yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[General Questions and Answers] Cobus089:
Cubot, if you read us : please make a smaller phone with the same screen.

100 * 52 mm with the same screen should be within reach.

You could even make a smaller phone if you use a screen with round corners.

People who buy 4 inch phones do so because they want a small phone body ; not for the "pleasure" of a small screen. But in the actual lineup, the smaller the phone is, the bigger the borders (and the worse the screen to body ratio) are ! :mad:

Cobus.
[General Questions and Answers] Cobus089:
The Cubot Pocket is powered by a Unisoc Tiger T310.

According to CPUbenchmark the T310 should be roughly twice as powerful as the Mediatek MT6761 (what variant ?) that powers the KKM and KKM2.

It has the same ranking as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 that powers the Rakuten Mini released in January 2020. :-(
[General Questions and Answers] Md652:
Today they released rum stock including instructions and tools
[General Questions and Answers] Md652:
I believe they will talk more about this device, bought from it in the last day more than 350 pieces which is a lot compared to Chinese devices
[General Questions and Answers] badcodelab:
there are some brief unboxings and reviews on youtube
[General Questions and Answers] OldNoobOne:
shamshung Z-flip?
[General Questions and Answers] badcodelab:
what about installing gsi custom rom on cubot pocket with tiger t310?
[General Questions and Answers] Md652:
It is not yet clear but apparently there will be a possibility (not sure)

I believe that many will check it out, still ordered about 900 on the days of the sale !! Devices that are very much relative to the type of device
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
Hey guys.

My favourite ever phone was the original Moto X and I've always wanted to go back to a modern small Android phone. So I've picked up the Pocket from Amazon UK for £105.

I'll update this thread on my thoughts about the phone in due course.

I hope it's popular and gets some development from the community.
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
I decided against buying the Pocket. After using my Moto X for 5 minutes again after many years I think the pocket would be too tiny for me. I don't think my eyes could read the tiny txt!
[General Questions and Answers] landsome:
If you can find a good offer and can afford it, get a Balmuda Phone. I got one for around 500 usd. Even better than the Moto X in hand.

Big screen for the size (123mm height, 16:9). All works well. And works with basically every gcam mod out there (tried about 15). Tinny speaker on the back, but that's basically my only hw-related reproach; other than the price and no support (but I've got two updates already, latest one with April security).

Below, the Balmuda next to the Moto G (identical to the Moto X shapewise), Sony XZ2 Compact and Pixel 4a. (I had a Cubot KKM as well - besides an Unihertz Atom L and Jelly 2; interesting phones, but no comparison whatsoever.)
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
Hi.

Looks very nice but that is way more than I want to spend.

I've changed my mind and bought the Cubot pocket. I can give it a spin while my mi 11 lite 5g is behind repaired.
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
Hey me again.

I saw that phone on Youtube being reviewed by Mr Mobile. It looks pretty amazing and your right - a perfect modern replacement for the Moto X. I may keep a saved search on ebay and see if one comes up 2nd hand sometime. How are the company for updates?

But for now I am going to try the Cubot Pocket!

Maybe one day I can aspire to the Balmuda phone!
[General Questions and Answers] landsome:
Hard to say what will happen to the phone long-term. It's made by Kyocera, so it has an experienced smartphone manufacturer. Supposedly it was never put on the Japanese market (there was some RF misunderstanding), as originally planned (JP exclusive). But there are many branded SoftBank (Japanese telecom & co. company) pieces available on ebay and elsewhere. (With bloatware that can be uninstalled or disabled.)

In short, I don't expect anything in terms of updates, though, as I said, I already got two. But I am satisfied with Android 11 without security or updates if the phone works OK - and it does. I clearly prefer it over my XZ1c and XZ2c, and I even find it better ergonomically than my old Moto G, which I would not have thought possible.

I don't think I would have kept it if gcam hadn't worked, as the default camera takes very poor pics, but it has a vast selection of gcam options and it really works OK (considering).

Good luck with the Pocket. I liked the KKM, and this seems like a definite improvement over it (aesthetically as well), so it will not be a bad solution. (The screen was a bit too small for me, though ultimately adequate.)

