[Device Reviews and Information] Alberto96:
CUBOT S500/S550 - Information & Reviews - 5.0"/5.5" HD | MT6735 | 2GB | 16GB | Glass

Introduction

With the diffusion of Devices with Fingerprint Scanner, also CUBOT choose to release three devices featuring it (S500, S550, S600). All devices have almost the same characteristics, but each one is made for a specific user. Luckily I had the possibility to review both devices, so i’ll show you also a nice comparision.

This is the CUBOT S500 on the left and its big-brother CUBOT S550 on the right.

Hardware

Both devices features a mid-range SOC, MT6735, that is able to handle every daily task without major issues. RAM isn’t extremely high, 2 GB, but still enough to handle almost everything. Of course these devices aren’t made for gaming, I find them business-focused because they are extremely elegant, especially the Black variant.

Unboxing

On both devices, packaging comes with some accessories: 1x Plastic Cover (already applied to the device), 1x Screen Protector (Tempered Glass) with Wipes, 1x SIM/MicroSD tray Eject Tool, 1x Micro-USB Cable (really nice quality), 1x 5V/1A USB Charger, 1x Quick Start Guide and the Smartphone (of course). No Headset included.

As always, CUBOT has focused its attention on the design, the device is pretty slim and feels solid, even if there is a little key rattle. I find this design pretty innovative and clean.

The S500 is 14.4x6.8x0.7cm and weights 174 g, while the S550 is 15.4x7.8x0.7cm and weights 203 g. Weight has been impacted a bit due to the Back Glass cover, but nothing extremely heavy.

On the front side there is the 2.5D Curved Display. On 5 inches smartphones this feature is pretty rare, really nice. The glass is enclosed in a Plastic Frame, while on 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. Unfortunately there is no LED here. The lower front side of the device there are the Soft-Keys Navigation Buttons (not retroilluminated).

On the back side, there is a 2.5D Curved Glass, just like the front glass, and a Fingerprint Scanner.

The upper rear side of the device features a small Camera supported by a Single Flashlight, and the Fingerprint Scanner.

The lower rear side of the device features a noticeable Brand Logo, some little words about the Device and the classic Speaker hole.

Both devices are identical, except for the Keys Position. As you can see, on S550 all keys are on the right side, while on S500 there is a Power Button on the right and the Volume Keys on the left. Don’t ask me why, I would like to know it too. Chassis is Slim and Well-Built.

Device

Screen

Both devices have an IPS Screen, and CUBOT decided to adopt OGS Technology in order to reduce the space between the screen and the glass.

Screen Quality isn’t the best that I have ever seen, but Colors and Brightness are decent, especially on S500, its brightness is just awesome.

I have used my Galaxy S4 Light Sensor to measure CUBOT S500 (left) & S550 (right) maximum brightness. I don’t have a professional Lumen Meter, so this (Lux) is the only value that I can provide you.

About Viewing Angles, both screen behaves pretty well, but, especially on S500, it tends to lose colors if you try to watch it upside down.

Image Contrast and Saturation are pretty accurate, with Natural Colors and excellent White reproduction.

Camera

On both devices Back Camera (OmniVision OV8865) seems to work pretty good, but the resolution is interpolated to 13mpx (Camera Sensor is just 8mpx) and, just like almost all Chinese Smartphones, the noise level is a bit high. If CUBOT works a bit more on the Camera software, I’m pretty sure that Photos Quality will be improved.

Without HDR, and in Medium Light conditions, Photos aren’t pretty bad.

The Flashlight, even if is Single, seems to provide enough light (probably also too much) to support low-light photos.

About Videos, there is no Optical Stabilization here, but Software Stabilization (if enabled) does its job (but producing that famous fisheye effect), and there are no major issues here too. Maximum Supported Resolution is 1080p (named as Video Quality – Fine). I can say that this is enough for standard medium quality videos, do not expect ultra-high quality.

Front-Facing Camera seems to be decent, but i don’t know if resolution is interpolated to 8mpx or not, anyway Photos are pretty good. Here you can find a comparision between front (left) & back (right) camera.

Maximum Supported Video Resolution is 720p, and Quality is just fine as you would expect from a Front-Facing camera.

Audio

Speaker is loud, with a decent level of Bass and Clarity.

I have measured its loudness using my Galaxy S4 Microphone, here you’ll see its maximum power.

Unfortunately, it is positioned on the back, and, as I have already said for the CUBOT H2, 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.

In-Call Quality seems to be pretty good, as is on the CUBOT H2 that I have previously reviewed, so I can only say that all CUBOT devices features a great Call Quality and they use good quality speakers for the Earpiece and Microphone. Well Done CUBOT!

