There is a lot to like with Cubot’s range of rugged smartphones and its latest release — the Cubot King Kong 7 — demonstrats how Cubot is innovating with its cameras.
This rugged IP68 and 69K phone is waterproof, dustproof and shockproof. It is slightly larger than the King Kong 5 Pro at 166.7 x 83.5mm, but slimmer at 14mm and it is lighter too at 267g.
inside the box there is the phone, a USB type-C charging cable, and a power adapter. There is also a SIM pin and as there is no headphone jack on the King Kong 7, there are earphones with a type-C connector in the box. There is also a quick start leaflet showing where the buttons are – but not much else.
The King Kong 7 does not have much paraphernalia externally. On the left hand side of the phone there is a volume button and the dual SIM slot. At the bottom of the phone there is a type-C charging slot hidden behind a rubber bumper.
On the right hand side of the phone there is the power button at the top, and a fingerprint sensor.
At the bottom there is an unobtrusive custom button. Searching for ‘custom’, ‘key’, or ‘button’ in Settings brings up the option to use this button to quickly invoke the camera, open an app, or to take a screenshot. Single- and double-clicking the button does nothing, and long pressing the button will open the camera. I searched through the entire settings menu and found no information on how to configure this button. There is no information on the quick start guide – which only alerted me to the fact that there actually was a custom button hidden in the casing. I am baffled about how to configure this button and have admitted defeat.
Inside the phone there is a MediaTek MT6771V octa core P60 processor and performance is fast with no delays or lags.
The phone can be unlocked by both face and fingerprint and both are quick to give you access to the phone. It has NFC too – vital for paying with your phone.
This phone, like the King Kong 5 Pro smartphone, also comes with a pared-down version of Android 11. There is no OEM bloatware added by Cubot to these phones.
The King Kong 7 has 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage, which can be extended with a TF card in the dual SIM slot up to 256GB.
This rugged phone has a smaller battery than other rugged phones I have reviewed. This phone only has a 5000mAh battery – which, to be fair is larger than most slim phones’ 3500mAh battery, but some rugged phones boast batteries of over 8000mAh.
A 5000mAh battery will keep you going for a day or two before you need to recharge it – depending on how many apps you are running at once.
The 6.36-inch screen has a resolution of 2300 x 1080 and images are clear and bright. The camera set is really impressive too. In the rear is a triple camera with 64MB, a 16MP wide angle lens and a 5MP autofocus macro lens. There is also a 1A LED flash The front camera is 32MP and has basic settings to beautify yourself before taking the selfie.
Image quality is very good. Shutter lag is minimal and using the camera in low light conditions gives good results too.
The King Kong 7 is not yet available on Amazon.com yet, but as Cubot sells all of its other phones through Amazon, it will not be too long before the phone appears in the search results.
All in all, if you like rugged, waterproof phones, but do not need the extra bulk caused by the extra battery capacity, then take a look at the Cubot King Kong 7 smartphone.
Its pared down approach to the OS and the quality of its camera make this a very nice phone indeed. And if you do find out how to tweak the settings on the custom button without asking Cubot, then please let me know how to do it.
