The Cubot Quest water, dust and shock-resistant phone has just been launched two months ago, but soon became popular among customers. It was not a question of getting one to make a review and find out if Cubot’s new strapamobile is really a good choice.
We thought a lot about testing the Cubot Quest or Cubot Quest Lite, and finally we had the first choice because it wasn’t much more, but it was more durable in terms of hardware.
Intro
In today’s mobile marketplace, if you want to buy a rugged phone, there’s no easy thing to do. Service providers are not very likely to find these types of handsets, or if they do, they are unaffordable. Thus, the customer looks at foreign offers, but fortunately there is plenty of choice.
The demand for shock-proof phones has been recognized by smaller cell phone manufacturers for a few years now. Now, almost every manufacturer has a water, dust and shockproof phone. For example, AGM produces almost just such products, but Blackview (eg Blackview BV9600 Pro), Ulefone (eg Ulefone Armor 6e) and Oukitel (eg Oukitel WP2), HOMTOM has also sold many IP68-protected mobile phones to the market. in recent years. There is plenty of choice, we can find a suitable model in almost every price range, so now you can choose according to your needs.
At the beginning of last year, Cubot jumped into this smart phone business, when Cubot King Kong appeared. At the end of last year, there was a sequel to jumping, two versions, the Cubot King Kong 3, which is currently the strongest rugged phone offer to the manufacturer.
The appearance of Cubot Quest Lite virtually knocked out Cubot KingKong from his position, so who would want a cheap waterproof and shockproof mobile. Anyone who wants such a mobile can get one for $120.
Our test subject, Cubot Quest, is an interesting concept for Cubot, as it remains below knowledge of King Kong 3, but does not ask for it in price. So the question is, was there any point in putting the product on the market?
The answer is, of course, yes, and the explanation is simple, and if we look at the picture above, maybe everyone will do it. Cubot Quest is the first rugged phone that at first glance we wouldn’t come across to hit or throw it into water. Just 8.8 millimeters thick and 157 x 73.7 millimeters looks like an average mobile phone. In addition, it comes with a fresh Android 9 system and features NFC, which is still a rarity in this price range.
The marketers have also tagged the “athletic phone” and presented in a promotional video a bike, a swimmer and a runner to see what accidents the phone may be subjected to during sports.
The product was purchased from the GearBest store (not very available elsewhere), with free and duty-free delivery, we had to wait about 3 weeks for us to handle the Cubot Quest phone.
Currently available from the webshop for $150 with these popular shipping methotds: EU Priority Line or Netherlands Registered (PDM) via the following link:
BUY Cubot Quest
GearBest
At the moment, you can get 30 dollars cheaper for the Cubot Quest Lite with slightly weaker hardware, also through the GearBest store:
BUY Cubot Quest Lite
GearBest
Design
Cubot Quest arrived in a box of colorful designs decorated with exquisite designs, featuring the main features and specifications on the back with a glossy, gold-plated inscription. Other useful information is not found under the brand name and type. Nobody would say about his box that a rugged phone is hiding in it.
If you look into the box, you will soon discover that the manufacturer has not surprised you with great surprises, along with the usual accessories: charger adapter, USB Type-C cable, SIM needle, a few shorter and longer descriptions of how to use your device.
One thing the manufacturer has forgotten is that there is no 3.5 mm headphone jack on the device, so it can be used either with a converter or with a USB Type-C headset. Well, the manufacturer has not included any of the phone, so the user has to fill this gap.
The device itself is pleasant to grip, massive, strong, and you can feel a phone made of good material. But despite all this, it is perfectly handy, not frivolous, comfortable to use. For me, the exterior was joyful, as most cordless phones are huge, large and heavy, not easy to use.
Cubot Quest is fully compliant with IP68 standard, ie water, dust and shock resistant. According to official data, at a depth of one meter, the phone is about an hour away without any trouble.
On the front, there is a 5.5-inch HD (720×1440 pixel) display that is good in its class. Colors are not accurate everywhere, but they have excellent viewing angles for the IPS panel, and we can’t complain about the brightness in the sun.
