Cubot GT99, review of this great phone

cubot-gt99-english

Ordering, Banggood

I ordered mine Cubot GT99 on 19. July from Banggood for 137.99$ (with a -$10 coupon which I can share in comments).  Current price is a little higher, around 150$.

Specifications of phone

Before ordering I knew nothing other than that what was written on paper, not any reviews or there was review which say “everything is fine with Cubot”. This is an Android phone with a 1.2Ghz quad-core processor, hardware is from Mediatek-MTK6589, and graphics processor is strong PowerVR SGX544. 1GB of RAM ensures fluid operation in Android 4.2.1 which comes with the device. It has two cameras, front 5Mpx and rear of 12Mpx. Works on all GSM/2G frequencies while 3G is working only on European 2100MHz. Only one SIM slot is working on GSM and 3G and other one is only 2G/GSM. IPS screen is quite large, with outstanding resolution of 1280x720p. The screen size of 4.5 inches is just right. If it was more I wouldn’t  like it. Mobile phones with 5 inches or more cant go in to the pocket, I think it makes no sense to buy larger devices because it is then a Tablet. While the difference from 4 inch and 4.5 are small, just a few millimeters. Believe me, at first you will think that CUBOT GT99 is large phone but after one day you will get used. There are three colors of cover which you are choosing when you buy, black, white and red. The front side is always black.

Unboxing

A mobile phone is well protected in the packaging and Cubot arrived undamaged. In package is phone, battery, power adapter, USB cable and headset. Although the cell phone is black, all accessories is white. Placing 2200mAh battery in the device and placing the cover I became convinced that the case does not creak, leaves no cheap feel and it seems to be very good quality.

Mjehurić

“Little bubble”

I must mention that phone might slightly slip from sweaty hand because of the smooth plastic and it is better to keep it in the protective case which came with the phone. After pressing power button phone is ready to use after about 15 seconds. While starting there is annoying white background and animated text Cubot and irritating sound.

Unfortunately, someone in China or Sweden has done horrible job when it applied screen protective and left me big air bubble. By mistake I left my phone in car for couple of hours and when I came back I noticed that the bubbles are gone. There, problem was solved. It comes with pre-installed Google applications like Gmail, Google Play and others, and there is no unnecessary applications that require root to be removed.

Performance

Cubot GT99 as you already know have quad processor and 1Gb of RAM, but how does this look in real life? Phone is awsome in the most demanding 3D games, like the Despicable Me, CSR Racing, Temple Run 2 etc…

Antutu benchmark

Antutu benchmark

Quadrant benchmark

Quadrant benchmark

Opening all applications is quick, there is no freezes. Screen precisely accepts commands and response is excellent, even if you slightly touch response is there even with protective screen. Some benchmark results are on photos.  Antutu score on the stock Android is around 13500, and after installing applications like Facebook and some games it is around the 13000. Here it can be compared with known branded phones in middle and high price range which cost more than $500. It’s really incredible.

Camera; photos and videos

12Mpix Canera and FullHD video is amazing. Details of the photos are stunning, the pictures aren’t blurry, the colors are there, HDR option offers even better pictures. Hand does not have primjerto be calm when you are taking a photo, 1080p video (FullHD) is the same quality, so good that at a distance of fifty yards you can see license plates on cars and you can even read the numbers on them. Video doesn’t have auto focus every few seconds that on the other Chinese phones means blur. Here it is not noticeable, and at any time in the video you can touch the screen to focus on a specific spot.

Examples of photos made with Cubot GT99:

primjer primjer primjer primjer primjer

 

 

 

HDR photos:

Cubot GT99 can shoot HDR photos that often turn out better than normal. Interestingly, it saves two versions of the images first, one that is normal exposure and the second, optimized with more exposure and combined into one. Here are examples of HDR photography and then they switched without HDR.
primjer primjer primjer primjer

 

 

Battery, screen, casing

The battery of 2200mAh brings 2 day autonomy in low usage or if you play games all day it can hold one day before charging. This is quite normal on Android devices, and this Chinese mobile phone has a better battery than the competition, which is mostly 1800mAh or less. IPS screen has a large number of colors, due to the high resolution, 720p movies are great displayed on screen, and in the sun the screen has quite visibility. Indeed, it is much better than the famous names and their screens. Disadvantage can be automatic lighting that sometimes work strange, it suddenly enhance or reduce background light and it is better to adjust manually . Due to lack of Gorilla glass, screen has a protective cover. However, if you hold your keys in pocket with the phone it will scratch your phone having a normal screen or one with Gorilla glass screen.

