CUBOT X17 REVIEW

Cubot will be an unfamiliar brand to most phone buyers in the UK. It’s a Chinese company which is working hard to expand its reach into the UK. This model is a budget phone with a 5in, 1080p screen, 4G support and – on paper at least – some other tempting specifications. Should it be your next upgrade? Read our Cubot X17 review to find out.

CUBOT X17 REVIEW: PRICE

At £124.99 from Amazon, the X17 isn’t the cheapest phone you can buy, and there’s competition from better-known brands such as Vodafone with its similarly priced Smart Ultra 6. You can buy the Ultra 6 from Amazon for £115, but it's locked to Vodafone - a dealbreaker for some.
There’s also the Cubot P12, which costs £74.89 from Amazon. It’s surprisingly similar to the X17, but lacks 4G and has only a 720p screen. If you can handle those compromises, it’s a decent saving. Confusingly, there's also an X16 which seems identical to the X17 - the difference is that it has 2GB of RAM compared to the 3G in the X17.

CUBOT X17 REVIEW: DESIGN AND BUILD

From a distance, the X17 looks like a sleek, stylish phone. Look more closely and you’ll see that although it has a metal frame, the white plastic extends above and below it a little like the old iPhone 4 design.
Fit and finish are in keeping with the price: decent, but not up to the quality of flagship phones. The glass curves into the plastic edging (Cubot calls this 2.5D) and the side bezels are as thin as the Huawei Mate 8, giving a more premium look.