Cubot TAB 10 Review

The Cubot TAB 10 is, currently, the first and only tablet by the brand. The device offers a big display and battery which makes it suitable for home entertainment, remote learning, and video conferencing. With 4G LTE connectivity and satellite positioning, it is also a convenient tool while on the road. The OTG support also ensures you can use the tablet as a power bank to charge your mobile.

Specifications overview and what's in the box

The Cubot TAB 10 is built around a 10.1-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1980 x 1200 pixels. A 6000 mAh battery powers the device and arrives with a 5V/2A fast charger. Processing power is based on a Unisoc SC9863A chipset that ticks under the hood. This dated 28nm chipset houses a 1.6GHz octa-core CPU with four 1.6GHz Cortex-A55 cores and another quartet of those but clocked at 1.2GHz. An IMG PowerVR GE8322 GPU is responsible for the graphics department. There are 4GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage. There's a dedicated microSD card slot if you need memory expansion. The camera department is simple and comprises a 12MP main shooter with an f/2.0 aperture and a 5MP selfie snapper with an f/2.4 aperture. The Cubot TAB 10 is equipped with a USB Type-C 2.0 port with OTG support, a 3.5 mm jack, a slot for a Micro-SIM card, and one for a microSD card. The TAB 10 supports 4G LTE, single-band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS and GLONASS. The tablet is equipped with dual mono speakers positioned on the left and the right sides if hold the tablet in landscape position. As long as it concerns the sensors, the model has an accelerometer and what Cubot calls a 3D sensor. The complete Cubot TAB 10 specifications can be found here. The Cubot TAB 10 is placed in a big white rectangular box. There's a photo of the product with the brand and model names imprinted on the lid. The tablet arrives with a book-style cover placed on it. The cover can also serve as a stand. The Cubot TAB 10 is accompanied by a number of other accessories including:

• 10W charger
• USB-C cable
• In-ear headphones
• OTG cable
• Documentation

Design overview

The Cubot TAB 10 has a classic tablet design. The body is available in color only - gray. The rear shell and frame are made of plastic. The width, height, and thickness of the device are average for tablets with 10.1-inch displays and 6000+ mAh batteries. Namely, it is 243.5 mm wide, 164 mm high, and 8.8 mm thick. However, this is the heaviest tablet in this size class with a weight of 570 grams. The front of the device is covered with 2.5D curved glass. The bezels on all four sides of the display are 1.1 cm thick. The device is intended for use in a landscape position. And that's how we will also describe the various controls. The top bezel (horizontal) houses the 5MP selfie camera. The navigation bar is onscreen only but you can also switch to gesture navigation. The top frame houses a microphone hole, the USB Type-C port, the microSD card slot and the SIM card slot both covered with a protective cap. The left frame is the home of the left speaker and the right frame - of the right one. The latter is accompanied by the Volume and Power buttons plus another microphone hole. The bottom frame is bare. There's no earpiece.

Display

The Cubot TAB 10 has a 10.1-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. The Display settings allow you to adjust the brightness level, switch on/off the Dark Theme, the Night Light, choose font size and display size, and the lock screen options. In addition, you can choose from three types of contrast and three types of color temperature. The maximum brightness of the display is 420.853 cd/m² measured on a fully white screen. Below you will find our usual measurements of the white and black luminance, static contrast ratio, and color temperature of the display taken twice - on a single frame that displays 50% white and 50% black and on two separate frames displaying a fully white and a fully black screen.

A single frame, 50% white / 50% black

Brightness	White luminance	Black luminance	Contrast	Color temperature
100 %	412.098 cd/m2	0.353 cd/m2	11167 : 1	8179 K
0 %	8.877 cd/m2	0.009 cd/m2	986 : 1	8227 K

Two separate black and white frames

Brightness	White luminance	Black luminance	Contrast	Color temperature
100 %	420.853 cd/m2	0.378 cd/m2	1113 : 1	8352 K
0 %	8.995 cd/m2	0.009 cd/m2	999 : 1	8486 K

The white and black luminance of the display measured on two separate white and black frames is only slightly higher than the white and black luminance measured on one screen that shows 50% white and 50% black. The maximum brightness on a 100% white screen is 420.853 cd/m² and on a 50% white screen is 412.098 cd/m². The contrast ratio achieved by both types of measurements does not differ and is around 1000:1. The temperature of the white point is around 8200-8400 K.

Position	Left	Center	Right
Top	405.527 cd/m2 / 8217 K	391.056 cd/m2 / 8362 K	365.944 cd/m2 / 8268 K
Center	432.961 cd/m2 / 8195 K	427.032 cd/m2 / 8225 K	379.909 cd/m2 / 8237 K
Bottom	427.870 cd/m2 / 7993 K	417.254 cd/m2 / 8013 K	415.255 cd/m2 / 8054 K

Our brightness uniformity measurement shows that the display is not uniformly bright. The top one-third is the least bright with white luminance levels at an average of 390 cd/m². The mid-one-third and the bottom one show the highest white luminance levels at an average of 415-420 cd/m². The temperature of the white point stays at around 8200 K across on the top and middle one-third, while the bottom one's is around 8000 K. The CIE diagram shows a color space coverage that's lower than 100% sRGB. The display panel has a traditional vertical striped RGB subpixel arrangement.

