Today we have a powerful, secure smartphone, or even an armored phone, Doogee S88 Plus! This fresh model is the top of its line. Built on the basis of the Helio P70 processor, it has a large amount of memory and an excellent set of cameras. The device is not afraid of immersion in water, dust, dirt, falls from a height. He will not only survive many of his brothers, but will also provide an opportunity to have a great time playing games and multimedia — after all, the smartphone is not in vain equipped with a bright, juicy screen and, well, a very capacious battery.
To begin with, about the meaning of the existence of secure smartphones from my personal experience. About three or four years ago, a secure smartphone was bought for the boy. Then this model made a lot of noise and, although it did not have top-end characteristics, but over the past time the phone has survived falls into sea water, somersaults on asphalt, outings into nature, bike rides, beach sand and much more. And it still works no matter what. Therefore, I am sure that secure smartphones, not having an office-sophisticated look, definitely have the right to life!
So, we go directly to the Doogee S88 Plus and, according to the regulations, we have technical specifications:
Brand/Model: Doogee S88 Plus
Processor: Helio P70, (8 cores) Processor frequency 2.5 GHz
GPU: ARM Mali-G72-MP2 700MHz
RAM: 8 GB
Built-in memory: 128 GB
Display: 6.3, IPS, 20:9, 1080×2340, 410 ppi, 1500:1, Corning Gorilla Glass
Operating system Android 10
Communication standards 2G (GPRS/EDGE), 3G (WCDMA/UMTS/HSPA), 4G (LTE)
Main camera: 48MP Samsung® 48MP AI + 8MP + 8MP 130 degree
Front camera: 16MP Samsung 80 degree
Expansion slot: TF (up to 512 GB) + nanoSIM or nanoSIM + nanoSIM
Type-C charging port
WiFi 2.4 / 5 GHz
GPRS, A-GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BEIDO
Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, 10/5W wireless charging
Battery capacity 10,000 mAh, Quick Charge 5V3A, 7V3A, 9V2A, 12V2A
Degree of protection: IP68/IP69, MIL-STD-810G
Water resistant from 2m to 60 minutes, 2m drop on concrete from any angle
Temperature -20°C to +50°C
Dimensions 171.6×85.5×18.7 mm
Weight 372 gr
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The buyer receives a black flat box with embossed inscriptions in blue tint. In particular, it is indicated: 88 Series. The fact is that in the 88th line there are models S88 Pro and S88 Plus. They differ in a set of cameras and the amount of RAM. In our case, the most advanced model is the S88 Plus, as indicated by the sticker in the lower right corner. Inside we see a plastic tray, in the recesses of which are all the components of the kit.
Two instructions in several languages immediately catch your eye, including Russian, the large dimensions of the smartphone itself, an adapter from Type-C to 3.5 jack, a lanyard and a “master key”.
They laid the charging cable in a very unusual way, twisting it into rings and securing it with a pair of brackets. The smartphone supports fast charging and a charger to match it. It is capable of providing increased output voltage and current values up to 24.3 watts.
This is followed by accessories unusual for smartphones — a lanyard (you never know under what conditions you will have to operate the gadget), an adapter for connecting wired headphones, an amplifier, etc., and a “master key” for an expansion slot and a Type-C port plug.
Taking a smartphone of unusual size in hand, we feel its weight and study the inscriptions on the shipping envelope.
Well, well, we immediately note that the smartphone is not for the female palm, yes, and not for any male. It is really big and weighty, but at the same time somehow okay and securely lies in the hand without the slightest inclination to slip out. You immediately understand that in your hand is not a slender, glass dialer (God forbid it falls out of your pocket onto the sofa or sit on it)). Fragile electronics are securely packaged in a sturdy plastic case with rubberized sides. In addition, the 6.3-inch screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. For greater reliability, the screen is slightly recessed inside the case and the sides provide additional protection.
The model is available in three colors and, if desired, you can choose a smartphone with an orange, green or black case.
Let’s start with a detailed inspection from the top. There is a narrow slot of the earpiece, the pupil of the front 16 MP camera, sensors and an event indicator, for which special thanks.
