Cube U63 review

If you are looking for a basic tablet that suits your basic needs, priced at a decent range then you should consider the Cube U63, and affordable low-end Tablet with some additional features that turn it into an interesting choice among the market of Phablet devices. The U63 by Cube is, in fact, a Phablet, in other words, a tablet that features mobile network connectivity, which is becoming quickly a well-established trend, since the concept of a device that loses most of it features when isn´t connected to Wi-Fi is passing to better life for good.

The Cube U63 offers decent specifications, good looking design, wide 9.6-inch screen, the standard features of the current Android devices and a great quality-price comparison. This tablet provides an excellent performance in everyday apps, which is achieved thanks to the MTK6580 chipset that can also deliver quality visuals for mainstream activities. Is worth mentioning that the U63 features 3G connectivity which is a well-received function in a device such as this.

Display and design:

The Cube U63 offers an IPS capacitive screen with 9.6” inch size and a 1280*800 HD resolution, which for the price is really decent and generous. The external design is slim and elegant, on the front section you’ll find above the screen a frontal 0.3 MP camera, in the right side the On/Off button can be found, alongside the volume button, a built-in microphone and the standard 3.5 mm Jack output. In the inferior side, a standard OTG Micro-Usb input can be located.

Regarding the body of this tablet, the size dimensions are the following: 8.94 x 6.34 x 0.35 inches and the weight is about a 0.482 Kilograms.  The external cover is made out of plastic and looks average, although is aesthetically pleasing when you laid your eyes on it.

It’s important to point out that the only color presentation available is white.

CPU and graphic processing unit:

The Cube U63´s heart is an MTK6580 SoC (system on a chip) that features a quad-core processor running at 1.4 GHz of clock frequency, which is a CPU commonly featured in low to mid end smartphones, but is powerful enough to deliver smooth performance in basic and common apps. If you are planning on running highly CPU intensive tasks then perhaps you should look elsewhere because the benchmarks for this CPU are average within the least.

When it comes to GPU the ARM® Mali™-400MP2 graphics on board are low-end, but that doesn’t mean that visual experience will be awful or something close to it, actually you can expect smooth performance while browsing the interface, watching HD movies, videos or pictures, and of course during most apps, but the highly GPU intensive apps or tasks can give this basic built a hard time that can result in a not too pleasant visual experience, so think it twice before trying to run the latest video games for instance.

By any means, this SOC guarantees flawless performance in everything, but if you are thinking only of normal activities such as web browsing, media playback, everyday apps or games then you are good to go and there is nothing to be afraid of.

Memory:

Regarding the memory built into the Cube U63 we have some mix feelings, firstly there is only 1GB of ram which is not that great for multitasking and is large spread fault that affects a wide variety of devices from low to mid end, phones and tablets alike. Manufacturers need to start featuring at least 2GB of ram as soon as possible, technology advances to a fast pace rate, for such reason the requirements for Apps quickly increase, in no time just 1 GB Ram will fall short, but for the moment this amount shall be enough for your everyday apps.

The storage is a different story, it comes with 16 GB Rom, which is quite good. Of course, a slight amount is reserved for system data but the remaining Gigabytes will be enough for a while. Also, the storage can be expanded up to 32 GB through a Micro-SD card for which a slot is available.

Os and Software:

The Cube U63 features Android 5.1 Lollipop with that in mind you already know what to expect, from web surfing to social media and thousands and thousands of Apps for you to download.

Camera:

The U63 Phablet features two low-resolution cameras, one 0.3Mp front camera, and a 2.0Mp rear camera. Needless to say, that both cameras are really low-end, but you get what you pay for.

Battery:

The battery that powers up the tablet has a 4500mAh capacity. For a device with a screen such as this the battery falls short, although the length depends mostly on the usage, we felt that this feature could have been better.

Specifications:

Basic Information	Brand: Cube Type: Phablet OS: Android 5.1 CPU Brand: MTK CPU: MTK6580 GPU: Mali-400 MP Core: 1.3GHz,Quad Core
Storage	RAM: 1GB ROM: 16GB External Memory: TF card up to 32GB (not included)
Network	Support Network: 2G,Built-in 3G,WiFi WIFI: 802.11b/g/n wireless internet Network type: GSM+WCDMA Frequency: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz WCDMA 2100MHz 3G: Built in 3G (WCDMA) GPS: Yes Bluetooth: Yes
Display	Screen type: Capacitive, IPS. Screen size: 9.6 inch Screen resolution: 1280 x 800
Camera	Camera type: Dual cameras (one front one back) Back camera: 2.0MP Front camera: 0.3MP
Connectivity	SIM Card Slot: Dual SIM, Standby mode: Yes (2 x SIM Card Slot) TF card slot: Yes Micro USB Slot: Yes 3.5mm Headphone Jack: Yes
General	Battery Capacity(mAh): 4.35V / 4500mAh AC adapter: 100-240V 5V 2A G-sensor: Supported Skype: Supported YouTube: Supported Speaker: Supported MIC: Supported Google Play Store: Supported Notification LED: Supported
Media Formats	Picture format: BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG, PNG Music format: MP3, WAV, WMA Video format: MP4 E-book format: PDF, TXT, Word.
Languages	Pre-installed Language: Android OS supports multi-language
Additional Features	Additional Features: 3G,Bluetooth,GPS,Gravity Sensing System,MP3,MP4,Phone, Video Call, Wi-Fi.
Dimensions	Product size: 22.70 x 16.10 x 0.88 cm / 8.94 x 6.34 x 0.35 inches Package size: 30.00 x 22.00 x 5.00 cm / 11.81 x 8.66 x 1.97 inches Product weight: 0.482 kg Package weight: 0.880 kg
Package Contents	Tablet PC: 1 User Manual (Chinese – English): 1

Review:

The Cube U63 is an affordable Phablet with pretty much standard features, good looking design, and generous screen size, but that’s pretty much all there is to say about the good aspects of this device. The CPU and GPU are just correct and the performance is average but not bad at all. When it comes to memory this could have been better, 1 GB ram is not that great for multitasking and the 16GB Rom memory is considerable but doesn´t stand out way too much. In the downside the quality of both cameras is poor and the battery lifespan falls rather short for long periods of use.

In conclusion, if you need a basic and standard Phablet with a great quality-price comparison for your daily needs or activities then take a look at the Cube U63, but if you are a really demanding user who requires high performance or multitasking in every app then this is definitely not the handheld device meant for you.