Calls, GPS, Wi-Fi

The device has Bluetooth that works ok, WiFi signal is compared to other phones normal, GSM reception is solid, and good GPRS/HSPA /EDGE connectivity when working on mobile network.

Preciznost

GPS Accuracy

3G is working on only one of the two SIM cards. GPS, as on all MTK phones is not the strongest side. You need to follow this tutorial, and have proper application* to set the GPS to work as it should. Once this is done, the GPS accuracy is about 4m. Navigation with latest version of CoPilot Live is good, precise. First GPS locking takes about 5 seconds, after that it wont be lost. Speed ​​in applications as well as distance traveled is real, while for sport tracking applications I still need to test phone to give reliable information. Currently there is little deviation from the real track. With further checking using several applications like RunKeeper and MyTrack I noticed deviations about 4m.  In other words, when you finish your training, you would see on Google maps that you have walked on buildings and not on the sidewalk.

Kompas

Compass

But the path is the same, it is just moved few meters in right or left sometimes. Unfortunately, this is problem on all MTK phones. But one positive thing is, judging by my compass applications that Cubot GT99 comes with a built-in compass. North varies from 20 degrees left or right, but it keeps turning to the approximate orientation, which is not ideal. Here we note that this is not a GPS compass, it is real because the GPS was turned off in the settings.

Screenshot_2013-08-09-18-42-24

Calls and conversation are just fine. The other person can hear us without any problems even in full bus (tested), speakerphone for calls on the strongest setting is almost uncomfortable, you will need to move it away from the ear. Headphones are standard, they do not provide a great quality when you listen a music but the microphone on them works good on Skype.

The speaker on the back is very loud in the games even at the lowest setting. If you set volume on highest, all of your neighbors will know what you’re listening. The speaker is really good, the sound is clean.

For advanced users: Root

Universal tool is in this file. All the instructions you need these are in this two sentences: Connect your phone, enable USB debugging, install PdaNet program that puts drivers. When the program is installed, open another folder that contains run.bat, press enter, phone will restart and it will be rooted. If you get stuck somewhere here is a video.

Conclusion

Cubot GT99 is the best. For those who do not know how much you paid for it, without stopping it will tell you $500. Let’s keep our little secret that it costed less. Everything on it is great, screen, battery, impressive hardware. At any time there is about 600Mb of free RAM out of 1GB. It has a with of only 9.8 mm and weighs 148 grams. His design is unique, it doesn’t copy other models, it isn’t copy of some famous brand. It is Cubot, Cubot GT99. Believe me- I’ve tried a lot of phones, including HTC One, but I can say that if I am asked, I would rather took Cubot. I don’t  see a point to give $400 more for expensive cell phone, when all what it offers I can get for $150 with free shipping and delivery within two weeks. In the future, with well-known brands I will switch to Chinese Android phones. I recommend you to buy this phone. If you have any questions, feel free to leave it in the comments.

I apologize in advance if I translated this article wrong somewhere. 😉 This is English version of my review which was originally on Croatian language.

UPDATE (15/8): Tutorial how to ROOT and install Custom ROM for this phone, Lewa, Miui…

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335 Responses

  1. My name says:

    Can u send me a coupon? 🙂 Thanks in advance 🙂

  2. Rien says:

    Thx for your review. I’m not gonna wait for the Moto g.
    Can you send me a coupon?

  3. aH4eTo says:

    Can you send me a coupon? Thanks 😉

  4. Kagiri says:

    Thanks for the review. Can you send me a coupon?

  5. Ariedude says:

    Hi, great review. Could you please send me the coupon? Thank you!

  6. Mark says:

    Regarding the bubble you mentioned: To me it clearly seems that you left the applicator-foil on the protection screen. The protective screen consists of two layers. You got to remove the upper layer after applying the protector screen. Then you’ll also lose the remains of that notice sticker.