UPDATE: One more thing. Significantly - for Europeans like me -, the Balmuda Phone lacks the LTE 20 band. It's not awful, but you can feel it, so to speak.

UPDATE 2: Writing this in February 2023. Ever since it was released the Balmuda (SoftBank) has been updated regularly every 2 months, almost to the day. It also got one major Android version release (to A12). I've seen this pattern with another small Japanese phone I own, the Rakuten Hand. Over a period of around 2 years it has been updated religiously every 2 months (no exception - but also no major Android update, it's still on A10).
[General Questions and Answers] landsome:
BTW, Chinahandys - a good European site for Chinese phone reviews - has a take on the Pocket: https://www.chinahandys.net/cubot-pocket-test/

I think they rate it much too conservatively (at 68) given what they gave to the KKM (82). But it's very informative and, to my mind, suggests a clearly superior phone to the older mini Cubots.
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
Hey that's a great overview of the Balmuda phone. Thanks!

I have seen one on ebay UK for £419 and it looks so nice! If I was working at the moment I would probably buy it but I have to watch the pennies. It seems to have come down a lot in 6 months. Mr Mobile said it was originally $900!

I've been buying a number of smaller phones. I tried the Honor 9. It's an all glass affair and so slippy! It is also stuck on Android 9 and has no dark mode. Even though it had a good Kirin processor it stuttered a lot. I recently bought a Samsung A20e. Its a good size but the SOC is so slow and I hate One UI. Also, there is zero development for it even though its a Qualcomm processor (most probably because Samsung gimped on the hardware). I tried the Pixel 3a but that was very slow on Android 12. So it seems we are all out of options (apart from the Balmuda!).

Thanks for showing me the website Chinahandy. I've never seen that site before and it looks right up my street. I have read the review for the Pocket and I agree with you when you say they are over critical of the phone. The notebookcheck review is a lot more fairer and that is what swung me. I think the pocket for what it is is definitely overpriced at RRP but for £105 it worth a spin. When I get it I will update the thread .

Cheers.
[General Questions and Answers] badcodelab:
here is a quite fair video review of pocket and even with disassembling

i bought mine for $100 and after kkm2 i think it worth it 100%

not a huge difference but enough for daily usage with no suffer

in addition despite of official cubot's specs pocket is thicker than kkm2
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
Hi.

How does it feel in the hand? It looks pretty thick but width-wise it seems quite narrow. It it was wider I could see the thickness being an issue but hopefully that is not the case?
[General Questions and Answers] badcodelab:
yes, it's thicker and wider but still sits well in the hand, also it feels lighter

if you want to use protect case then to me it adds too much width and thickness
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
Yeah I'm not going to use the case. Cheers.
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
How do everyday apps run like ebay, twitter, Google maps etc? The SOC looks quite interesting as it has an A75 single core for heavy duty stuff. Usually you just see 4 x A55 in this price segment.

Also, do you know if it has aptX HD codec?

CHeers.
[General Questions and Answers] badcodelab:
everything works smoothly and faster up 2 times comparing to kkm2

however don't expect too much from an old budget soc but it does the job well enough

battery life is up 2 days of normal usage

weak part is gps/antenna, kkm2 gets stronger signal and sees more satellites in the same place (indoor)

and camera is just slightly better than kkm's one

as far as i know aptx hd is qualcomm specific technology
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
Thanks for that. Much appreciated.

Last question. Do you know if there is a gcam app for the phone?
[General Questions and Answers] badcodelab:
i've tried several v7-v8 builds but no luck

camera go works without hdr and night mode only
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
Hi bud,

Thanks for your answers. I've actually cancelled the phone again. I'm not sure if it's for me as it's been ages since I had a small phone. I've been messing around with my old Moto X today and it feels a little weird compared to my Mi 11 lite 5G. I'm going to mull over it a little more.

Thanks for your help.
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
@badcodelab

@landsome

Hi.