Telephony and Mobile Network

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. A good quality Antenna has been used.

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. (MT6735 supports maximum 21.1mbps)

Battery Life

Battery Life seems to be decent for the battery. On both devices I managed to reach more or less 5 hours of Screen-On Time, with Wi-Fi, 4G, Location & Sync ON on the GeekBench Battery Test.

CUBOT S500 has a declared battery capacity of 2700mAh while the S550 has a declared battery capacity of 3000mAh, and I can confirm that this is real. Just take a look at my USB Tester. It is even a bit higher than declared.

Software

CUBOT choose to use a completely clean Android 5.1 release and all seem to work fine. Basically it seems a Nexus Device. The only customized part of the OS is the Recent Apps screen. It included a Task Killer button and a Used/Free RAM Indicator. It works extremely well.

Just like other last-gen Mediatek Devices, there are some typical features such as Gestures (Somatosensory), Scheduled Power On/Off, etc…

The UI is always responsive and smooth, with no lags at all. It’s nice to see that a Chinese company focuses its attention on the software, and I can confirm this because they are also providing frequent OTA Updates for their models.

As regards the Fingerprint Scanner management, it can be configured via the Settings apps and configuration is extremely fast.

[YOUTUBE]lG38FHWXGJE[/YOUTUBE]

CUBOT declares that the Screen can be unlocked in more or less 0.3s using the Fingerprint Scanner, but I have to say that it isn’t true. It takes almost 2 seconds to get unlocked.

[YOUTUBE]CVKOOoc8y5c[/YOUTUBE]

Benchmarks

I have used 3DMark, Antutu Benchmark, Epic Citadel, GeekBench 3, GFXBench, AndroBench, PCMark (Work) 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. I’ll show you CUBOT S550 benchmarks because S500 shares the same hardware.

3DMark – GPU Performance isn’t extremely good, OpenGL 3.1 & 3.0 tests require lots of power, and this is where the GPU falls.

AndroBench – eMMC Performance isn’t pretty good, especially as regards Writing Speed.

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, Gaming performance isn’t extremely low, there is enough power to handle games without major issues, you just won’t get ultra-high framerates.

GeekBench – CPU Performance is as good as other CPUs with the same configuration (4x Cortex-A53), decent for daily tasks.

GFXBench – Well...GFXBench score is low, really low. This benchmark suite is even more heavy than 3DMark, so you can’t expect a better score here.

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

Vellamo

Browser score tends to be a bit lower than expected, but Chrome score is just behind another device with an Octa-Core CPU, so this isn’t something that should be ignored.

The same for the CPU score, the device is just behind others with Octa-Core CPUs.

Summaring all results, I can say that this device provides enough power to handle daily tasks and light gaming. You can’t expect more from a Mediatek MT6735 CPU. (even the newer model CUBOT H2 has exactly the same performance, and shares the same CPU)

Conclusions

As I have already said for the CUBOT H2, unlike most of all Chinese companies, CUBOT publishes CE, FCC & ROHS certificates about each device, so if you’re interested about CUBOT devices safety, you can just go here: http://www.cubot.net/support/ and read them. This is something rare to find in China, and it makes you think how much a company is interested in foreign markets where Safety comes first. This doesn’t mean that China isn’t interested in Safety, but there are many users that want to know SAR Values, Certificates and so on about a Smartphone before buying it, so this is something pretty useful.

(e.g. CUBOT H2)

Summarizing all results, it’s hard to express an opinion. Both devices are good, and you choose your preferred Screen Size, but they are part of the mid-low range of Smartphones. The lack of a Notification LED and just 2 GB of RAM can’t be ignored, but there is a enough fast Fingerprint Sensor that could be helpful for some kind of users. So...do I recommend it? Yes and no. If you don’t need to use heavy apps and if you have a limited budget, then it is ok otherwise buy the latest CUBOT H2 that is absolutely awesome, even if it lacks a Fingerprint Sensor.

Rating (for both devices): 8.2

Packaging and Accessories: 8

Design and Materials: 9

Performance and Heat Dissipation: 7

Screen: 8

Camera: 7

Sound: 8.5

Battery Life: 8

Software: 9.5

OEM Support: 8

Price: 9

You can find full-res images (I know, Quality isn't excellent) here:

S500: http://imgur.com/a/mL7DY

S550: http://imgur.com/a/1vWZ8

S500/S550 Shared Photos: http://imgur.com/a/mIHE0

Official Websites

S500: http://www.cubot.net/smartphones/s500

S550: http://www.cubot.net/smartphones/s550

You can buy both devices on many e-shops.​