Stepson Major has lost yet another phone and has decided he wants to buy one for his birthday, with a £100 limit.

A techy workmate of his dad's has told him that for the money, the

Cubot S208

is hard to beat. I've never been particularly against this route to Smartphone ownership and it looks a reasonable enough deal at £84 from Amazon.

He could buy a Motorola Moto G, but his brother already has one, so that makes it uncool. The chances are he will lose it or break it just as quickly as a phone from a more recognised brand and - coming from a mid-range Sony Xperia (not a Z), I think it will be a step up in performance terms.

They ship from within the EU, so no HMRC issues.

Before I take the plunge, does anyone have any better ideas?

Nokia Lumia 630

Sorry, Bockers, it has to be Android...

duh! That's a pity. A iphone 6 and apple watch would have done him just fine

If you can get those for under a ton, I'm in!

Cubot S208 ordered. I'll report back if there's anything forthcoming from stepson before he loses or destroys it.

D'oh, only seeing this post now. I bought the S208 a couple of weeks ago so I could have given you the low-down before you bought!

It's a decent phone for the price (£84.99 with Amazon). It's is very sleek and has a quality feel and finish about it. The 5" screen is very bright and clear. It's only a 2-point capacitive screen so not always as responsive as the big-branded phones which are 5-point capacitive, but it hasn't been a problem for me. It's just sometimes you have to tap a second time before the screen recognises the command.

The battery is excellent. I thought this may have been a weakpoint but it's better than the battery in my old Xperia!

The only negative I've found is that the camera really isn't great. In good light on a bright day with a steady hand, the 8MP camera will take a decent pic. However, it struggles in poor light and doesn't correct exposure when there is a bright background. A lot of pics tend to end up blurry. It's as if the shutter speed never goes quicker than 1/250 sec.

Here's a shot taken of my messy desk with my old Xperia and the S208.

Okay so it's not an interesting pic, but you can see that the detail and colour is better in the Xperia compared to the Cubot. Both cameras are 8MP by the way.


Also, there is no flash. The spec will tell you there's an LED flash, but the LED fires up only to eliminate red-eye but doesn't re-flash, when the shutter is released, so you get a 5" dull grainy picture! I only came to realise this on Saturday when I was at a wedding trying to take a pictures of the bridal party.

The case that comes in the box is pants, so get one of the cases on Amazon for a few quid. I got the Baiwei Leather Case and it is excellent.

Overall it's a decent bit of kit for the money. I bought this because if I went for an upgrade with my phone provider I would have been tied up in a new 24-month contract at a higher monthly cost and I didn't want to get rippped off!

Many thanks for this; it's my stepson's birthday today, so hopefully he'll receive it in the post!
I imagine all he will use the camera for will be Snapchat/Facebook, etc, so won't be too worried about the camera's ultimate quality. Might it be possible to encourage the flash to work through a different camera app or maybe by rooting it? It's academic really, but I'm just interested.

I'm glad that you think it's decent overall - we bought a recommended case from Amazon at the same time.

Cheers!