Camera, Display and Audio Quality

The Cubot X17 uses a JDI 5-inch 1080p IPS display and it delivers good results. This same panel is apparently used on a range of various devices and there’s no room for complaints.

Display quality is above average for a phone in this price bracket. The addition of MediaTek MiraVision allows users to tweak a number of crucial display settings, but to be honest, display quality is a nonissue even on default settings.

Like the X16, the X17 has a small rear-facing speaker. It’s underpowered and sound quality is not that good, but it’s good enough for the occasional speaker call.

The microphone is located at the front, which is not uncommon on ultrathin phones. There’s no noise cancelling microphone, but call quality is good nonetheless. Audio output via the 3.5mm jack is good.

In our Cubot X16 review, we noted that many thin phones have subpar camera optics, but Cubot appears to be an exception. Somehow the engineers managed to squeeze in a decent sensor behind some relatively good optics.

Camera quality is impressive for such a thin and cheap phone. The rear camera beats most 13-megapixel units we had a chance to test on competing phones, although it still falls short of most big-brand devices with the same megapixel count. The front camera is just as good, and boasts a wide field of view.

Most sample images we took were properly exposed and focused. Focus can be a bit sluggish in low-light situations, and the stock camera app could have been faster.

The Cubot X16 exhibited similar behaviour, but it was noticeably worse in HDR. With the X17, Cubot obviously tweaked the HDR mode, making it a lot more useful. There’s still some ghosting, but it’s much better than on the X16.

Indoor results were good, especially in daylight.

As far as night photography goes, the phone’s slow aperture does not help. On top of that, the shots can end up under-exposed. Anyway, we still managed to get some relatively good results, all things considered.

Overall, both the Cubot X16 and X17 have above average cameras for their price range, and the X17 has a much better HDR mode. Considering the price, you get pretty capable cameras.