Have either of you two guys tried the Jelly 2?
[General Questions and Answers] landsome:
I have. Screen too small. Fingerprint reader very unreliable. 5G wifi somewhat unreliable. Poor cameras. Very cute. Very nice in pocket. Plenty fast. Still preferred kkm.
[General Questions and Answers] badcodelab:
not me, but i have palm pvg100 - too small and battery life sucks

you may check balmuda, mode1 grip or rakuten hand (all 3 japanise)
[General Questions and Answers] c_tho:
mine arrived today. paid 173 australian (~120 USD), took about 3 weeks to arrive. couple of initial impressions:

performance is just OK, bit jittery/laggy in places

feels great in the hand, reminiscent of my old xperia xz1 compact

screen looks good although the black is predictably grey

good stock android experience, face unlock is good

typing is surprisingly easy imo, i too tried the jelly 2 and found nice but a bit too small

bluetooth is good, data speeds seem fine for my needs

camera drops off v quickly with less light

i'm someone who has been pining for a nice small phone for years and also is looking to limit their screen time. all i need my phone for is to play music/podcasts, take notes/keep lists, send messages and use maps. that said, i did a bit of a netflix before and it seems a fine size for watching videos (probably wouldn't watch "the northman" or whatever on it).

here it is set up with niagara launcher.
[General Questions and Answers] landsome:
Thanks. Seems as expected. How is battery life?
[General Questions and Answers] kkm6761:
Not getting Cubot Pocket. Will wait for Cubot KKM2 Pro.

But I'll continue using my iPhone SE (2017) when I repair its screen and put it in an iPhone 5C frame (meanwhile using Curbot KKM1 with LineageOS 19 - Android 12 based). I have to repair my Pixel 3a screen with GrapheneOS that I'll use as a development phone next.

Ultimately I'll try to grab an iPhone13 Mini when the iPhone 14 come, hopefully price goes down, because I am not sure next iPhone SE will be based on iPhone 13 Mini.

Mode1 JP is interesting. Thanks for the info. It is as tall as iPhone 6/7/8, but slightly narrower than iPhone 5.
[General Questions and Answers] kkm6761:
I did not know there was a Xiaomi QIN 2 Pro with 5 inch screen size, 132 mm tall (shorter than iPhone 6/7/8, taller than iPhone 5, about same size as iPhone 12/13 mini) and 55 mm narrow (narrower than iPhone 5 and Cubot KKM/Pocket). It also is only 8.5 mm thick.

Xiaomi QIN 2 Pro - Specifications

Specifications of the Xiaomi QIN 2 Pro. Dimensions: 55.4 x 132.6 x 8.5 mm, Weight: 105 g, SoC: Unisoc SC9863A, CPU: 4x 1.6 GHz ARM Cortex-A55, 4x 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A55, GPU: PowerVR GE8322 / IMG8322, 550 MHz, RAM: 2 GB, 1600 MHz, Storage: 32 GB, Display: 5.05 in, IPS, 576 x 1440 pixels, 24 bit...

www.devicespecifications.com

I'll try to get it if I can find one.

My modified KKM has a size of 116x55 mm. Could not modify thickness.
[General Questions and Answers] c_tho:
too soon to say, will keep you posted.
[General Questions and Answers] Cobus089:
Any chance to see your modifications (in the KKM thread or elsewhere) ?
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
Hey all.

I picked up a Cubot Pocket as well. I'm liking it. The screen size takes some getting used to coming from 6.5 incher. The screen quality is pretty good. The colours and contrast fine. The blacks are pretty good for such a cheap phone. It's also sharp enough. Battery life is pretty amazing for the size. You could easy get two days with low usage. Performance is good and more snappy than I was expecting. The vibration is garbage but what do you expect for the price. The software is stock (which I much prefer to stuff like MIUI or One UI).

Now when I got the phone I loaded it with all the apps my Mi 11 lite 5G had on it but I am not sure this is the way to go on this device. I'm thinking of resetting it again and just stick to the bare minimum of apps and possible get a minimal launcher like @c_tho uses (if you could give me some tips to set-up Niagara Launcher I'd be grateful!).

It runs pretty well loaded up with apps but maybe it would be better less. I'm going to try it and see.

Now some issues. I seem to be getting some garbled distortion when I ring a number. It always happens on the third ring onwards, which seems pretty weird, so I am not sure if it is a firmware issue or a hardware issue. I should really test another network to rule the signal out. If it happens with another network sim I am going to send it back. When I ring the signal always drops from 4g to 3g. I don't know if that is what is causing the issue. I just tried NFC in a shop and it didn't work. Maybe I need the Google Wallet app open? I need to try that again.