    Try that. If it works, please send me the BG coupon. 🙂

    Thanks!
    Mark

  7. Irrons says:

    Hi, thanks for the review, could you please send me the coupon code ?

  8. irrons says:

    Hi again, just out of curiosity, are you a seller from Banggood ? Do you know how long it takes to free ship item to Europe ? I´m just wondering if I would get the phone before christmas.

    I think I will buy this phone but could you please send me coupon ?

    • Anton008 says:

      I am not seller, I am their buyer/costumer 😀 For my experience it takes 2-3 weeks(12-22 days) to Croatia(EU) and 6 days on Customs. However it depends from country to country. I couldn’t tell you if you will get it before Christmas but I can assume that it will be in your country around 13-20 December.

  9. Gadi says:

    Great review!
    I would like to buy the Cubot gt99.
    Can you please send me the coupon?
    Thanks

  10. Avi says:

    Great review and great phone.
    I smashed the screen on my gt99, any idea where to get a replacement?

    Can you please send me a coupon as well

    • Anton008 says:

      You can buy replacement screen from Banggood. But there are 2 parts, screen and digitizer. And coupon is only for +100$ puchase…

      • Avi says:

        Thanks, I ordered the digitizer as the screen is not damaged. do you have a video for how to replace?

        • avi says:

          my camera lens is scratched so photos are in very bad quality. where can I find a replacement for the back cover with the lens (not the battery cover)?
          I looked everywhere and couldnt find one

  11. Jack says:

    Please send me a coupon code. I am ready to buy
    Thanks

  12. csakisti says:

    Can you help, which kind of igo is compatible this phone?
    Other: I buyed from banggood.com and my phone only have 2gb internal memory, not 4gb, and the camera is 6megapixel, not 12. What do you think? Is there in the phone some hidden setting for activate this?

    Thanks

    • Anton008 says:

      Internal memory also includes rom and some other parts so in total it woul be 4Gb but you can use around 2gb. Camera is 12Mpx however deafult setting is 16:9 and then max resolution is 6mpx. When you set to normal (4:3) then max resolution is 12Mpx. Max resolution of video is FullHD.

  13. ranape says:

    Good review.

    Could you send my a coupon code, please?

    Thanks,

  14. Lucas says:

    Thanks for this interesting review. I will buy this phone.

    Please, send my a coupon code.

    Thank you very much!!

  15. Pavlina says:

    Great review!
    Can you send me a coupon please? Thanks 🙂

  16. Nihao3110 says:

    Hello!
    Good review.
    Coould you please tell if the ROM is really 4 Gb?
    In some reviews of this phone people said that is only 1 Gb instead of declared 4 Gb.
    Also I will be very appreciative for discount coupon if you can provide it.

    Thank you…

    • Anton008 says:

      Real capacity is around 1-2Gb. With some modding you could use whole 4Gb but big part of it is reserved for system.
      I have send you coupon 😉

  17. Gary says:

    Am having trouble getting my GT99 to function on the AT&T network -850 and 1900 frequencies. Any suggestions?

  18. csakisti says:

    Hi, can you send me a cupon code?Thanks!

  19. fobus says:

    Can you send me a coupon please? Thank you

  20. fabus says:

    I’m sorry, email corrected

  21. Dusyk says:

    Hello, I bought cubot99 and it´s great. I would like to buy it for my little brother too. Could you send me a coupon too, please?

  22. Ratus says:

    Hi, very nice review, I’ve just decided to buy this phone!
    Can you please send me a cupon code?
    Thanks and cheers from Brazil!

  23. Paul Lame says:

    Can u send me a coupon? Thanks 🙂

  24. Joe Almdahl says:

    Hi Anton,
    Super review! Could you please send me the Cubot GT99 coupon?
    Thanks very much.
    Joe

  25. Pete says:

    A friend of mine showed me his GT99. He was all exited about the specs, but I just wasn’t impressed! Overall it still feels like a cheap phone. The screen, it’s big but lacks quality, camera says 12MP, but I’m pretty sure those 12MP are interpolated! The plastic is terrible, the protective case (just ignore it), yes you get a lot for the price, but it stills feels like buying a Clio with a 200Hp engine, it can be faster than a BMW, but you rather have the BMW.

