Verdict on the Cubot KingKong ES3
If you don't want to spend a lot of money, but often have to be away from the power grid for long periods of time and are looking for a smartphone for this purpose, you should take a look at the Cubot KingKong ES3. The phone costs less than $200, is waterproof and dustproof and is also protected against moderate drops.
Thanks to the huge battery, it lasted well over a day in our WLAN test and should therefore survive several days in the wilderness in normal use.
However, the bargain price leaves its mark on the features: slow memory, little RAM and only moderately fast Internet. The cameras are also only useful in an emergency; for great landscape shots on a multi-day hiking tour, you will probably want to take another smartphone or camera with you.
How long software updates will be available is not revealed and the screen could also be a little brighter.
Overall, buyers should be aware that they are only getting basic performance and features. However, if you are only looking for an affordable outdoor phone, the Cubot KingKong ES 3 is decent overall.
Pros
Cons
Price and availability
The Cubot KingKong ES3 is hard to get at the moment.
It should be available soon in the Cubot Store at amazon.com.
- $5.67FZZSZS (2-Pack for Cubot KingKong ES 3 Tempered Glass Screen Protector, Anti Scratch 9H Hardness Protective Film HD Anti-fingerprint Bubble Free Screen Protector for Cubot KingKong ES 3 (6.75")
- $6.87FZZSZS (3-Pack for Cubot KingKong ES 3 Tempered Glass Screen Protector, Anti Scratch 9H Hardness Protective Film HD Anti-fingerprint Bubble Free Screen Protector for Cubot KingKong ES 3 (6.75")
Table of Contents
- Verdict on the Cubot KingKong ES3
- Specifications
- Case and features - Robust and you can see it
- Communication and operation - No 5G on board
- Software and sustainability - Updates are in short supply
- Cameras - Moderate image quality
- Display - Very good color reproduction
- Performance, emissions and battery life - Long endurance for touring
- Notebookcheck overall rating
- Possible alternatives in comparison
Specifications
Case and features - Robust and you can see it
The Cubot KingKong ES3 immediately shows that it was designed for use in inhospitable places: It features a black casing with industrial design rubber coating and a fairly thick casing edge around the display. This also protrudes slightly so that the display is also physically protected from direct drops onto flat surfaces.
The buttons are quite large, making them easy to feel and operate even when wearing gloves. At 352 grams, the phone is not quite light and with a thickness of over 1.5 centimeters it is not slim either, but it still feels good in the hand.
256 GB of mass storage and 6 GB of RAM are OK for the price range, but do not set any new records. NFC for wireless payments is on board.
Instead of two nano SIMs, you can also insert just one SIM card and one microSD. The reader for the memory card works reasonably quickly.
| SD Card Reader - average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
| Cubot KingKong ES3 (Angelbird V60) | |
| Oukitel WP35 (Angelbird V60) | |
| Cubot KingKong AX (Angelbird V60) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (5.72 - 58.9, n=67, last 2 years) | |
| Blackview BV5200 (Angelbird V60) | |
Cross Platform Disk Test (CPDT)
Communication and operation - No 5G on board
You have to make do with WiFi 5 as the fastest WLAN standard. This achieves speeds between 300 and 350 MBit/s, which is typical for this class. In the test with the Asus ROG Rapture AXE11000 reference router, we noticed occasional drops in the data rate to around 200 Mbps.
Unfortunately, there is no 5G on the outdoor phone, but there are enough 4G frequencies for use when traveling, even if not all countries are covered.
The screen can handle up to 90 Hz and therefore processes inputs quite quickly. The touchscreen is quite reliable, but there is no special glove mode for higher sensitivity.
Unfortunately, there is also no fingerprint sensor. For biometric unlocking, you can use face recognition via the front camera using a 2D method. This works quite well, but is less secure.
| Networking | |
| Cubot KingKong ES3 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Blackview BV5200 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Cubot KingKong AX | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Oukitel WP35 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Average 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Average of class Smartphone | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
Software and sustainability - Updates are in short supply
The software is based on Android 15 and shows no major adaptations to Google's operating system.
The security updates date from May 2025, which means they were already out of date at the time of testing. The manufacturer does not say how many further updates can be expected.
There is also no information on the Cubot KingKong ES3 in terms of sustainability.
Cameras - Moderate image quality
The manufacturer has installed a rather simple camera system, even though the main camera on the back offers a decent resolution of 48 megapixels. Photos are OK for low demands, but are not very detailed and have pale colors.
Videos can be recorded in 1080p at a maximum of 30 fps. The autofocus tends to pump and works rather slowly.
There is also a macro camera and a support sensor for depth of field on the back. Macro shots usually look a little blurred.
