ALLDOCUBE X Review: 10,5″ Tablet with AMOLED Display for $271.69

As a manufacturer, ALLDOCUBE has so far concentrated on notebooks & tablets. With the ALLDOCUBE X1 they have already launched a promising 8,4″ tablet, now the big brother follows. The ALLDOCUBE X comes in the larger 10.5 inch format and even offers a Super AMOLED panel! Can it meet the high expectations?

• ALLDOCUBE X (4/64 GB)
  • at Banggood for $271.69 | GearBest for $299.99
• ALLDOCUBE X (4/128 GB)
  • Banggood for $337.69 (4/128 GB)

Technical Specifications

Finally a big tablet again

The ALLDOCUBE X is defined by its size alone. The panel with a diagonal of 10.5 inches defines the size and differs from the X1 in this respect alone. In addition, the manufacturer has created a really flat design. Because the ALLDOCUBE X measures just 6.9 mm in thickness. At 245 mm in length and 175 mm in width, it is somewhat shorter and slightly wider than, for example, the iPad Pro with the same display diagonal. With a weight of 500 g, it’s also a bit heavier, but for this size, the weight is completely ok.

The back is relatively unspectacular. The ALLDOCUBE logo is centrally positioned there, while a camera is located at the edge of the housing. In addition there is the model name, technical information and actually a CE-mark. I also find the small symbols on the respective ports relatively helpful. So you can quickly see on the back where which port is.

Processing & Handling

ALLDOCUBE really took its time after the first presentation of the X. This time has obviously gone into the fine-tuning, because the ALLDOCUBE X not only looks good, but also feels good. I couldn’t find any defects in the workmanship, which is not necessarily the case with every Chinese manufacturer. The ALLDOCUBE X feels really good in the hand, despite the relatively large display, the form factor is kept compact thanks to the relatively small screen edges.

The tablet is processed with high-quality aluminium and does not allow itself to be processed with cheaper plastics. For this circumstance, the weight of 500 g is very reasonable. Only with a very long use this could become somewhat unpleasant. I only want to make a negative note of the pressure point of the keys. These are a bit too soft, but of course this doesn’t change the function. This just doesn’t give you such a direct, haptic feedback. But with a little time to get used to it you can also overlook it.

All in all, ALLDOCUBE can score with me here. The ALLDOCUBE X is chic, high-quality processed and handy. You can’t really ask for much more from a tablet.

10.5 inch AMOLED display: the killer feature?

The center of attention is, of course, the screen. With a 10.5 inch screen diagonal, it’s relatively large. This is a Super AMOLED display that the Chinese manufacturer bought from Samsung. The panel offers a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, which results in 287 pixels per inch for this size. The AMOLED technology has some advantages, for example better black values, a higher contrast, but also a reduced energy consumption.

The functionality of the screen cannot be compromised. I couldn’t find pixel errors, backlight bleeding or any form of input lag. Due to the quite high resolution the display is basically sharp, app icons and fonts are crisp. The brightness is also very good. For the use in rooms an average brightness of about 30% is sufficient, even if a slight reflection is unavoidable.

But for the fact that the ALLDOCUBE X advertised with the screen in advance, it doesn’t convince me completely. Criticism number one would be the missing options for the display. The operating system doesn’t leave much room for customization and an Always-On mode is also missing. Too bad, because this is an AMOLED panel. The second point of criticism would be the level brightness adjustment. If one changes the brightness, the transitions are not smooth but one recognizes different “brightness levels”.

The third point of criticism would be the visible black border between the screen and the case frame. Especially if you watch a video on YouTube in horizontal format, you’ll notice that already and might find it a bit annoying. This is also the case with an iPad, for example, but is smaller there.

Six cores & one large battery

While ALLDOCUBE itself, but also other tablets like the CHUWI Hi 9 Air, currently rely on the aged Helio X20 processor, the X is equipped with a slightly newer SoC (System on a Chip). The MediaTek MT8176 offers six cores, two Cortex A72 cores with 2.1 GHz clock frequency and four Cortex A53 cores, which are used for energy-saving everyday operation. The Hexa-Core CPU is equipped with 4 GB LPDD3 memory as well as 64 GB internal memory. Altogether a combination, which is rather meant to watch movies than to gamble. Alternatively, a version with 128 GB internal memory is now also available.

The performance of this tablet leaves me with a mixed impression. Navigation through the individual apps is smooth and thanks to the 4 GB RAM, multitasking is also possible. Even though the ALLDOCUBE X is certainly not a gaming tablet, “normal” games can be played. My games “Pixel Gun 3D” weren’t very successful, but they ran very smoothly.

Nevertheless, there are a few sequences in everyday life that simply run much too slowly. If you get the tablet out of standby mode (inactive display), it takes a whole second. This is too long for my eyes and annoying, because you do it several times a day. This also applies to the fingerprint sensor. Switching from vertical to horizontal view also loosely takes one second. And if you switch from the surface to the Google Discovery page, this wipe animation is simply very laggy.

Unfortunately, these are all small, but avoidable mistakes that stand in the way of performance and usability. I hope ALLDOCUBE will optimize this, after all it would be easy to fix it.

The benchmark results show that the overall performance of the processor is superior to that of the Teclast T20 tablet with the Helio X27. Although the X scores worse in the multi-score test in the Geekbench benchmark, which is logical (6 cores vs. 10 cores), the MediaTek MT8176 scores significantly higher in the single-score test and the PCMark benchmark. However, these values are still far away from the Snapdragon 660 from the Xiaomi Mi Pad 4. Overall, the ALLDOCUBE X positions itself in the upper midfield of the China tablets we tested.

