[Android General] irkan:
Cube Talk 5H review - It is bigger on the inside than it is from the outside​

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Introduction:​

With so many “single sim” mobile devices out there, its nice to see a dual sim capable device that performs well and very affordable The cube Talk 5H with its 5.5 IPS display looks good, performs good and costs good (for the customer)

Key Specs:

5.5-inch IPS Capacitive Panel, 1280*720

Stock Android 4.2.1 with MiHome Launcher

MT6589 quad-core Cortex-A7 processor@1.2GHZ, 28nm process

SGX544 GPU

1GB RAM

4GB ROM

FM Radio

Bluetooth V4.0

GPS

Wi-Fi 802.11n/b/g

WCDMA (3G): 2100MHZ / GSM (2G): 900MHZ + 1800MHZ

Front-facing 1.3MP camera and rear-facing 8.0MP camera with auto-focus support

Stereo speaker

Vibration

Light Sensor, G-sensor, Proximity Sensor

Dual SIM (One Micro Sim slot and the other is Standard Sim slot)

2500mAh Li-Po battery

Pros

1. Vivid and bright 1280*720 5.5” IPS display with great viewing angles.

2. No lag performance coming from the 1.2GHz quad-core processor

3. Surprisingly good loud speakers

4. Contains microSD card slot

Cons

1. Below average cameras

2. Only 4GB of internal storage

3. Below average cell reception

Unboxing​

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The box contains the followings:

-	Device (With screen protector)

-	Charger

-	USB cable

-	Stereo Headset

-	Battery

-	Manual

I liked that the device came with its own screen protector (it is applied and all you have to do to is to peel the top layer)

Design & Controls​

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The device is a bit on the heavy side but feels good in the hand, I even dare to say that it looks and feels much better than my trusted Samsung Galaxy S3.

The back cover is plastic white; the front has the black bezel around the screen and a horizontal white strip at the bottom that gives nice contrast, very pleasant to look at.

On the bottom of the device you will find the micro-USB port, the left contains the volume up and down buttons, the top includes the 3.5 Audio Jack and on the right the power/lock button.

The front contains the 3 capacitive buttons (Menu, Home and Back) that light up when the device is on, also at the top it contains the front facing 1.3MP camera while the back of the device contain the 8MP camera.

Opening the back cover uncovers the 2 slots for the sim cards and one slot for the microSD card for external storage

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Display​

The cube Talk 5H is built around a 5.5" IPS touchscreen display with resolution of 1280*720. The pixel density clocks at 267.02 ppi which is not bad at all for a device at this price point.

Resolution aside, the device’s display is vividly gorgeous; it has great colors reproduction, great brightness and great viewing angles.

The blacks are at relatively deep consideration that its an IPS display and not an AMOLED display.

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Battery Life​

The capacity of the battery is 2500 mAH, and it held reasonably well.

The below information is coming from 6 hours and 20 mins usage, the usage included the following

-	Both sim cards are operational, one with 2G and the other with 3G

-	About 3 hours WiFi

-	A lot of time in searching for network signals while indoors

-	Ongoing Whatsapp messaging

-	Facebook / Instagram frequent checks

-	Couple of incoming calls and SMS

-	Couple of Pictures taken

After the above usage, I got to 46% at 2:48PM coming from a full charge 6 hours and 20 minutes earlier, I can say that the 2500mAh Li-Po battery puts up a reasonable fight.

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Software & UI​

My device came with standard android 4.2.1 along with MiHome (MiUi Launcher) I have to say, that at first I hated the multiple colors everywhere, the UI looked ridiculously / cartoonishly colorful for my taste, but it grew on me and I started to like it.

The software came with some Chinese apps that I have no use for, luckily (since its android 4.2.1) you can easily go to the applications menu from settings and disable any system application you deem useless.

The MiHome is simple .. you have multiple home screens, all the apps will go into them (no apps drawer), and you can put widgets on your home screen, when you think about it, its like iOS interface but with widget support.

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Useful gestures are included as well (customizable also) you swipe down from anywhere in the home screen you get notification, you swipe up you get T9 keyboard to search for anything on your phone (music, apps, .. etc)

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Notification bar is standard android, you swipe with one finger you get the normal notifications, you swipe with 2 you get the quick toggles.

Of course you can customize the wallpapers and lock screens with any wallpaper you like, you can even download some from the integrated wallpapers market (text is Chinese but its easy to navigate the market following icons)

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On paper, the Cube Talk 5H boasts a quad-core 1.2Ghz CPU and 1GB of RAM, the phone ran its Android 4.2.1 operating system buttery smooth, I have not experienced any form of lag when using the device (I wish I could say the same about my galaxy s3 and its laggy touch wiz interface).

Antutu Benchmark

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The device might be categorize by some as an “Entry” level phone, but its benchmark performance is not too shabby, I got 13577 points, little below HTC One X which was a flagship device not too long ago

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Camera​

The device’s 8MP camera is below average, the pictures are grainy, and details are little in average lighting conditions, so if you are looking to take great pictures and selfies, this phone is not for you.

This is a perfect example on how mega-pixels count is not really the important thing in a camera, comparing this 8MP camera with Samsung Galaxy S3 8MP camera is like comparing night and day in terms of quality of the picture.

The camera has HD Video recording, frame rates are ok but quality is below average as well.

The below shots taken in same lighting conditions, and a subsection is zoomed 300% on the lower right corner.

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2 more shots from Cube Talk 5H camera attached

View attachment 2468334

View attachment 2468333

I believe you got the picture, camera wise, nothing to write home about.

Connectivity & Reception

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The device supports 2G and 3G (no 4G), Wifi and Bluetooth (no NFC).

Wifi and Bluetooth work as expected, I haven’t had any issue with Wifi range, its comparable to my Galaxy S3.

The device’s cell reception is not as strong as my other phones (Samsung Galaxy S3, and Nokia E75) the cell reception coverage in my area is about average, on a normal phone I get 3-4 bars (out of 4) while outdoors, and 1-3 bars while indoors (never zero bars).

The Cube Talk 5H gets full bars while outdoors, but when indoors, the cell reception signals drops significantly, and a lot of times it becomes zero bars, I tested this with my 2 SIMs from different mobile operators and both exhibit the same issues but in different areas (since both have different coverage strength), this issue has annoyed me and I suspect its something to do with the baseband version I have, I will need to find an updated one and flash it to my phone and see if it makes a difference.

ROMs

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What good is android if you cant change ROMs eh? :)

My device came with stock 4.2.1 with MiHome Launcher,.. if that is not your cup of tea (or coffee depending on where are you from lol), there are already a lot of roms available to be installed on this device including:

-	MiUi V5 Rom and many themes

-	Stock Android (with Stock Launcher)

-	Sony Xperia C Rom

-	Baidu Cloud OS

-	OPPO Color OS

-	Touchwiz Rom

Root and recovery info can be found here

Conclusion and TL;DR

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Cube Talk 5H has quad-core 1.2GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, Beautiful 5.5" IPS display with android 4.2.1, dual SIM slots and all of that for under 200 USD

Cube Talk 5H is perfect for you if:

-	You want beefy specs for reasonable price (less than 200 USD)

-	You have 2 Sim cards and you do not want to carry 2 phones

-	You like massive 5.5” display for a phone

Cube Talk 5H is not for you if:

-	You have weak cell reception coverage in your area

-	You want a high end camera phone

-	You want 4G