A Good Budget Smart watch? Cubot C5 Smart watch Review

Today we'll be reviewing and unboxing the Cubot C5 smartwatch. Let's take a look and see if it's still worth purchasing. 

I'm actually quite excited about it; no, it's not running on wear os or anything, but the ui for the price has actually impressed me.

Inside the box, you get the watch itself with a pink strap on this version, but you also get a spare strap in a different color. That almost feels like an Apple Watch unboxing, okay, maybe not, but it's still pretty good.

Cubot C5 Smartwatch Features: 

• TFT-LCD display type.
• 1.3" screen size.
• Resolution 240*240.
• Water resistance rating: 5 ATM.
• MCU GR5515, Bluetooth 5.1, 1MB FLASH + 256KB RAM
• Flash: 64Mb.
• STK 832 is the IMU.
• PD70-01C-TR7 PPG heart rate sensor.
• Bluetooth BLE 5.
• 260 mAh battery.
• IOS 8.0+/Android 4.4+ are required.
• Supported: 9 different languages.
• The basic functions: Clock, date display, data storage, and OTA upgrade.
• Heart rate, sleep, steps, calories, distance, and active time are all monitored on a daily basis.
• Sports modes: 10 (Outdoor Walking/Outdoor Running/Outdoor Riding/Indoor Walking/Indoor Running/Indoor Bicycle/Elliptical Machine/Stepper Machine/Rowing Machine).

The charger in this case is magnetic, which I think is brilliant, so aside from a manual hidden behind everything else, that's pretty much all you get in the box.

I believe it also comes in black, so don't worry if you don't like the pink version, though I think I look good in it. So, let's address the elephant in the room: yes, it looks eerily similar to an Apple Watch, but it's not. 

For example, the dial on the side does nothing when rotated, but it does double as a physical button. So you can turn it on and off, take a step back, and go to the menu section, which is something I've said many times is something we really need on fitness trackers and smart watches.

I believe it simply provides a better overall experience, and it eliminates the need to plug it in to turn it on. Upon turning it on, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the screen brightness was significantly higher than that of other budget smart watches and fitness trackers. 

I've tested, and it's probably brighter than some of the flagship models I've tested. This is critical on a fitness tracker or smart watch because many of us will be exercising outside.

So it's critical that you can see it in direct sunlight now for the ui, and no, it's not an Apple Watch or a Galaxy Watch. It's a budget smartwatch UI, but it's not all that bad. When you swipe through, you get a nice snappy response, but it still feels like you're swiping through a powerpoint presentation.

There are also some nice animations on the steps, heart rate, and sleep tracking pages, which add some fun and life to the smartwatch.

Returning to the display, it is actually quite vibrant, which is enhanced by the fun animations and bold colors used on the sleep tracking and other screens.

I also thought the icons were nice, and the bold text was easy to read. Overall, not bad so far, and let's talk about the menu briefly. So you can get to the menu by tapping that button on the side, which looks great, but I really want to turn that dial; it's even textured and feels like it's meant to be twisted.

So, maybe for the next version, Cubot could make this something that actually works; I believe it would greatly improve the overall user experience, but I'm not sure if this can be done on a tighter budget. 

Anyway, in this menu, you can find shortcuts to things like stopwatch workouts, heart rate, and sleep again messages. locate my phone and a few other items It has a simple layout, which I don't mind because it's easy to navigate, which is the most important aspect.

So, in general, the cubot c5 smart watch has a really nice look and feel to it, especially for its low price, so let's see how it performs on paper and look at the specifications. 

So we have that 1.7 inch color touchscreen display we mentioned earlier in the video, as well as up to 15 days of battery life, which is pretty good.

I definitely think you could get the watch to last 15 days, but you'd have to keep the screen brightness low. I don't think mine will last 15 days, but I've been playing with it a lot and doing some heavy testing.

So keep that in mind. Next, we have 24 7 continuous heart rate monitoring, which is another fantastic feature. Finally, we have 10 sports modes, which isn't great.

To be honest, we've seen a lot of other fitness trackers and smart watches come with far more than that, such as the upcoming Oneplus smartwatch, which should be released this week and has far more than 100.

On the other hand, all of these modes really do is tailor the tracking to whatever workout you're doing; they all track the same things like your heart rate, steps if necessary, and other bits like that, so for a lot of people, it won't be a huge disadvantage. 

So we have the ability to receive call and text notifications, but keep in mind that you can't reply to texts or use the watch to take a call, which I wouldn't really expect at this price point to be honest, because that would be asking a lot, as I mentioned earlier.

We have features like find my phone, a shutter controller for your phone's camera, and a music controller. Finally, we have 5 atm waterproofing so you can take this swimming if you're so inclined. 

I'm not too bad for a device that costs just over 30 pounds in the UK; originally, it cost 60 pounds, and even at that price, I wouldn't say it's a particularly bad deal.

If I were to price this watch, I'd put it somewhere in the middle. I definitely think if this was going for around 45 pounds, it'd still be worth it. So we can't let the Cubot C5 go without performing a heart rate accuracy test.

So what this will actually do is communicate with my phone, and you'll see your spo2 at the top and your heart rate at the bottom. Something I forgot to mention is that this does not have spo2 monitoring, which puts it behind many of its competitors, but for many people, heart rate will suffice. 

So the first time it came out pretty close, but the bar on my o2 ring was showing up as red, indicating a poor connection. So I ran it through again and again, and it was almost spot on. 

There were a few beats out here and there, but nothing to worry about. This is in line with flagship smart watches like the Apple Watch and the Galaxy Watch 3.

So a big green tick for me on heart rate accuracy, and that was the cubot c5 smartwatch. As always, let me know what you thought of the cubot c5 in the comments section. As I've stated numerous times throughout, I'm actually quite impressed with it. 

I believe they've done an excellent job. It's difficult to find a decent budget smart watch, especially when you've got fitness trackers.

Anyway, if you're new around here, it's been an absolute pleasure to review. You can get this watch or others at a discount of up to 30% through this link, but for now, thank you so much.