Conclusion

This isn’t a phone for us. It’s not designed for geeks craving the fastest processors, loads of RAM and fast storage. This is a device for people who want a stylish, thin phone with a good camera, but don’t want to spend a fortune on it, and don’t want to be locked into a two-year contract.

While it might not be a design for enthusiasts, it appeals to a much wider audience and that’s the whole point. We always like to hear what our non-geeky friends think about the gadgets we review, and no, they are not impressed by the same stuff we are. They don’t care about eMMC 5.0, high-end GPU performance, oversized batteries, fingerprint scanners and so on. They just want a good looking device that performs well, and we feel Cubot managed to hit the sweet spot with the X16. Most people we showed it to mistook it for a $300 to $500 device, and when they heard how much it actually costs, some even offered to buy it off us.

But here’s the problem: The average user doesn’t look at alternative brands and can’t be bothered researching and reading tonnes of reviews to make sense of everything. We received the review sample from Banggood, which currently sells it for $155 from EU stock (that means no customs and VAT expenses for EU-based consumers). Cubot and various resellers are trying to promote the X16, and the Cubot X17, which is a somewhat pricier version with more RAM and a metal back. Trouble is, the average consumer doesn’t know phones like this are even out there, and the average consumer doesn’t read tech sites and review. Their loss.

Bottom line: The Cubot X16 is an affordable mainstream phone that looks and feels like a premium device. It may not feature cutting edge silicon, but it’s a nice little phone on so many levels. For geeks, it could work as a nice secondary device, but not a daily driver. However, tech enthusiasts also buy stuff for their kids, spouses, parents and so on. Judging by the positive comments we got from our non-geek friends and family, the Cubot X16 could make a great festive season present for a loved one (actually, this is probably the fate of this particular review sample).

Cubot X16 Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Sleek, ultrathin design
• Good build quality and above average finish
• Fairly good camera (for such a thin device)
• Good battery life in moderate use scenarios

Cons:

• Limited sensor suite
• Performance affected by eMMC 4.5 storage
• HDR mode is too slow