mini 2, but it cannot keep up with the Tiger T616 in the realme C35. Overall, the performance is not quite up to date even for such a cheap phone.
The system runs smoothly in everyday use, but the weak performance is noticeable by way of stutters or longer wait times as soon as things gets more demanding. The eMMC flash is also very slow, and the realme C35 is more convincing in real-world storage performance due to its UFS memory.
Despite the not-so-high performance, the system heats up noticeably over the entire front under longer load. However, it does not get as hot as the Cubot King Kong Mini 2.
In the Pink noise test, the speakers cannot convince our software system. The sound values recorded by our special microphone fluctuate too far away from the optimal median. In practice, songs sound quite flat with no bass. However, the sound is not so trebly that it would seem unpleasant. There is no 3.5 mm port for audio output — users have to use the USB-C port or Bluetooth.
The 3000 mAh battery can be charged via the included charger with a maximum of 10 W. In view of the small battery, this is enough to fully charge the Cubot Pocket in about 1.5 hours. The battery lasts for 16:34 hours according to our WLAN test, so you only have to plug it in every other day during normal use.
PCMark for Android - Work 3.0 (sort by value) | |
Cubot Pocket | |
Realme C35 | |
Average UNISOC Tiger T310 () | |
Average of class Smartphone (4507 - 27169, n=191, last 2 years) |
GFXBench | |
on screen Aztec Ruins Normal Tier Onscreen (sort by value) | |
Cubot Pocket | |
Cubot King Kong Mini 2 | |
Apple iPhone SE 2022 | |
Realme C35 | |
Average UNISOC Tiger T310 () | |
Average of class Smartphone (5.5 - 166, n=200, last 2 years) | |
1920x1080 Aztec Ruins Normal Tier Offscreen (sort by value) | |
Cubot Pocket | |
Cubot King Kong Mini 2 | |
Apple iPhone SE 2022 | |
Realme C35 | |
Average UNISOC Tiger T310 () | |
Average of class Smartphone (3.4 - 321, n=200, last 2 years) | |
on screen Aztec Ruins High Tier Onscreen (sort by value) | |
Cubot Pocket | |
Cubot King Kong Mini 2 | |
Apple iPhone SE 2022 | |
Realme C35 | |
Average UNISOC Tiger T310 () | |
Average of class Smartphone (0.85 - 144, n=201, last 2 years) | |
2560x1440 Aztec Ruins High Tier Offscreen (sort by value) | |
Cubot Pocket | |
Cubot King Kong Mini 2 | |
Apple iPhone SE 2022 | |
Realme C35 | |
Average UNISOC Tiger T310 () | |
Average of class Smartphone (1.2 - 129, n=200, last 2 years) |
Cubot Pocket | Cubot King Kong Mini 2 | Cubot Kingkong Mini | Realme C35 | Realme C31 | Average 64 GB eMMC Flash | Average of class Smartphone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AndroBench 3-5 | -32% | -32% | 215% | 57% | 10% | 643% | |
Sequential Read 256KB | 261.6 | 275.5 5% | 246.9 -6% | 907.1 247% | 478.8 83% | 274 ? 5% | 1941 ? 642% |
Sequential Write 256KB | 186.9 | 137.8 -26% | 129.7 -31% | 271.1 45% | 131.9 -29% | 177 ? -5% | 1558 ? 734% |
Random Read 4KB | 32.7 | 25.5 -22% | 26.9 -18% | 137.8 321% | 89 172% | 59.7 ? 83% | 280 ? 756% |
Random Write 4KB | 59.5 | 9.4 -84% | 17 -71% | 206.4 247% | 61.5 3% | 32.6 ? -45% | 320 ? 438% |
Temperature
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 42.8 °C / 109 F, compared to the average of 35.1 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 63.7 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 39.3 °C / 103 F, compared to the average of 33.9 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 27.1 °C / 81 F, compared to the device average of 32.8 °C / 91 F.
Loudspeaker
Cubot Pocket audio analysis
(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (80.1 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 27% lower than median
(-) | bass is not linear (16% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 8.5% higher than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (7.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 7.5% higher than median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (7.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (28.8% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 73% of all tested devices in this class were better, 4% similar, 23% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 36%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 85% of all tested devices were better, 3% similar, 12% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 24%, worst was 134%
Apple iPhone SE 2020 audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (86.4 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 22% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (9.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | reduced mids - on average 6.3% lower than median
(+) | mids are linear (5.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 8.4% higher than median
(+) | highs are linear (4.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (22.6% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 45% of all tested devices in this class were better, 7% similar, 48% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 36%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 64% of all tested devices were better, 6% similar, 30% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 24%, worst was 134%
Battery life
Battery Runtime - WiFi Websurfing | |
Cubot King Kong Mini 2 | |
Average of class Smartphone (476 - 3244, n=198, last 2 years) | |
Cubot Pocket | |
Realme C35 | |
Apple iPhone SE 2022 |
Pros
Cons
Verdict: Unrivaled compact size that could be cheaper
The Cubot Pocket is a small device with a big problem. The significant price increase compared to the King Kong Mini 2 makes it less attractive since there are much more powerful phones in its price range. However, if you are looking for a really handy phone, there are hardly any alternatives at the moment — even an iPhone SE is already considerably larger.
The camera of the Cubot Pocket is only sufficient for snapshots in terms of quality, but music via the speaker is quite alright as long as you don't have high expectations. The small battery lasts for a long time and the bright screen is also suitable for use in well-lit environments. Cubot has actually managed the design quite well, and it even exudes a certain elegance.
The Cubot Pocket is so handy that it hardly has any rivals. The design is pleasing, but the camera is only usable for very simple needs.
All in all, you should probably consider investing about €200 more in an iPhone SE 2020 if you are looking for a handy phone Apple iPhone SE 2020 Review - Small phone with a fast-beating heartthat is a lot more powerful with guaranteed software support for a few years.
Price and availability
The Cubot Pocket is available in Central Europe at the time of testing at amazon.de for the manufacturer's price of €169.99. Alternatively, you can also order it from the manufacturer's store at aliexpress.com with shipping from Europe and save a few Euros.
Cubot Pocket
- 07/10/2022 v7 (old)
Florian Schmitt