Things to improve? I would like it lighter and slightly thinner. There seems to be a hollow sound behind the screen (edit - it's probably just the cheap glass that is making the hollow sound). Maybe they could remove this better design. I think they could shave off a bit of the battery to lower the weight. 1 day battery life would be find with me if they could get it down to 110-115g maybe. Plus it would make it thinner.

Overall its a very good phone and well worth checking out.
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
When is the KKM2 Pro being released? I think the Pocket is a better buy going by the specs. Better looks, NFC support and most probably much cheaper. The P22 in the KKM2 Pro is nothing to write home about - there are no performance cores, just A53's. I can see the KKM2 Pro being around $180 - $200. But lets see!
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
Also it has the nice Bluetooth lossless codec LDAC so FLAC sound really good with a BT amp.
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
I forgot to mention that my 400gb exFat micro SD card seems to work fine.
[General Questions and Answers] c_tho:
couple of thoughts.

charged it fully the night before last, currently at 25% with about 4 hours screen time and a bit of spotify/podcasts via bluetooth. will definitely last me two days without a charge, but i try to limit my screen time to 1-2 hours a day (and this is probably not a screen you're going to find yourself staring at for hours on end). cc landsome

this is EXTREMELY true, i have turned it off for most scenarios.

yeah this is definitely a phone i got with the intention of using it for the minimum set of things i need a phone to do. i don't use social media and try not to web browse too much, so i really need it to do those few things i listed above (and also paying via NFC is essential, i forgot that).

it's been a while since i've set up niagara from scratch but for me a few essentials are:

- hiding the status bar (Look > Hide status bar) and putting the essentials in the built-in widget (Features > Niagara widget)

- hiding alphabet list on right with Look > Hide alphabet. the alphabet pops up when you put your finger on the left or right hand side of the screen and this means of traversing the app list is super easy to get used to imo

- setting the Favourites list to a handful of apps you really need at the ready, and turning off both Features > Suggest often used apps and Features > Sort all apps list by uage

- turning off Features > Allow haptic feedback, for the aforementioned reason - traversing the apps list has a pleasing subtle vibration on a high end device and revs like a jet engine on this one

- setting the icon pack to the built-in Niagara Dots (Look > Icon pack).

slightly off-topic but i've tailored my smartphone usage a bit after reading Cal Newport's excellent book Digital Minimalism and finding i was spending a discomfiting amount of time scrolling mindlessly.

have not had this one i'm afraid, although i've only made one call. call quality seemed fine though.

i've paid with NFC a couple of times now and it worked fine, just with the phone unlocked and the wallet app closed. :/ sorry

the chunkier bezelier phone design has really grown on me over the years, i find them easier/more pleasing to hold/use than something that's all screen (coming from a pixel 4a but have used the xz1 compact and the unihertz jelly 2).

im also a bit confused about this one, it's a LOT more expensive than the pocket but still no NFC, is the processor really that much better?
[General Questions and Answers] c_tho:
in case it's of interest to anyone, i've just started a small phone subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/smallphones) since there didn't seem to be one and i know a lot of people are interested in this space.
[General Questions and Answers] landsome:
Definitely not that much better, if at all. But I doubt it will be expensive. In fact, the Cubot Pocket retained for double the current price when it was announced.
[General Questions and Answers] c_tho:
oh yeah good point, i had forgotten that the prices can be placeholders on there.
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
KKM2 Pro is on AliExpress for £191.
[General Questions and Answers] kkm6761:
If that is the KKM2 Pro, what is the other one of the first teaser in december 2021?
[General Questions and Answers] Warren_Orange:
Yes sorry I meant the KKM2P.
[General Questions and Answers] kkm6761:
Anyone planning on unlocking bootloader and rooting? There is not alot of info on Unisoc chips.

