Comment-Did you buy a mobile phone in the market that can be used for two to three days without charging? Do you also find yourself in an environment where you are often splashed or immersed in liquids? Do you mind putting something the size and weight of a little hippo in your pocket? Should I stop asking questions and comment? The Doogee S86 smartphone is a rugged and durable Android smartphone equipped with one of the largest batteries in mobile phones I have ever seen. For those who value rugged waterproof/dust/shock resistance ratings and marathon battery life rather than carrying comfort, it seems perfect on paper. I use this phone as my daily driver and tested it for several weeks. Although my commonly used device is one of the largest “mainstream” phones (Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra), this Doogee S86 is in my pocket The medium appears heavier and heavier in hand.
Doogee S86 is a rugged (waterproof/shockproof/dustproof) Android smartphone equipped with a large-capacity battery. Compared with many smartphones on the market for outdoor people and industrial workers, its specifications are surprisingly good. Did I mention that it is huge? I can’t find enough words or pictures to express this-imagine holding 2 (or even 3) mobile phones back to back, and you will start to understand the idea.
The box contains Doogee S86 smart phone, screen protector, manual, USB-C charging cable, SIM card slot prying tool, lanyard and non-US AC power adapter.
The Doogee S86 smartphone basically has a sturdy phone case built into the device itself. The port has a sealable flip cover to prevent water and dust from entering, while the rubber/metal/plastic shell prevents all items from falling and impacting.
On the left side of the phone are multi-function buttons and dual card trays. Multi-function buttons can be easily mapped to Android settings, and can call 3 different applications or functions (short press, double tap and long press). I disabled the short press because I found myself accidentally touching it, but mapping the LED on the back as a flashlight function to double click and then another app long press is very useful!
At the bottom are the charging port, speaker and lanyard connector. I don’t like the phone on the lanyard, but if you like it, it’s here. It takes a long time to charge with a low battery (this is to be expected because the battery is large and there does not seem to be an indication that multiple fast chargers can be used for fast charging).
There is a power button and volume up/down buttons on the right side of the phone. The side of the phone is a metal alloy, including buttons. They feel solid and high-quality, and there are good construction elements here, although the design will be subjective (I have received different reactions from different people).
My review unit comes pre-installed with a screen protector (but there are bubbles on the top, I believe it will quickly accumulate dust-although they didn’t seem to get much during the review). There is also a second screen protector in the box. There is a water drop selfie camera on the front, and the screen is FHD+ (meaning 1080P, the number of pixels is about 2000+).
The camera set is interesting-the spec sheet lists a 16-megapixel main shooter, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and an unspecified megapixel macro camera. I’m not sure what the 4th camera here is, but the end result in the camera app is an easy zoom in or zoom out experience. I will discuss camera quality later, but in short, it is not always good.
The speakers are facing backward, but the sound is quite loud. Doogee advertises “up to 100 dB” ratings, but in my tests, they don’t seem to be as loud as that (although I don’t have a decibel tester on hand). They are as loud as the loudest laptop speakers I have ever heard (MacBook Pro and Alienware 17), so they can easily fill a quiet room or be heard in a noisy environment. At maximum volume, they don’t sound excessive, but of course, there is no bass—just a lot of noise.
The SIM card tray is suitable for my SIM card and micro-SD card. It also supports dual SIM cards, which is very suitable for traveling or supporting both work and personal phone numbers on the same device. I tested Doogee S86 on T-Mobile and it automatically sets up the mobile network and provides me with 4G LTE speeds comparable to any other 4G LTE devices I use at home. I’m not an expert on all mobile frequency bands and types, but they are all good for me. Some other non-branded phones require specific settings or adjustments to be used correctly, but this phone will work automatically.
Installation and setup is very simple, and Doogee doesn’t seem to add anything to the basic Android setup experience. You log in or create a Google account, and you can start. After the phone is set up, there are very few bloatware or non-system applications. Doogee S86 runs on Android 10 (as of this review, it is a generation later than the latest version), I did not see any promised Android 11 update schedule, which may limit the life of the device.