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 PflanzeHauptkamera UmgebungHauptkamera Low Light
Display - Very good color reproduction
The screen resolution of 720p is okay for the class and the display looks reasonably sharp.
The brightness of the large 6.8-inch display is at a passable level with a maximum of 444 cd/m² in our test, but there are still strong reflections on the screen on bright days.
However, the color reproduction is actually quite accurate, with only slight deviations from the ideal value visible to the naked eye.
We did not notice any PWM flickering.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 87 %
Center on Battery: 424 cd/m²
Contrast: 771:1 (Black: 0.55 cd/m²)
ΔE ColorChecker Calman: 2.48 | ∀{0.5-29.43 Ø4.79}
ΔE Greyscale Calman: 3.9 | ∀{0.09-98 Ø5}
93.5% sRGB (Calman 2D)
Gamma: 2.76
CCT: 6411 K
| Cubot KingKong ES3 IPS, 1600x720, 6.8" | Blackview BV5200 IPS, 1600x720, 6.1" | Cubot KingKong AX IPS, 2408x1080, 6.6" | Oukitel WP35 IPS, 2408x1080, 6.6" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | -31% | -36% | -47% | |
| Brightness middle (cd/m²) | 424 | 400 -6% | 553 30% | 552 30% |
| Brightness (cd/m²) | 426 | 405 -5% | 521 22% | 549 29% |
| Brightness Distribution (%) | 87 | 80 -8% | 86 -1% | 94 8% |
| Black Level * (cd/m²) | 0.55 | 0.28 49% | 0.5 9% | 0.42 24% |
| Contrast (:1) | 771 | 1429 85% | 1106 43% | 1314 70% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 2.48 | 5.8 -134% | 7.18 -190% | 7.22 -191% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 4.61 | 10.77 -134% | 10.23 -122% | 13.09 -184% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 3.9 | 7.7 -97% | 7.1 -82% | 10.1 -159% |
| Gamma | 2.76 80% | 2.107 104% | 2.291 96% | 1.785 123% |
| CCT | 6411 101% | 8415 77% | 8964 73% | 9036 72% |
* ... smaller is better
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 8156 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. | |||
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 29.3 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 11.3 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 18 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows relatively slow response rates in our tests and may be too slow for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 78 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (20.3 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 38.6 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 19.9 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 18.7 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. » 57 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (31.7 ms). | ||
Performance, emissions and battery life - Long endurance for touring
The Unisoc T7250 does not provide much power as an SoC. It is sufficient for reasonably smooth everyday use, but the phone quickly reaches its limits with more complex apps.
The memory is also quite slow, so loading times can sometimes take longer.
The maximum temperature on the casing after prolonged use is 42 °C. This is OK, so there is no risk of the SoC throttling and this is also confirmed by the 3DMark stress test.
The mono speaker quickly sounds overloaded, but can get quite loud, which can be an advantage on construction sites and in other noisy environments. External audio devices can be connected via USB or Bluetooth. The most necessary codecs are available for wireless audio transmissions.
The battery has a large 10,200 mAh battery. It enables runtimes of almost 26 hours in our WLAN test and should therefore also enable several days of operation away from power sources. It can be charged with a maximum of 33 watts, a full charge takes around 3 hours.
| Geekbench AI | |
| Single Precision NPU 1.5 | |
| Average of class Smartphone (81 - 5210, n=45, last 2 years) | |
| Cubot KingKong ES3 | |
| Average Unisoc T7250 (T615) (n=1) | |
| Half Precision NPU 1.5 | |
| Average of class Smartphone (80 - 36297, n=45, last 2 years) | |
| Cubot KingKong ES3 | |
| Average Unisoc T7250 (T615) (n=1) | |
| Quantized NPU 1.5 | |
| Average of class Smartphone (133 - 49889, n=45, last 2 years) | |
| Cubot KingKong ES3 | |
| Average Unisoc T7250 (T615) (n=1) | |
| Jetstream 2 - 2.0 Total Score | |
| Average of class Smartphone (23.8 - 387, n=155, last 2 years) | |
| Cubot KingKong ES3 | |
| Average Unisoc T7250 (T615) (n=1) | |
| Cubot KingKong ES3 | Blackview BV5200 | Cubot KingKong AX | Oukitel WP35 | Average 256 GB eMMC 5.1 Flash | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AndroBench 3-5 | -46% | 376% | -18% | 26% | 724% | |
| Sequential Read 256KB (MB/s) | 285 | 253.4 -11% | 1000.7 251% | 292 2% | 274 ? -4% | 2216 ? 678% |
| Sequential Write 256KB (MB/s) | 152.2 | 57.5 -62% | 915.2 501% | 149.5 -2% | 209 ? 37% | 1832 ? 1104% |
| Random Read 4KB (MB/s) | 57.4 | 22.2 -61% | 230.6 302% | 61.7 7% | 77.3 ? 35% | 293 ? 410% |
| Random Write 4KB (MB/s) | 42.3 | 21.1 -50% | 233.2 451% | 9.4 -78% | 57.9 ? 37% | 340 ? 704% |
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 42 °C / 108 F, compared to the average of 35.2 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 247 °C for the class Smartphone.