  26. Terentius says:

    Please send me a coupon.thx

  27. Belmondooo says:

    Hi ,

    I dropped my gt99.
    The glass is not broken but part of the screen behind the glass isn’t readable.
    What should i buy for fixing it ?
    Only the digitizer ?

    Could you also send me a coupon pls

  28. Alexm says:

    Thank you for your magnificent review.
    I bought 1 GT99 and rooted it thus improving the GPS quality using the FasterGPS apps..
    The main problem with the phone is its inability to get / send messages and surf the internet within close environments’ like at home ( I use wifi so no probleem ) and supermarket, although it shows 4 columns + H on the top. My friend using Samsung in the same place in the supermarket connected to my ISP and surfed easily, while my phone stands still.
    Is there anything I can do before sending back the phone to the seller?
    How can I deroot the phone ( before sending it back) and reset the data to the manufacturer’s original settings?
    Thank you for any help, mainly helping me in improving the signal reception.
    Alex

    • Anton008 says:

      This can be common problem on mtk phones. In your area there are probably transmitters wich send unsupported frequency. You could try with disabling 3G under Settings-More-Mobile networks- 3G service- OFF. If that doesn’t help switch back to 3G and select WCDMA only. There should be winning combination. Also, try disabling frequencies in MTK mobileuncle like on this pic: http://i.imgur.com/XaVzptD.jpg

      • Alexm says:

        Thank you for your reply.
        I peformed your suggestions, but no real results. It seems to me that the Cubot GT99 is inferior to any Samsung products in relation to signal reception level.
        Do you know wether the Huawei honor 2 U9508 phone might have better results?
        Alex

        • Anton008 says:

          Also, try switching from 1 SIM to another SIM slot. Also, there could be problems if you are using 2 SIM cards of diff operator. You could also try to test with another SIM from different operator. You shouldn’t have any problems with that Huawei because it supports much more frequencies than GT99.

          • Alexm says:

            I use only 1 Sim card and it is installed in the right slot.
            I tried a different ISP but without real change.
            As I will receive the Huawei I will be able to see the difference between the two phones.
            Thank you for your help.
            Alex

  29. Bram says:

    Hi,
    first of all, I want to thank you for your good review :).
    I think i will buy this phone, but could you please send me a coupon code?
    Thanks in advance!

  30. Bram says:

    Hi,
    first of all thanks for the coupon code.
    But there were some problems with my paypal, so i couldn’t pay withing 48 hours, so i think it is expired.
    Can you please dend me a new one? Thx

  31. Miroslav Korcek says:

    Hello,

    great review. Can You please send me a coupon?
    Thank You very much.

  32. frankNstine says:

    Which phone is best. This or Cubot One ?

  33. csakisti says:

    Could you send me a cupon code?

    Thanks!

  34. Joti says:

    Pozdrav iz Rijeke! Vrhunski review!!! Kupio sam ga jucer na ebay-u, onako na blef, kazu da stize za 15 dana, vidim da ima upute za root i GPS probleme!!! Svaka cast! Javim se kad stigne…

  35. Mees Wesseling says:

    Nice review, now I certainly want to buy one. Can you send me the code for a coupon?

    Thanks from Holland, Mees

  36. Ton says:

    Hi Anton:

    My son Mees requested a coupon, but he doesn’t have a Banggood account. He received a mail from banggood (thanks), but can not link this to an account.

    Can you send the coupon again, but now to me?

    • Anton008 says:

      Sure. I have sent -10$ coupon on that account. Now with that coupon/code price is just 140$ for Cubot GT99 which is the lowest on web.

  37. Tony says:

    Hi, do you have any coupon for this phone available? Thanks and respect from Slovak Republic:)

  38. catalin tc says:

    Hi. Could you send me a coupon please?

  39. Ildiko Prenner says:

    Please, send me a cupon! Thanks in advanced!

  40. Rod says:

    Hi Anton thank you for the great review. Is it possible to still get a coupon ? If so thank can you email it to me if not thanks for your review anyway.

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