After reading reviews of other Android phones over the years, I noticed that most “rugged” phones are plagued by old and/or slow processors and other internal components. I did not expect amazing performance, especially when compared to my almost top daily drivers, but I was pleasantly surprised by the speed and multitasking capabilities of Doogee S86. I am not familiar with the Helio mobile processor series, but obviously, 8 cores up to 2.0 Ghz and 6 GB of RAM can handle all the applications and games I put in very well. Opening and switching between many apps has never felt slow or lagging, and even the latest performance-intensive games have run well (tested with Call of Duty and Chameleon, both are smooth and run well).
In short, the camera is inconsistent. It can take pretty good photos in good conditions, just like the photo above.
But in low light or zoom conditions, it sometimes gives me very blurry or faded images, just like the above. I tried the AI ​​assist mode (used in the shot above) and it didn’t seem to help much. The quality of panoramic photos is extremely low, and it is easily the worst photo I have seen in ten years. I’m pretty sure this is a software bug, because individual shots of the same scene are taken very well, so maybe they will fix it someday. I think the Google Pixel method of having a high-quality lens is a better method for cheap phones like this. It will produce more consistent photos, and I think most people prefer good all-round photo quality to the inconsistent quality of multiple cameras.
One of the main reasons you might choose this phone is the huge battery. I know it will do a good job, but how long it lasted shocked me, even with heavy use. When I set it up (due to a lot of network traffic, CPU usage, and read/write to phone storage, it always consumes battery), it only dropped a few percentage points. After that, I feel that there is no change every time I look at the phone. I ended the first day with 70%, using the phone normally (actually it may be a little more than normal, because in addition to my normal doom rolling every day, I am still testing out of curiosity), and the rate is slightly higher than 50 % Ends the second day. I performed an uninterrupted streaming video test after being fully charged, and increased it from 100% to 75% for 5 hours at a brightness and volume of 50%. It is estimated that there are 15 hours remaining until the death display, so Its 20 hours of video playback is normal. After extensive testing, I believe Doogee’s estimated battery life rating: 16 hours of gaming, 23 hours of music, 15 hours of video. During the entire review period, the overnight “vampire loss” was 1-2%. If you are looking for a durable phone, this may be it. The icing on the cake is that it doesn’t feel dull or slow, which is a criticism I have seen on most other large battery phones in recent years.
If the Doogee S86 smartphone is not that heavy and big, I would like to give up my daily driver for Samsung Note 20 Ultra for more than $1,000. The performance and screen are good enough, the speakers are loud, and it lasts several days between charging (or being able to explore outdoors without worrying about bringing enough spare chargers) is great. This device may be perfect for people who need a durable and sturdy smartphone, but I strongly recommend that you walk around with 2 regular phones at the same time to ensure that you can withstand this size and weight.
Yes I agree that Good Doogee smart phones with IP 69 protection are not suitable for everyone. I use four smart phones with IP69 protection, two of which are Doogee 1) Doogee S88 plus 8-128 10K mAh battery 2) Old model Doogee S88 pro 6-128gb 10K mAh 3) Oukitel WP 5000 6-64GB 5100mAh. 4) Umidigi Bison 8-128 5100mAh. In my opinion, Doogee s88 pro and s88 plus are the simplest, most powerful and reliable smartphones. Moreover, if they are put together, they can charge each other in a wireless mode. Not once in a year are used very little, and they do not use wired charging or wired connection to anything. Taking pictures with S88 pro scuba diving works like a clock. As far as I know, a watchmaker in Spain designed these phones.
It is very similar to the Blackvue series of mobile phones, without a thermal imaging camera. FYI, these wireless charging systems seem to burn out when using them with the latest model of multi-coil high-speed chargers (i.e. Samsung Trio), so please be careful.
Do not subscribe to all replies to my comments to notify me of follow-up comments via email. You can also subscribe without commenting.
This website is only used for information and entertainment purposes. The content is the views and opinions of the author and/or colleagues. All products and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Without the express written permission of The Gadgeteer, it is forbidden to reproduce in whole or in part in any form or medium. All content and graphic elements are copyright © 1997-2021 Julie Strietelmeier and The Gadgeteer. all rights reserved.