Top clean. Yes, there is no jack for connecting wired headphones. In a secure smartphone, this is justified — there are fewer opportunities for dirt and water to penetrate into the case. Many have long switched to the TWS version of the headphones, and for those who like wired sound, an adapter is included.
Since the corners of the smartphone case are the most vulnerable to damage, here they are hidden under the influx of a rubber bumper. In the event of a fall on a corner, this will not allow the body to deform.
On the right side of the case, there is an aluminum overlay that reinforces the structure and protects against lateral damage. It is screwed to the body with screws, no glue, everything is secure. The inscription on it informs about the protection of the phone from moisture. As usual, there is a volume rocker on top, a power button below, and a fingerprint scanner closer to the middle. The buttons do not play and are planted through waterproof membranes.
At the bottom, behind a silicone plug, is a Type-C port, and next to it is a microphone hole. The plug sits tightly and for charging, connecting a PC or an adapter to audio, the “master key” from the kit will come in handy.
The left end of the smartphone is also protected by an aluminum overlay. Here are the expansion tray and two additional buttons. They can be assigned any function, whether it is the activation of the camera, the player, the shot on the air of an SOS message, etc. It is for the latter case that one button has a different texture, because it will be easier to find it by touch in a difficult situation.
To open the card tray again use the «master key». And here I was a little upset — the tray is either on a TF + SIM card or on two SIM cards. Although, on the other hand, I still can’t imagine how you can fill up 128 GB of the phone’s internal memory so that you can further expand the memory with a separate card. You can increase the memory by another 512 GB, which is a very good indicator. You should not worry about the penetration of water into the phone from the side of the tray either, there is a silicone seal (bright red in the photo).
The back side of the case looks no less technologically advanced than the ends of the smartphone. Side aluminum pads go to the back side, an aluminum pad protects the camera block on the sides, and a variety of textures provides a secure grip. Under the central part of the back of the case is a wireless charging node! Yes, this smartphone can do that. He himself can be charged without wires with a voltage of 5 Volts with a current of 2 Amperes, and other gadgets can be charged from him with parameters of 5 Volts 1 Ampere. Those. among other things, S88 Plus can also serve as a power bank. Not bad, right?
Surely, many have noticed recognizable motifs in the design of the phone. Yes, we are talking about Iron Man and Doogee even came up with a pseudonym for this model — The real energy Soldier. And associations arise not only because of the 10K mAh battery, but also because of the “eyes” under the camera block. Of course, this can be called taste, etc., but these design elements have a backlight that changes color depending on the situation. Those. it is also a rear indicator of events.
The camera block includes three cameras and Samsung has been selected as their supplier. The top, main one has a resolution of 48 MP, which is very, very good for a smartphone. Below is a wide-angle (130 degrees) 8 MP and to the right is an 8 MP portrait camera. Good data, but we’ll see the results of the work later.
At the bottom you can see a lanyard loop (you never know what situations may arise) and two speaker grilles. More precisely, there is only one speaker in this part — on the left. The second lattice is a symmetrical design element.
Dealt with appearance. Yes, the smartphone is massive. Dimensions 171.6 × 85.5 × 18.7 mm distinguish it from a number of brothers, but for that it is an “armored phone”. The case must be strong and protect fragile electronics so that it does not fail at a critical moment. It is the design, dimensions of the case, protection at the level of IP68 / IP69 and MIL-STD-810G that help the S88 Plus to remain operational when dropped from a height of two meters and immersed in water to the same depth, and you need to hide a large battery somewhere. So, everything is justified, and after a couple of days I personally stopped noticing the dimensions and weight of 370 grams.
When you turn on the smartphone, it immediately prompts you to select the interface language, WiFi network, navigation method with swipes or on-screen buttons. It also offers to set a PIN to unlock the screen and scan your fingerprint to turn it on. The last operation is carried out quite carefully, you have to apply your finger to the scanner many times and at different angles. In the future, this virtually eliminates scanner errors when the screen is turned on. The result is approximately 8-9 out of 10. Such a dialogue in the first minutes after switching on is a clear convenience — then the user does not need to wander through the settings and look for something. In addition, the smartphone immediately checks for updates. There is a new thing here, which means there is hope that it will continue to fly in the future.
