[Device Reviews and Information] Alberto96:
Review

Introduction

This is the CUBOT Dinosaur

Hardware

This device is powered by a Mediatek MT6735A SOC clocked at 1.3GHz, with a plenty amount of RAM (3GB) and enough ROM (16GB). It has an 8MP Rear Camera (OmniVision OV8856), photos interpolated to 13MP, and a 2MP Front Camera (GalaxyCore GC2355), again interpolated to 5MP . Follow my next paragraphs to know more.

Unboxing

Packaging comes with some accessories: 1x Rugged TPU Cover (amazingly robust), 1x Micro-USB Cable, 1x 5V/1A Charger, 1x Quick Start Guide, 1x Compliance Regulation paper and the Smartphone (of course). No Headset included.

Unlike most devices from CUBOT, this one has a Plastic Chassis, with a Metal Chassis inside, this makes the whole device robust and lightweight in the same time. Pretty interesting, probably the first time that I see a device with something like this. To know more, just look the CUBOT Dinosaur teardown that can be found on the CUBOT YT Channel.

It is just 15.5x7.9x0.96cm, pretty slim considering that there is a 4150mAh battery inside, and it weights 201g, lightweight enough.

On the front side there is the usual 2.5D Curved Display enclosed in a plastic frame. Sincerely, on this device the plastic frame is pretty noticeable, I don’t know why. The upper front side of the device features a Front-Facing Camera, an Earpiece, and the Sensors hole that includes Light, Proximity and Gesture Sensors, and rare Notification LED. (only Blue color is supported, not RGB)

On the lower front side of the device there are the Soft-Keys Navigation Buttons (not retro-illuminated), and almost hidden Microphone Hole. (on the left)

On the back side there is the removable plastic back cover, with a nice texture similar to the Xiaomi MI4s.

The upper rear side of the device features a flat Camera supported by a Single-Flash (Single Tone) configuration.

The lower rear side of the device features some words about Model & Certificates, and the huge Speaker hole.

Inside, there all the slots are indipendent, smarter than other devices featuring a common slot where only 1x SIM-Card can be used at the same time if you use also a Micro-SD card.

Device

Screen

CUBOT, even if they do not declare it, choose an high-quality IPS screen on this device, made by AUO. But, it requires some a bit on work on the calibration, because color temperature and other factors are not as they should be. A software update might calibrate it.

Brightness is great, without no issues at all under direct sunlight. The Light Sensor works great too, and supports smooth light changes making auto-brightness much better.

About Viewing Angles, the screen doesn’t suffer any kind of issue, it behaves perfect in every single condition.

Camera

Rear Camera works as on all other devices with the same camera sensor, nice quality but high noise level. Focus is pretty fast though, even better that what I thought.

As you can see, HDR makes photos brighter just like it should.

Flashlight is powerful enough for nice shots, and it is almost required because even with medium light the camera sensor suffers a bit.

As regards Video Recording, there are no major issues. 1080p videos (Video Quality – Fine) are recorded with a decent level of details, just remember that there is no OIS so you can’t expect stable videos. It is just me or there is a slight purple tint?

V Just check my sample here V

[YOUTUBE]9Qlqsg3n5rE[/YOUTUBE]

Front Camera is decent, but it is just 2MP so do not expect superb quality or high-detailed photos.

Audio

Built-in Speaker is...excellent, similar (be careful, not identical) to the Ulefone Vienna. It is loud, and low-frequencies are here, even if not too much, and it has a nice clarity. Well Done CUBOT!

Unfortunately, it is positioned on the back, and, as I have already said for many other devices, if you place the device on a table you could experience volume issues, but this doesn’t mean that it is a bad thing. As always, what matters here is the quality.

Nothing negative to say about the in-call/telephony quality.

Telephony, Mobile Network & WiFi

Thanks to the 4G Band 20 support (some other Chinese Smartphones don’t have it), I’m almost always and everywhere connected to the 4G Network of my Mobile Network Provider (TIM Italy).

Also 3G Signal Reception is accurate, actually I never managed to get connected to the 2G Network of my Mobile Operator because there was always some 3G Signal available.