(±) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 41.8 °C / 107 F, compared to the average of 34 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 28.5 °C / 83 F, compared to the device average of 32.9 °C / 91 F.
3DMark Steel Nomad Stress Test
| 3DMark - Wild Life Stress Test Stability | |
| Oukitel WP35 | |
| Cubot KingKong ES3 | |
| Cubot KingKong AX | |
Cubot KingKong ES3 audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (89.3 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 24.8% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (11.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 5.6% higher than median
(+) | mids are linear (4.9% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 4.6% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (6.4% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (19.3% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 25% of all tested devices in this class were better, 9% similar, 66% worse
» The best had a delta of 11%, average was 35%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 45% of all tested devices were better, 8% similar, 47% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 24%, worst was 134%
Blackview BV5200 audio analysis
(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (79.1 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 24.9% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (11.4% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 5.6% higher than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (7.5% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 3.2% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (5.5% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (22.1% 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 11%, average was 35%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 63% of all tested devices were better, 6% similar, 31% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 24%, worst was 134%
| Cubot KingKong ES3 10200 mAh | Blackview BV5200 5180 mAh | Cubot KingKong AX 5100 mAh | Oukitel WP35 11000 mAh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery runtime | ||||
| WiFi v1.3 (h) | 25.9 | 15.1 -42% | 17.6 -32% | 27.7 7% |
Notebookcheck overall rating
The Cubot KingKong ES3 is a rather simple rugged smartphone for on the go.
It impresses above all with its affordable price and very long battery life.
Cubot KingKong ES3
- 09/17/2025 v8
Florian Schmitt
Total Sustainability Score: Possible alternatives in comparison
Image | Model / Review | Price | Weight | Drive | Display |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. 68.7%  | Cubot KingKong ES3 Unisoc T7250 (T615) ⎘ ARM Mali-G57 MP1 ⎘ 6 GB Memory, 256 GB eMMC | Amazon: 1. $41.00 for Cubot Kingkong 9 Screen ... 2. $5.67 FZZSZS (2-Pack for Cubot Kin... 3. $6.87 FZZSZS (3-Pack for Cubot Kin... List Price: 200€ | 352 g | 256 GB eMMC 5.1 Flash | 6.75" 1600x720 260 PPI IPS |
2. 74.3% v7 (old)  | Blackview BV5200 Mediatek Helio A22 MT6761 ⎘ PowerVR GE8300 ⎘ 4 GB Memory, 32 GB eMMC | Amazon: 1. $7.95 Mr.Shield [3-Pack] Screen Pr... 2. $8.29 KJYF for Blackview BV5200 Pr... 3. $32.99 MinTroSD New Display Touch S... List Price: 150€ | 268 g | 32 GB eMMC Flash | 6.10" 1600x720 288 PPI IPS |
3. 79.1% v7 (old)  | Cubot KingKong AX Mediatek Helio G99 ⎘ ARM Mali-G57 MP2 ⎘ 12 GB Memory, 256 GB | Amazon: 1. $33.62 LCD Touch Screen for Cubot K... 2. $41.00 for Cubot Kingkong 9 Screen ... 3. YOOOKOOO for Cubot Kingkong ... List Price: 260€ | 296 g | 256 GB UFS 3.0 Flash | 6.58" 2408x1080 401 PPI IPS |
4. 79.6% v7 (old)  | Oukitel WP35 MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ ⎘ ARM Mali-G57 MP2 ⎘ 8 GB Memory, 256 GB eMMC | Amazon: 1. $37.88 SiuVorZhi LCD Display Compat... 2. $8.95 Mr.Shield Screen Protector c... 3. $38.99 SECRETIGER LCD Screen Displa... List Price: 285€ | 360 g | 256 GB eMMC 5.1 Flash | 6.60" 2408x1080 400 PPI IPS |
Transparency
The selection of devices to be reviewed is made by our editorial team. The test sample was provided to the author as a loan by the manufacturer or retailer for the purpose of this review. The lender had no influence on this review, nor did the manufacturer receive a copy of this review before publication. There was no obligation to publish this review. As an independent media company, Notebookcheck is not subjected to the authority of manufacturers, retailers or publishers.
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