Cubot has announced their latest device: The Cubot P20.
They say immitation is the highest form of flattery. Many devices looking like the Samsung Galaxy Series or the Apple iPhone have been around quiet a while. But this time it seems even Huawei is "being flattered". Cubot has announced their latest device: The Cubot P20. Yes, you've read that right. Blatantly copying the Huawei P20's design obviously didn't suffice. The newest Cubot does not only have the same camera placement and round design but it also has ... you might have guessed it... a notch.
Yes people, it seems we needed another "top-notch" phone in the Android budget segment. Ofcourse the device is meant to counter other budget devices with iPhone X-carbon-copy design. Well then, let's look at the specifications of the Cubot P20. One would expect, they had enough time to make something really interesting of that. Especially considering the fact designing the phone couln't have taken them long. So, especially with all sorts of new chipsets on the market, it was somewhat of a disapointment to find out the Cubot P20 sports the old MT6750-T octa core processor clocked at 1.5GHz and coupled with 4GB of RAM. The internal storage is 64GB (expandable to 128GB through a microSD card). The rear-camera is a dual camera set up (probably with a software generated blur effect they called "bokeh" to keep the illusion alive). On paper it says to be a 20MP & 12MP sensor set, but realisticly speaking I think its an interpollated 16MP. Now, I won't write anything about the second sensor, since over 80% of budget devices that I've reviewed over the last year, had non specified and even completely non-functional second camera's. Please don't get me wrong. I am not saying the second sensor on the Cubot P20 is fake. I'm just saying I won't credit it as a real dual camera before I have actually tested it. So looking over the specifications I noticed something.
Basically the Cubot P20 has the same specifications as the Cubot X18 Plus, the only difference being the screen. The X18 Plus comes with an 18:9 ratio, 5.99 inch screen WITHOUT a notch. The Cubot P20 however sports a 19:9 ratio 6.18 inch screen (which is not a standarized format for ANY photo or video out there). So if I understand it correctly: The Cubot P20 is like 20 to 30 euro more expensive than the X18. And what do we get for that extra money? Well, they cut out a piece of your display!
An actual pic of the Cubot P20, courtesy of Gizchina To end on a more positive note: The Cubot P20 will run Android Oreo out of the box and will probably have a good autonomy considering the 4000mAh battery we find in the device. It's expected to cost around 160 euro's which is ofcourse a far far way from the 950 to 1000 euro the Huawei P20 Pro costs. But I'm afraid the same can be said about the performance... If you don't want to wait for a decent budget device, or you simple don't appreciate manufacturers making holes in your screen, you can always opt for the Cubot X18 Plus. A very decent smartphone for its price and notch-free!
Cubot X18 Plus. Same specs, no notch and cheaper! Read the full article