The 8 MP front panel camera, the notification LED, various sensors and the call speaker can be found in the upper, thicker black band. Having a world of full-screen mobile phones today, many have a strange chunky frame around the display, but they are accustomed to it sooner than anyone ever had a serious problem with it.
The design of the back is also shaping, the fingerprint reader in the upper third is fast and 90% accurate. The 12 + 2 MP dual camera is supported by a double LED light for night photography.
The speaker is at the bottom of this model, and unfortunately, its quality brings the usual boxed sound of ordinary Chinese phones.
On the right side of the phone you will find the volume control and a little high-placed power button that looks like a screw, but it is not a lucky choice. It took me a while to get used to my position.
Incidentally, the two protrusions next to the power button are a good idea, as we can place the cell in any case or holder, and cannot push the button, so we don’t have to be afraid of accidental shutdown.
On the left, next to the card slot that receives the two SIMs, you can also discover a function key that was more confusing in the first round than useful, as I always mixed it with the power button.
By default, this button switches the camera on, pushing it long, Google assistant starts. We can also expose it while shooting. Those who do not like these features can be set in the device software to launch any other installed applications.
There are no output or input connectors on the top of the enclosure, so the USB Type-C connector has only space left on the bottom. As I have written above, the 3.5-mm jack is not available, so you can only use a wired headset with a converter or Type-C device.
Hardware
Cubot Quest is driven by MediaTek Helio P22, released last year, which resembles the well-known Helio P23. The system chip consists of 8 Cortex A53 processors, each capable of working at maximum 2 GHz. The graphics driver for P22 is not from ARM because a PowerVR GE8320 is working on the tile. By the way, not many manufacturers have chosen this SoC, you can only find it on Redmi 6 and in-house Cubot Max 2. Maybe other vendors will be included in the SoC list later, because it offers good performance at a good price.
In addition to the MediaTek chip, we have 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of internal storage, which can of course be expanded up to 256 GB. The cheaper Lite version offers 3 GB of memory and 32 GB of storage space, at a little less cost.
The 5.5-inch HD + display uses forceful design for Cubot phones. The resolution of 720×1440 pixels on the 5.5-inch display is still enough, though there will surely be those who find it too pixelated. On the other hand, fewer pixels can be good, as it is less expensive, requires less energy, so the standby time increases, and half the number of frames in the graphical games should be counted so the graphics performance increases.
Sensors include accelerometer, light meter, compass, proximity sensor, magnetic sensor, and gyroscope that can also be used to display VR content.
The back fingerprint scanner worked well, recognizing pre-entered fingerprints quickly and with great accuracy. Due to the strange position of the power button, it is simpler, and it is strongly recommended that you unlock your mobile with a fingerprint scanner.
You can find the complete property list of Cubot Quest and the available online store prices on our site:
CUBOT QUEST PRICE
Price, specifications, pictures
Benchmarks
The tests have been run on standard benchmark applications, and the results have shown that the Helio P22 system chip, with its 4 GB internal memory, is very strong in the lower middle class. The graphs below show that the performance of Helio P22 is very close to last year’s P23, but that the next price range Helio P60 does not compete. If we look at Qualcomm’s processors, it would be most like the Snapdragon 450.
I compared the results with the more familiar IP68 phones, which you can see in the graph below. You can read the detailed test results below.
In comparative tests, I compared the results of 4 different rugged phones, but unfortunately later I discovered that even the Ulefone Armor 6e with Helio P70 could have been added to the list. After all, it doesn’t matter much, because the Helio P70 plays almost the same way as the P60 on synthetic tests.
See more detailed results and screen shots here:
Software
The Cubot Quest phone is the latest Android 9.0, or Android Pie, which is commendable. True, in 2019, it could be a basic requirement, phones that are still on the market with Android 8 are starting out at a disadvantage. But there is no question here.
When the device was turned on, the system offered an update immediately, which was the latest kernel in June, installing Cubot_Quest_V11_20190529.
The system is surprisingly smooth, the programs start quickly, there is no jamming, no freezing. Thanks to the 4 GB of internal memory, you can run a lot of programs in the background without closing them.A mistake has been made by the manufacturer: Cubot Quest is recommended for athletes. Well, I think it should be visible on the software, but if we look at the programs, we can’t find any such applications, just the pure Android 9. This way, everyone can choose their favorite from the Play Store.