Anyway, I ordered a Xiami Qin 2 Pro. Should come at the end of August. Have not found any forum. Will create a thread when I get one.
[General Questions and Answers] Md652:
I have already unlocked the bootloader, but because every partition burn requires a matching signature in the vbmeta file, I still haven't been able to burn a boot even though I have signed the files with a matching signature
[General Questions and Answers] wori:
I started a thread for GSI flashing here

@Md652 I guess I managed to do the same things as you did

@kkm6761 notify
[General Questions and Answers] badcodelab:
sale starts in a week, i believe the price will drop down to pocket's level (~$100-$120)

but folks welcome the pocket 3

4.5'' (480*1170), 133.2x55x12.3

G85-MT6769CZ(Octa core)

6GB + 128GB, Android 11

Dual Nano SIM Card

3000mAh Undetachable battery

20MP Rear Camera, 5MP Front Camera

GPS+GLONAS+Galileo+Beidou+A-GPS

Wi-Fi 2.4G/5G, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, BT 5.0

yet nfc is absent
[General Questions and Answers] kkm6761:
d'oh!

I just ordered Qin2 Pro. But Qin 2 Pro has 5 inch screen in same body size, and is 9mm thick compared to 12.
[General Questions and Answers] landsome:
I cannot find it on the site as such. The page seems a sort of stub.
[General Questions and Answers] landsome:
Please Do tell what it's like.

I decided to get one of the alternatives, the Rakuten Hand, mostly for the processor (SD720G). Though a bit too tall and in need of an esim, it's quite good. And I love that it works with almost any recent version of GCam. No SD, though.
[General Questions and Answers] c_tho:
heads up for the people who have purchased that there is a software update downloadable from the cubot site:

https://www.cubot.net/platform/Forum/detail1/id/149.html

not sure if they do OTAs? but i'm installing and will report back
[General Questions and Answers] badcodelab:
yep, they always do like that - post a draft page before even announcement

and some specs could change of course

but it also get listed at support page

no ota so far, please post if you manage to update without losing user data

you can find some reviews on youtube
[General Questions and Answers] c_tho:
k so, updated last night. @badcodelab i most certainly did not not lose my data. oh well, i had most everything backed up/on an sd card.

i have not noticed any differences tbh. as it stands i have three bugs:

1. phone randomly wakes up with a buzz while i am holding it and it's locked. this happens constantly on the bus, maybe every 30 seconds-1 minute. no combination of unlock settings seems to help. the phone doesn't unlock, just wakes to lock screen + vibrates. annoying.

2. double tapping power for camera doesn't work while the phone is unlocked, only when locked.

3. notifications don't show on lock screen when face unlock is enabled. i've had to disable it because i can't see spotify controls on lock screen with it on.

will chime in if i notice anything else, and hmu if you want me to check anything specific.
[General Questions and Answers] badcodelab:
@c_tho 2-3 same for me

for 3 you can keep face unlock but disable "skip lock screen"

as for the 1st i've read about similar issue from 1 guy

have you tried enable/disable features in settings > system > gestures > smart things?
[General Questions and Answers] c_tho:
tried every combination of the gesture stuff on and off and nothing seems to stop it i'm afraid. thanks for the suggestion tho.
[General Questions and Answers] gmag11:
Hi, I've bought one Pocket Mini just a couple weeks ago. Overall it works fine, but I'm not receiving calls when screen has been off for a while. It's like energy management stops cellular radio and detaches network.

I've tried to do a factory reset and configure from scratch. I've installed any additional app. Just configured Google account.

It has latest firmware from 26th july.

I've tested with two sim cards from different operators.

Has any one got the same behavior?

EDIT: I returned it to Amazon and ordered a new one. This seems to behave correctly.
[General Questions and Answers] badcodelab:
btw i've got this update by air a few days ago

also some other folks noticed better touch screen work
[General Questions and Answers] Hampa_D:
Had this phone since release, (up)graded from a Unihertz jelly 2, I must say that the pocket is my perfect size. Got a Ota yesterday no issues and haven't noticed any fixes, at least for the issues I have.

Cubot keeps closing my preferred alarm app, AMdroid, kinda big deal. I've disabled everything I can find related to battery optimization, don'tkillmyapp, tried to lock it in recent, tried to adjust the amount of background processes in dev options, only way I've got it sorta working is manually killing all apps and with tasker start AMdroid when I connect my charger when going to bed but even then it has missed a couple of times.

Then there's bitwarden that keeps getting disabled as a autofill service.

Apps like telegram, fairmail, signal, works like a charm. Annoying as hell.