Cameras

Like all tablet manufacturers, ALLDOCUBE also uses two cameras, which could probably have been dispensed as well. Both cameras work with an 8 megapixel sensor, which unfortunately doesn’t produce high quality photos. The results are okay at best, there is simply a lack of sharpness, a working autofocus and sufficient resolution. If you have to take some quick pictures, that’s enough, but you can’t get really good-looking photos with it under any circumstances.

That goes for both cameras. ALLDOCUBE seems to have installed the same sensor twice. The front camera should not be used for selfies anyway, but for video telephony at the most.

Large battery = long battery life?

The company from China is generous with the battery. The ALLDOCUBE X is equipped with an 8,000 mAh battery, which can even be charged using Pump Express+. 12V and 1.5A result in 18W power input, which can charge the large battery at least somewhat quickly. Nevertheless, a whole charging process takes several hours. However, the battery life didn’t really knock me off my feet. I made do with it for a good two to three days with moderate use. Streaming and gaming naturally drains the battery faster.

ALLDOCUBE X Connectivity

The ALLDOCUBE X doesn’t score quite as many extra points when it comes to connectivity. After all, the tablet is equipped with a USB Type C port and a 3.5 mm jack port. For this you have to do without mobile Internet, although you can insert a Nano-SIM card. This slot is only possible for the memory expansion of 128 GB per microSD card.

On the wireless level there is only Dual Band ac-WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2. There is no possibility to determine the position via GPS or Beidou.

Tablet with fingerprint sensor & HiFi sound chip

Instead, there is a fingerprint sensor between the two ports, which is located on the housing frame and not on the back, as is the case with the Teclast Master T10. However, unlocking the tablet in this way seems somewhat unnatural to us. At least in the vertical position. The fingerprint sensor only makes sense if you hold the tablet horizontally. When the front camera is up, the right index finger can be used to unlock the phone. The sensor is relatively reliable, but not too fast due to the tablet’s slow wake-up process.

One aspect that is often neglected in China tablets and smartphones is sound. ALLDOCUBE X is different. It is equipped with an AKM HiFi sound chip, which is intended to massively enhance the listening experience of films. After all, ALLDOCUBE uses two loudspeakers here, so we’re dealing with stereo sound. For YouTube the sound is very satisfying, but to listen to music you have to be content with a slightly tinny sound. Especially in the admittedly unfair comparison with an iPad Pro, the ALLDOCUBE X looks old.

ALLDOCUBE X with Stock Android 8.1

Originally a reason to be happy, but almost an old hat due to the release date being postponed further and further: the Android 8.1 operating system. Compared to Teclast & Co. this is still relatively up-to-date, but we are already on Android 9 for smartphones. The good news is that the ALLDOCUBE X will be delivered with Stock Android. There’s really nothing pre-installed here that doesn’t come from Google itself – a refreshing change!

Apart from the criticisms already mentioned under “Performance”, I am satisfied with the OS as a whole. From the beginning, all relevant Google services have been installed, including the Google Play Store, of course. This is also certified. Navigation is possible via the three typical Android navigation keys, the Google Assistant can be activated via Longpress of the Back button. The interface also works with an App-Drawer.

But for such a new device you have to criticize the security patch from November, which is already a few months old. In general, we can’t yet estimate how well ALLDOCUBE provides its devices with updates, but we’ve tested too few ALLDOCUBE tablets so far. Here we will supplement the test report with long-term experience.

Conclusion: Buy ALLDOCUBE X?

The ALLDOCUBE X is being promoted by the Chinese themselves as the “Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 Killer”. This costs about three times as much as the X and you notice that. The ALLDOCUBE X does the right thing and convinces me with the processing, the operating system, the design and the connection possibilities/extras.

The three most important criteria for me personally are the performance, the display and the battery life. In these disciplines, the ALLDOCUBE X only performs averagely, i.e. absolutely fine, but not as well as you would expect from such a price. Here the ALLDOCUBE simply has to put up with the comparison to the Apple iPad 2018, which you can get for a similar price. And we’re talking about Apple and ALLDOCUBE here.

The ALLDOCUBE X is not a bad tablet, already does a lot right, but fails a bit because of my expectations. The tablet is placed in the premium segment, where in my opinion it cannot completely prove itself. If you already invest that much for a tablet, you get more for your money with a Huawei MediaPad or an iPad. Regardless of the price, I like it the second best of all the tablets tested here so far. The front-runner remains the a little cheaper Xiaomi Mi Pad 4.

The little brother: the ALLDOCUBE M5S

• ALLDOCUBE M5S
  • at GearBest for $152.99

Since the ALLDOCUBE X is still relatively new and also not quite cheap, we still have an alternative. The ALLDOCUBE M5S offers the same 10.1 inch display size as its big brother, but it is an IPS display and not an AMOLED panel. The processor, however, is the somewhat aged MediaTek Helio X20 processor with ten cores. You only get 3 GB RAM and 32 GB internal memory.

The battery is smaller at 6,600 mAh, but the battery life is still 1.5 days. The big advantage of the smaller version is the possibility to use mobile data. Because the ALLDOCUBE M5S is also equipped with a SIM slot and even supports LTE! In addition there are Dual Band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2 and GPS. Android 8 runs on the internal memory, which should also be relatively unaffected here.

If you want a test of the tablet from us, you are welcome to write it in the comments!