Camera
We’ve come to the test point that I always start to describe. Unfortunately, in the last few years, I could tell a few of the phones that I had in my hands, that he had a very good camera. Most mid-range devices bleed at this point, while there are often no complaints for exterior and interior.
I still don’t understand why B brand Chinese manufacturers are saving this part of their appliances. However, manufacturers could change this, for example, there is Xiaomi, which has a perfectly acceptable camera in its mid-range phones. Several manufacturers are trying to move on, but in spite of putting 2, 3 or 4 cameras on the back of the mobile, the end result will not be better, even …
Cubot goes a little further in solving the problems mentioned above, as, like Cubot Max 2, a very good main camera is placed on the back: the Sony IMX486 sensor. The camera is equipped with Phase Detection Car Focus (PDAF), Face Detection, HDR, Panorama and a special night mode. The secondary camera is 2 MP which does nothing to take pictures. Normally it would take part in the “bokeh” mode, but if it was hidden, if not, it did not change the picture. For cheaper chinese devices, I would rather call this “blurry” mode this backgammon because it does nothing but blur an area outside a given size circle.
Otherwise, the finished pictures were good in the daytime, the colors were full, the contrast was good. The focus was really fast and accurate, with no problem. On the other hand, the brighter areas in the background were not really handled by hardware and software, many parts of the image were burnt out, or I was getting too dark on the subject I photographed.
And of course, if we zoom in on the finished photos, there will be further flaws in the device: extremely strong noise suppression, blurring of details. However, looking at the phone screen, communicating to the grandparents, the photos are perfectly matched. Remember, we’re still talking about a $150 IP68 phone, whose primary goal is not to make perfect photos.
Unfortunately, as the evening comes, Cubot Quest is getting harder to capture the pictures. In this case, the automatic focus is more difficult, often misses the target and does not tolerate the movements, most often we get very noisy images. We still have a chance to create a still image, for example, using the night mode in the camera software, but here we have to pay attention not to shake our hands while taking the picture.
The maximum image size of the photos is 12MP, due to the camera sensor, and the most detailed setting for video, the 1920×1080 FullHD resolution, which the software saved in mp4 format.
The front panel has an 8 MP imaging, also with average performance, with standard software beauty features.
The device supports full Camera 2 API mode, which is definitely a good thing, so anyone who wants to get better off using the camera can do it.
I’ll be adding test photos later, so please wait until now.
Communications
In the field of data communication, Cubot Quest is really good, because thanks to the support of the global LTE network, it can handle all domestic 4G bands. The availability of Bluetooth version 5 and the growing popularity of NFC support are particularly highlights. We also get two-band Wi-Fi, though the ac-wi-fi is missing, but average users will probably not notice it either.
GPS and Glonass satellites rely on location software for navigation. The GPS Test and the real tests have shown that the mobile is doing the right thing well.
Battery
Under the back cover we find a 4000mAh battery that, together with the smaller size display and the energy-saving Helio P22 system chip, produced excellent running time during testing.
Running a normal PC Mark battery test, I got 11 hours 29 minutes. During the test period, a display time of 6-7 hours was usually achieved, which, with an average usage, promises 2-3 days of operation, while a higher usage time allows 1-2 days of operation time.
The manufacturer supplied an EU standard 5V / 2A adapter to charge the device in about two hours.
Summary
The rugged phones market is seeing more and more better products, but Cubot smartly blended the cards and dropped a device that didn’t find much of an opponent.
Cubot Quest is the only ordinary-looking rugged phone with a 8.8 millimeter thickness that is the only mobile phone of its kind. In addition, wearing your pockets will not shake off the trousers, as it weighs just 180 grams.
In addition to this, the price is not too expensive, at a lower price, a rugged phone with normal knowledge is not found anywhere now. His minor shortcomings, of course, are the medium-sized hardware, the average Chinese camera, the weaker speaker, and the lack of a jack connector.
But on the other side there is IP68 protection, 4GB memory, 64GB internal storage, dual band Wi-Fi and NFC support, large battery and of course sporty look.
Find current prices on our Cubot Quest datasheet:
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Price, specifications, pictures
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