The panorama of the rugged phone it is populated by thick, heavy, reinforced in every single point and by the design of doubtful taste. Fortunately occasionally you can find some exceptions and today we have the proof thanks to the new one Doogee S50, which has a decidedly look endearing and a respectable technical data sheet.
Will these points be enough to get them good results? Let's find out together in our review!
Doogee S50 review
Unboxing
The package is made of hardback and inside it is possible to find the following equipment:
- Doogee S50;
- wall power supply with European plug and 5V = 2A output;
- USB data cable - Micro USB;
- pin for the SIM slot;
- protective plastic film;
- instruction manual.
Please note that the Micro USB cable plug is longer compared to normal ones as it must reach the Micro USB input located deeper than usual due to the strengthening of the perimeter frame.
Design and construction
Finally compared to others rugged phone we have a design deserve it endearing and beautiful to see thanks to its square shapes and its industrial plot. There construction è very solid and we did not find any flexions or crunches of various kinds.
La back cover It is made of TPU, which can guarantee us a good resistance to shocks and a good feeling to the touch. This protection also expands over the entire perimeter frame.
Precisely regarding the maneuverability we must immediately say that it is not a smartphone easy to use with one hand, indeed, the combo rugged phone + 18 display: 9 does not seem to be the most comfortable, but on the other hand those interested in this type of device already knows what it's going to meet. In fact, the dimensions are of 163.9 x 79.8 x 13.3 millimeters for a weight of 250 grams.
On the right side we find the volume rocker and the power button, unlike the opposite one where there is the dual SIM / SIM + microSD slot and a button of dubious usefulness, or better, it is useful for the function Walkie Talkie through the pre-installed app Zello.
Below we can see the Micro USB input, while above only the mini Jack input, both closed by a rubber protection. On the rear profile there is the dual camera with LED flash, the fingerprint sensor and the system speaker, instead going to the front profile we find the dual camera for selfies, the headset, the sensors of brightness and proximity and non-backlit keys.
The latter are a great, but really big defect of this smartphone, because in the dark (and sometimes even during the day) make daily operations difficult. In spite of everything, however, it will be enough to make us a little 'the habit and the situation will improve slightly.
Finally, we also note that this smartphone has the IP68 certification which makes it resistant to dust and water.
Display
Il Doogee S50 It is equipped with a panel IPS da 5.7 inches diagonal with resolution HD + (1440 x 720 pixels), density of PPI 282 and format 18:9.
I must say that despite the display is only HD +, the definition is good, although the colors tend to be of the hot temperatures. In fact, this can be noted especially with whites. The viewing angles are discrete and the touchscreen can detect up to a maximum of 5 touches.
In fact it is precisely with the latter that I had more problems, as sometimes it happened that he did not take some touches well or that, while recording himself vocal notes on Whatsapp, had automatically sent the message despite themselves still pressing the button.
Hardware and Performance
Il Doogee S50 is equipped with a chipset MediaTek Helio P23 (MT6737T) which is inclusive of a processor octa-core with a maximum clock frequency of 2.3 GHz, a GPU ARM Mali-G71 MP2, 6 GB di RAM e 128 GB di internal memory eMMC 5.1, expandable through microSD.
The hardware sector is not among the most powerful and you can see, the opening of the app is not lightning, but overall the system is not subject to impaction or general lag, a symptom of a software (finally) well optimized.
As regards the Gaming, we did not find any kind of problem even with the heavier and elaborate games such as Asphalt 8, which turns smoothly and without any lag.
Camera
Later we have one dual chamber characterized by a sensor OmniVision OV16880 da 16 mega-pixels with autofocus PDAF and opening f / 2.0 and another from 13 mega-pixels which, theoretically, should have a wide-angle of 130 ° (this is what was declared by the manufacturer).
Unfortunately the wide-angle is not actually from 130°, but if there is, it is poco wider than what all other smartphones offer.
Let's start immediately from the fact that in some situations we find a white balance that is not entirely regular, in fact, it often happens that the background is burned. In other situations, the software handles shooting well and exceeds the sufficiency thanks to one good definition and a good bokeh. The colors are only discrete, but in any case the sector manages to get away with it.
At night focus turns out to be even more difficult and it is not uncommon to make shots out of focus. The quality is lowered decisively and the noise increases. We are not.
Frontally we have one again dual chamber with sensors from 16 + 8 mega-pixel and just the main sensor should be the same mounted on the back.
This time the shots are more balanced compared to the camera on the back, in fact, although even here the focus and white balance are always a little out of phase, the definition and of colors they are quite good. In the evening, however, what was said previously is repeated.
I video can be registered up to a maximum of Full HD and the returned quality meets the same criteria as for the rear camera.
Audio
Another sore point of the Doogee it is the sector audioin fact, the one coming out from the rear speaker it is not powerful and it's poco full-bodied due to an evident lack of bass.
However the audio on call is good, as well as the microphone and we did not encounter any problems with our interlocutor during calls.
Connectivity
In terms of connectivity the Doogee S50 supports Dual SIM Dual Standby with support toLTE Cat.7, Dual Band Wi-Fi a / b / g / n, Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio e GPS / A-GPS / GLONASS.
Regarding the reception of the signal I have not encountered particular problems, while I noticed that the Wi-Fi occasionally you unplug, failing to reconnect immediately. Good, finally, satellite navigation thanks to GPS sensors.
Il fingerprint sensor located at the back it is in a slightly high position and maybe it could put us slightly in difficulty if you use the smartphone with one hand. However, the reader is average accurate and it's not very fast, let's say that unlocking happens successfully around 7 times on 10.
Software
Finally since Doogee he created the own interface, it seems that the problems of lag, freeze or general optimization have disappeared. Indeed, the Doogee S50 is based on Android 7.1.1 personalized with the DoogeeOS V2.0.0.
The only differences with a stock software are only at the icon pack level, as for the rest we find only some additional function on the gestures, or that relating to QR Code and to screenshot.
As I said before, the company under this point of view has taken great steps forward and now the system seems to be optimized properly thanks to the absence of various kinds of jamming or sporadic lag.
We have, finally, also the facial unblock which it is not very convincing, as it works efficiently almost only if our face is perpendicular to the smartphone.
Autonomy
Probably autonomy is the real highlight of this device, which is characterized by one battery da 5180 mAh that allows us to get some excellent results.
In fact, on average (with medium-intense use) they are very easily reached 2 days of autonomy with approximately 6 hours and 30 minutes (even 7 hours) of active display.
Unfortunately, however, the recharge is slow enough and employs around 3 hours to bring the Doogee S50 al 100%.
Conclusions
In conclusion this smartphone it divides us in two, because it is aesthetically appealing, with a good construction, resistant, with excellent autonomy and with a hardware and software in tune, but everything is ruined by a not excellent display, a sound under the sufficiency and a fluctuating Wi-Fi module . Part of these problems could be solved by the updates (camera, face ID etc ...), but we do not know if indeed Doogee these aspects will improve.
Il Doogee S50 It is available on various Chinese stores at approx 189 €.
