[Device Reviews and Information] Alberto96:
Review (part 1)

Introduction

This is the CUBOT H3.

Hardware

As a successor to the well-made and unique CUBOT H2, this H3 comes with a smaller display size (unknown reason, a bit non-sense) so it may not be considered as a real successor but more like an H2 Mini 2017 edition, since it comes with the upgraded MT6737 SOC instead of the MT6735 used in H2, plus it comes with more internal storage: 32GB instead of 16GB; a battery capacity upgrade (6000mAh instead of 5000mAh) and the addition of a fingerprint scanner complete the upgrade.

Unboxing

Compared to the H2, there is a minor upgrade when it comes to the included accessories, since it lacks an OTG Cable for power-sharing, but the standard set is still included: 1x Micro-USB Cable, 1x 5V/2A Charger, 1x Quick Start Guide, 2x Certifications Booklets, 1x TPU Cover and the Smartphone (of course). A screen protector is already applied, but i have removed mine since it wasn't in the best conditions.

Even though CUBOT choose to keep the Metal Chassis, on this H3 they had to go for something lighter and probably less sturdy in order not make the device really heavy, since with a 5 inches screen, the extra weight would be noticeable due to the lack of weight distribution.

The device feels solid-enough, no imperfections noticed and the chassis has been slightly rounded in order to make it more ergonomic.

It is 14.55x7.21x1.15cm and weights 209g, probably one of the most compact battery phones i have ever reviewed, and the weight isn't too high considering its battery capacity.

On the front side there is the usual 2.5D curved glass with an IPS panel underneath, and 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. The usual mono-color (blue only) Notification LED, common on CUBOT devices, is here.

Here you can see the LED in action.

As regards the lower front side there is the soft-keys touch area with Recents, Home and Back keys.

On the back side there is the removable plastic back cover that, at least on my unit, was slightly marked here and there.

The upper rear side of the device features the Camera Sensor supported by a Single-LED - Single-Tone Flashlight, and the Fingerprint Scanner just below in the center. Here you can notice some scratches on the camera lens, scratches already found and not made by me. Pretty odd.

On the lower rear side there isn't anything important at all because the Speaker is positioned on the lower side of the device.

Device

Screen

Following the CUBOT H2 with its superb screen, also this H3 features an high-quality IPS panel with good color accuracy, proper refresh rate and decent white balance. Unfortunately the oleophobic coating isn't excellent though.

Its light sensor supports partial light changes with a maximum brightness of ~422lux, pretty good for outdoor usage.

As regards its viewing angles, there is nothing to report about, perfectly comparable to other high-quality IPS panels.

Camera

Since my camera lens is almost completely scratched, i decided to avoid to take some outdoor shots since the direct sunlight isn't the best when combined with scratches. That's a pity since the OmniVision 13MP camera sensor is able to take some pretty decent shots, at least this is what i was able to notice on other devices featuring the same sensor. Only low-light results will be considered.

As expected from a Single-LED flashlight, the amount of light provided to the sensor isn't really high, so the camera sensor might struggle slightly in low-light conditions.

Even with the low-end MT6737 SOC, this device is able to record 100% smooth videos at 720p25 (probably 720p30 max) with no stutters or lags, and the quality is also pretty good. Impressive.

Photos taken using the front camera are just sufficient, the GalaxyCore GC5024 5MP camera sensor can't do miracles in taking better shots. It is still a 5MP camera sensor.

Audio

Audio Quality is disappointing unfortunately, since the speaker is pretty quiet and lacks mid/low frequencies, plus the Earpiece sounds treble boosted and under-powered. Not the best for voice calls in loud environments.

Luckily the Microphone is fine, pretty average and with no issues to report.

GPS

The GPS works as bad/good as most other devices without GLONASS support, high accuracy outdoors.

Indoors on the left, outdoors on the right.

Telephony, Mobile Network & WiFi

The device comes with full support for European 4G Networks and the antenna, even if the signal is a bit low, is able to provide an excellent data reception with high speeds, even higher than my Redmi Note 4 somehow O_o

As regards the WiFi hardware, it works great even if it doesn't support 5.0GHz networks, reaching almost 48Mbps in download on my 70Mbps VDSL connection, a result that, at least from smartphones, is almost impossible to reach. Well Done CUBOT!

Battery Life

Even though the device is declared to feature a 6000mAh battery, i can't confirm it. Using my USB Tester, the result obtained of ~5492mAh means that ~500mAh of capacity is missing. Weird, especially considering that all CUBOT devices i tested in the past never faced such a serious issue with battery capacity. I may open the device later and check the battery label to be sure.

Running the usual PCMark Battery Test (with WiFi on, Sync on, Airplane Mode off), the result of 18 hours and 23 minutes is quite acceptable for such a large battery, wouldn't have expected a worse result.

This is where CUBOT, just like what happened with another battery phone reviewed recently, made a big mistake in my opinion, since, with such a large battery, they should have provided a Quick Charge (aka MTK Pump Express) charger and not a standard 5V/2A one. As a result, it takes quite a long time to fully charge the battery, more than 3 hours.

Software

Just like most CUBOT devices, and unlike the H2 that was slightly customized, also this one comes with a fully clean Mediatek distribution of Android Nougat 7.0 with September's Security Patches (not the latest, but can be updated with an OTA update). There is no bloatware at all, but there is something funny that i guess has been added by mistake: Power-Saving Mode app! I don't get why, on a battery phone, you would need something like this...

Anyway, the OS runs smooth enough considering the low-end SOC, and there are no customizations at all.

Mediatek Features like MiraVision, Gestures and so on are present.

No Magnetometer/Compass and Gyroscope are here unfortunately.

No malwares detected with Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus using latest definitions. I am testing this new software instead of MalwareBytes just to see which one is more accurate.

It is nice to see the addition of a fingerprint scanner, not present on the H2, and it works reasonably well, not super-fast (takes a while to recognize the finger) but at least it is accurate.

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