4G Network Speed is decent, it highly depends on your Mobile Operator and mine isn’t pretty good. While 3G Network Speed, is just fine.

There is no WiFi 5GHz support here, but WiFi 2.4GHz speed isn’t extremely low, I managed to get connected to my network connection at 65mbps, and Speed Tests reach more or less 35mbps.

Battery Life

I have measured the real battery capacity using my USB Tester, and as you can see it is even higher than declared. (declared 4150mAh, real almost 4900mAh) WOW!

Battery Life is just great, thanks to the huge battery. More than 10 hours of screen-on time are achiveable on this device. My PCMark’s Battery test confirms it.

If you are worried about charging times, well...you have to. It doesn’t come with a Quick Charge power supply, so it takes a more than 2 hours to full charge. Maybe they should have used the same charger used on the CUBOT H2 with 5V/2A output, because with my own AUKEY charger, it manages to use nearly 1.4A. The included 5V/1A charger isn’t enough I think...this is a little mistake made by CUBOT. My advice is to use another charger with at least 5V/1.5A Power Output.

Software

Unlike previous devices from CUBOT, this one comes with a completely clean Android 6.0 release, without any customized lockscreen or anything else. Only the Settings app has been categorized, but nothing else. Excellent!

Just like other last-gen Mediatek Devices, there are some typical features such as Gestures, Turbo Download, etc…

The UI is extremely responsive and smooth, no lags at all. Performance is great too, and you’ll see it on the next paragraph, probably the fastest MT6735 device.

Benchmarks

I have used 3DMark, Antutu Benchmark, Epic Citadel, GeekBench 3, GFXBench, AndroBench, PCMark (Work & Storage) and Vellamo (Browser & CPU Tests) to stress the device to the limit. I won’t test Games or Video Playback because there are already some related tests included in these Benchmark suites.

3DMark – GPU Performance isn’t extremely good, OpenGL 3.1 & 3.0 tests require lots of power, and this is where almost every mid-range GPU falls. OpenGL 2.0 tests are pretty good though.

Other 3DMark tests can be found on my Imgur album linked at the bottom of the thread.

AndroBench – eMMC Performance is the highest I have ever found on a MT6735 device.

Antutu Benchmark – I won’t say a lot about this benchmarks, this isn’t as reliable as others. I’m providing this just for benchmarks lovers.

Epic Citadel – As you can see, 3D performance is decent, enough for almost all games.

GeekBench – CPU Performance is nearly as good as other CPUs with the same configuration (4x Cortex-A53), enough to handle almost every type of activity.

GFXBench– GFXBench score is low, but you can’t expect something better with this CPU.

PCMark – As you can see, only Writing score is a bit low. Pretty good.

Work

Storage

Vellamo

Browser score is decent, as good as other MT6735 devices.

The same for the CPU score.

I didn’t expected so high performance on this device. An excellent work has been made by CUBOT engineers, and I hope that they’ll continue to update this device for even more improvements.

Conclusions

With an huge battery, even more powerful that the value declared by the Manufacturer, and with excellent performance, this device is a nice compromise between quality and price.

Do I recommend it? Yes, if you need a long-lasting and powerful enough device, then this is the best choice. If you need a device for heavy-gaming, well...it might be better if you choose something else. Light Games run without any issue though.

Pros:

AUO Screen

Battery Capacity higher than declared

Smooth and Clean Android OS

Notification LED

Cheap

Cons:

Low-End Camera Sensors (Rear & Front)

Single-Color Notification LED

Screen needs to be Calibrated

No Compass/Gyroscope

Rating: 8.6

Packaging and Accessories: 8.5

Design and Materials: 8.5

Performance and Heat Dissipation: 8

Screen: 8

Camera: 6.5

Sound: 9

Battery Life: 9.5

Software: 9.5

OEM Support: 9

Price: 9

You can find full-res images (I know, Quality isn't excellent) here: http://imgur.com/a/tz1Kk

Official Website: http://www.cubot.net/smartphones/dinosaur/

You can buy it on many online shops.​