The Cubot Note S was top on my list of best phones under 10k in February. Then the Infinix Hot 3 launched a couple of weeks ago and is a hot device at a very nice price.

I have used both phones and they both amaze me how one can get such specs at such low prices. The Infinix Hot 3 is Ksh. 7899 (Buy from Jumia Kenya) while the Cubot Note S is Ksh. 8888.

So between the two which one should you go for? Or rather which one is better?

I can’t surely answer that to everyone’s satisfaction. I’d rather I make various comparisons and then you make the decision yourself. So that I won’t be held accountable for any problem/dissatisfaction you face in the future.

Make sure you also read:

Cubot Note S full review
Why the Infinix Hot 3 is the best priced smartphone
Infinix Hot 3 Full review coming soon

Now let’s compare the two devices:

Both have 5.5 inch HD screens and both run Android 5.1 Lollipop

Performance:

The Infinix Hot 3 has a 1.3 Quad Core processor and a single gigabyte of RAM. The Cubot Note S on the other hand has a 1.3GHz Quad Core processor and 2GB RAM. The difference is very plain when using the phones.

The Hot 3 tends to lag sometimes and may become unresponsive in certain scenarios.

Have I tried highly demanding applications and games on the Hot 3 or the Note S? NO. Not because the phones can’t/won’t handle these, of course they will, but rather because I know/think it is a tedious process getting these devices to start such tasks. Often launching a game is the pain, thereafter everything goes agreeably smoothly.

The Cubot Note S in normal use has generally better performance when compared to the Infinix Hot 3.

Display:

Both have 720p displays. But I have said this in my full review of the Cubot Note S and I will say it here again: I haven’t seen a better display than the one of the Note S on any low end (under 10k) phone. Colours are nice and well saturated. Black is really dark and nice to look at.

The Hot 3 has a very nice display too. Though sometimes one feels like some colours are off. It gets really bright and is very good outdoors. And even with high brightness, the battery doesn’t drop fast.

The Cubot Note S in high brightness doesn’t handle battery too well and when outdoors one has to push it to full brightness to see stuff.

Cameras:

The Infinix Hot 3 has 8MP back camera and 2MP front camera both with LED flash. Cubot Note S has 8MP back camera and 5MP front camera.

But the Cubot Note S cameras are not good at all.

The Infinix Hot 3 beats the Cubot Note S here fair and square. Check out the links above to see camera samples.

Design:

I would pick the Infinix Hot 3 over the Cubot Note S in terms of design. The back is nicely done. The device is way lighter and way thinner than the Cubot Note S.

But I love the covers that come with the Cubot Note S. Plus I really like the white and gold Cubot Note S, looks very premium.

User Experience:

Cubot Note S runs what I can just call close to Stock Android. Not very much alterations. But I had to throw in Nova Launcher for the Home screens. The phone comes with very nice wallpapers to match the covers you buy as accessories.

Nova launcher is a must on any phone I use.

XUI is my favourite skin on top of Android right now. Not even TECNO’s HiOS beats XUI according to me in terms of arrangement and ease of use. XUI is very close to stock Android. And on the Infinix Hot 3, some of the problems I had previously have been fixed.

Battery:

The Infinix Hot 3 has a 3000mAh battery while the Cubot Note S has a 4150mAh battery.

The Infinix Hot 3 lasts a full day use on 3G. Same for the Cubot Note S.

Only problem I have with the Note S is that battery drops on standby. Leave the phone at 68% you can find it at 60% the next morning. Battery also drops in a funny way between 100% and 81% and then stays at 80% for a long time before resuming drop.

Updates:

I haven’t received any updates yet on the Hot 3. But I know Infinix always frequently update XUI. And that amazes many people.

The Cubot Note S since February has only received one 10MB update. I hope they are people who update their phones.

Which phone are you going for? Make sure you read the review links I have attached to get the full picture of both phones and to also check out the camera samples.

Buy Cubot Note S from Jumia Kenya

[bctt tweet=”#InfinixHot3 for Ksh. 7899 or #CubotNoteS for Ksh. 8888, which is better?” via=”no”]

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