The smartphone that instantly turns into a fashion handbag for young ladies (it even has a built-in mirror)

I didn’t think I would write such a title so soon, but here it is, the people from CUBOT have made a so-called fashion-phone. Is called Hafury Meet, being part of a sub-brand of the company. There is not much to say, it is a rather strange model if we refer to the terminals already on the market, but we are sure of one thing: it is aimed at the female audience. What could I do? I tested it recently and tried to gather as objective impressions as possible about it. See…

Unboxing

We’ve seen fashion phones aimed at the female audience and even purse-type smartphones launched at tech fairs. This model seems to be trying to reiterate those ideas. Cubot Hafury Meet it arrives in an elegant box, similar to what an expensive perfume or high-quality jewelry would arrive in. It opens in an interesting way, so it creates the feeling of a premium product. Here we will find:

• Smartphone
• User manuals
• Two covers that arrive as fashion accessories
• Strap with gold elements to turn your phone into a bag
• Battery charger
• Power cable
• Plastic foil

Design, first impressions

It can be quite a shock to get something like this on the test table, especially if you don’t know what’s inside the box. Still, it’s an accessory dedicated to ladies and gents, and looking strictly at the smartphone in an objective way, I can’t say it looks bad. It is made of polycarbonate, and its case has an interesting pattern on the back. It has a generous photo module that gives you the impression that you are dealing with a flagship, and when you see the bright AMOLED display, curved on the edges, you would say that you are dealing with a full-fledged flagship.

What makes the Cubot Hafury Meet special is the white case that will surely attract your attention right from the unboxing stage. It’s made of a combination of rubber and leather, it has the inscription “Love” on the back, but also a small pocket where you can safely keep your card or some cash notes for emergencies. The strap that we find in the package can be attached to this case if you want to carry the phone still like a bag. The advantage is that you are less likely to drop it this way.

What is interesting about this cover is the fact that there is a small “hatch” at the bottom. Once opened, I discovered behind it a mirror that can be used for touch-ups by young ladies. At the same time, you can use this hatch as a smartphone holder if needed.

There is also a case in the package and I have to admit that that one feels more “good” and somehow makes the phone more stylish without adding too much “frills”. The truth is that the first cover, the one that turns your phone into a bag, is an accessory that you either love with all your heart and think it reflects your personality (literally), or you hate it outright, and then clearly this phone is not for you.

For example, my 15-year-old cousin, avowed Asia fan, was downright excited when she saw the smartphone in this case. It is certainly not for everyone, but it is certain that in China, South Korea, Japan and other regions of Asia mainly, such phones / accessories are sought by young ladies.

Performance and hardware

I told you above that it is a smartphone that resembles a flagship, but only in appearance, at the design level. We are actually talking about a midrange phone that has a processor under the hood Helio G99 from MediaTek. It’s not a bad CPU at all and I can say that I have experience with it as I’ve been using a tablet with the same chipset for some time. I don’t want to bore you with the specs, so I’m attaching them in the list below:

• Screen: 6.67 inch AMOLED, 1080 x 2400 pixels, 120Hz, brightness 1500 nits
• Processor: Mediatek Helio G99 (6 nm), Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55)
• GPU: Mali-G57 MC2
• Memory: 256GB storage, 12GB RAM, supports microSDXC (shared SIM slot)
• Main camera: Triple: 100 MP (wide) with PDAF, 16 MP, 117˚ (ultrawide), 5 MP (macro), with LED flash, Video: 1080p@30fps
• Front camera: 32 MP, Video: 1080p@30fps
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Bluetooth 5.2, A2DP, GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS, BDS, NFC, USB Type-C, OTG
• Sensors: Underscreen sensor (optical), accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, compass
• Battery: 5100 mAh, 33W cable charging
• Dimensions: 162.2mm x 74mm x 9.4mm
• Weight: 211 grams

As you have seen, we have a generous, curved AMOLED display, and it is also bright. I performed a test with the supplied luxmeter and obtained 591 LUX. It’s not at the flagship level, but we’re not bad either. The edges around it are reduced, the viewing angles are wide, and there is a factory-applied plastic film on the screen.

Looking at performance, in AnTuTu 10 we get 421,920 points. In GeekBench 6 we have 728 points in the case of the single-core test, respectively 2522 points in the multi-core test. Affordable midrange phone performance, 4G, no surprises here. We are about the performance of a Nokia XR21, somewhere above the OPPO A98 and even the Motorola Moto G34 5G.

I must admit that the phone moves well, having a clean interface, close to the stock one and without a bit of bloatware. I even felt like I was handling a Pixel phone while using it. We have some personalized wallpapers, for lovers, with hearts and various messages, but also adaptive icons that will change to shades of pink, red, white, depending on the chosen background image. Obviously, we can disable them if we want.

Camera

Having the smartphone for a short time, I made a few shots in Ploiesti, but they are enough to realize its photography capabilities. The phone brings a main camera of 100 MP with PDAF, an ultrawide of 16 MP, but also a macro of 5 MP. On the front, there is a 32 MP selfie sensor that shoots in Full HD quality.

In the camera app we have a dedicated “Beauty” filter. You can’t even disable it, you have to change the capture mode completely. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, the important thing is that we can take selfies without artificially “beautifying” ourselves. I took a few selfies too, of course, and the results aren’t bad.

I’ve also shot statues, buildings, even the phone case at one point, and the results are OK. You can tell these are shots taken with a midrange phone, but I’d say the photo sensor does a great job when it comes to selfies and social media posts.

The video is not very good, the image shakes when panning, so the lack of a system such as OIS (optical stabilization) or EIS (electronic image stabilization) is clearly felt.

Impressions

As final impressions, I can tell you that it is a smartphone clearly aimed at the female audience, but it is niche if you choose to use it with the case in the package, as it is not addressed to all ladies and young ladies. In Romania, this type of design can be classified as “kitsch” easily, although in Asia it is a true fashion-phone.

However, if you don’t take into account the case that comes with the package and you don’t plan to use it, it can certainly pass unnoticed as a genuine, affordable fashion phone. The texture of the back is really interesting, elegant and successful, and with that transparent cover with gold elements here and there, it doesn’t look bad at all.

I have only one question mark. The phone is running Android 13 at the moment and I admit it runs great, I really can’t fault the 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. However, it is not clear how many software updates it will receive. With any luck I’d say it will be updated to Android 14 soon, but I doubt it will get Android 15.

However, the price is not bad, it is in the pre-order period on AliExpress and costs only 1154 lei now. There’s also a special package that gets you a fitness wristband to go.