Software and connectivity

The Cubot TAB 10 runs on stock Android 11 with all the usual features. Auto-screen rotation is supported but the software is optimized for using the device in landscape mode, hence some apps may be slower to switch to portrait mode and some do not support portrait mode entirely. The Task Manager tiles the apps horizontally with options for entering split-screen, mode, locking/unlocking the app, and accessing its info. The Widgets menu offers additional Home Screen settings with notification dots, Google Discover and At A Glance toggle, app grid, etc. The Settings are classic and include all Android 11 features. The tablet arrives with a standard set of Google apps and the default Android ones. The first group includes Assistant, Calendar, Chrome, Drive, Duo, Files, Gmail, Google App, Maps, Note, Photos, Play Store, YouTube, and YT Music. The standard Android apps include Calculator, Camera, Clock, Contacts, Messenger, Phone, Sound Recorder. The wireless connectivity options of the model include single-band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.2. The tablet also arrives with a slot for a Micro-SIM card that supports the following networks bands: 2G GSM (B2, B3, B5, B8), 3G W-CDMA (B1, B8), 4G LTE (B1, B3, B7, B8, B20). Please note, the device does not have an earpiece and all calls are handled via the speakers, so expect no privacy. The Micro-SIM card slot is joined by an independent microSD card slot. The tablet supports SIM-free GPS and GLONASS. The model is fitted with a USB Type-C port and a 3.5 mm jack. Our review unit has managed to detect a good number from both GPS and GLONASS satellites with an accuracy of up to 4 meters.

Performance

The Cubot TAB 10 is based on a Unisoc SC9863A chipset manufactured after the 28nm process. The SoC houses an octa-core CPU comprising 4x 1.6GHz Cortex-A55 cores and 4x 1.2GHz Cortex-A55 cores. A PowerVR GE8322 GPU is responsible for the graphics department. There are 4GB of double-channel LPDDR4 RAM onboard clocked at 1600MHz and 64GB of eMMC storage onboard that can be expanded. Of those 64GB, 54GB are available to the user. The results from the benchmark tests we ran on the device demonstrate the model's performance is on par with other mobile devices based on MediaTek's Helio A25, Helio P10/P22/P23 chipsets.

Camera, photo samples

The camera department of the Cubot TAB 10 is simple and comprises a 12MP main shooter with an f/2.0 aperture and a 5MP selfie snapper with an f/2.4 aperture. Here are some photo samples from the rear camera:

Battery

The Cubot TAB 10 is equipped with a 6000 mAh battery paired with a 5V/2A charger. All battery tests we run on the devices we review are developed by us and performed with the screen of the device being calibrated to 200 cd/m². Battery-saving features are disabled. With the provided USB cable and charger, our review unit charged in full for 3 hours and 56 minutes. The process starts slowly with the battery regaining 3% from its charge in 10 minutes. After that, the process speeds up and maintains a steady pace until the battery regains 99% of its charge - that's upon completion of the third hour. The last 56 minutes are needed for the battery to charge the last 1% until 100%. The battery temperature starts at 29°C and increases to 30°C in a couple of minutes and stays at this level for the next 3 hours. After that, it begins to decrease, measuring 26°C in the end. Our intensive browsing test showed that the battery drains completely in 7 hours and 49 minutes. During the first half an hour, the discharging process is slow. After that, it speeds up and maintains a steady pace for the next 6 hours and a half. The last 49 minutes of the process are slow again. The battery temperature starts at 27°C and gradually increases to 33°C 45 minutes from the start. It remains at this level until the end with minor fluctuations. The video test for battery life uses a 1080p video at 30 fps with a ~20Mbps rate. In this test, the battery of the Cubot TAB 10 lasted for 7 hours and 47 minutes. The discharging process during this test showed a strange curve. It begins slowly for the first 20 minutes. However, during the next 10 minutes, the battery loses 13% of its charge drawing a steep line downwards. Finally, the process regains a steady normal speed which is maintained until the battery drops to 3%. The last 47 minutes of the process are slow again. The battery temperature measures 31°C from the start until the end.

Battery management

The Battery menu contains the traditional Android 11 features for battery management. However, Cubot has added some more, in order to ensure that you will have enough battery life. You get the traditional Battery Saver, Battery Manager, and Battery Percentage toggle with some battery usage data. Cubot has also added an Ultra Saving Mode plus various features that optimize power usage by apps.