After installing the update, the splash screen of the main screen appears and already here we can note the good quality of the matrix, after all, the resolution of 1080 × 2340 with a pixel density of 410 ppi makes itself felt. I am also glad that Doogee is not carried away by extraneous, unnecessary software like some kind of its own browser. Everything is on point, and a few words about such applications.
The Game Mode app gives you the option to turn off any alerts for the duration of your gaming session so you don’t get distracted.
«Safe Service» helps even an inexperienced user, without going into the smartphone settings, to easily optimize the operation of applications, clear the cache, etc. At the same time, here you can see how much RAM and permanent memory is on board and how much is currently being used.
And the most interesting application is the Tool Bag. The name is funny, but the content is quite useful. Due to the presence of a set of sensors in the phone, it is possible to use it as a compass, level, plumb line, protractor, measure height, noise level, hang a picture evenly, etc. It works correctly, and if there are no specialized tools at hand, then you can get by with the S88 Plus, after calibrating the sensors.
The smartphone is running Android 10, and by the appearance of the settings menu, we can talk about the corporate style of the outer shell for the operating system. The settings menu of the mentioned N30 model looks exactly the same. Here we only add points relating to the features of the S88 Plus model.
The “Phone” item reports the model name, OS version, build number. The item «Battery» is not very informative, but the function of wireless charging of third-party devices is turned on from here. The «Breath Switch» icon provides access to the settings of the indicators under the camera block. Those who do not like this feature in the phone can turn off the “eyes” altogether or set up the indication of individual events.
The «Storage» item will only tell you about the use of the built-in memory, the load of the RAM needs to be looked at differently. Initially, the system occupies 8.7 GB. The “Emergency Rescue” item was added to the shell, where the SOS signal is turned on, the text of an emergency message to the desired number and the actions of custom buttons on the left side of the phone are assigned.
From the menu, if it’s not convenient, you can cancel the unlock by code, fingerprint sensor, or face picture. In principle, the menu is translated quite carefully, albeit with some «local flavor». All points are logical and easy to understand.
Let’s see what specialized software will tell.
The AIDA 64 application gives detailed information about the hardware of the smartphone. As a processor MT6771 or Helio P70, worked on a 12 nanometer process technology. The screen refresh rate is 60Hz and its size is 67*146mm. WiFi works in two bands.
Enthusiasts will be upset — there is no Root, but decent camera resolution and a rich set of sensors, which should have a positive effect on games.
In AnTuTu, the smartphone scored almost 195 thousand points, the screen responds to 10 touches, the memory test showed quite good results.
Performance tests in 3Dmark passed without any complaints.
Results in PCMark
Navigation in the S88Plus works much better than in the budget model N30 from the last review. Satellites are located very quickly. The operation of navigation applications does not cause the phone to heat up.
Since the Battery settings item does not provide an extended view of the power consumption of applications, I had to use PCMark to test the duration of work on a single charge. And then a fiasco awaited me. After ten and a half hours of the test, the phone notified that it had been in flight mode for more than 10 hours and the test was interrupted at 55% charge. Before the test, PCMark warned that incoming messages, calls, notifications could interrupt the test. But who thought that the phone in flight mode will remind you of itself? Re-charge up to 100% and restart the test did not. The Battery tab showed the screen being used for ten and a half hours, 54% capacity. The AccuBatery app confirmed this figure and showed that the junior S88 Pro model withstood more than 15 hours and 41 minutes of continuous testing. In this case, the test stops at 20% of the remaining battery charge. Those. we can safely talk about approximately 18-20 hours of continuous playback at medium brightness and volume. The remaining 54% finished off another day with games, surfing and four films.
Regular charging, with the declared characteristics, has only two protocols. It is the latest protocol, MTK PE, that provides fast battery charging, and in normal mode it can provide almost 19 watts of power. The phone is fully charged in 4 hours, while the adapter raises the voltage, i.e. Claimed fast charging is.
It’s time to take a look at the event indicator on the back of the smartphone. During charging, the «eyes» glow red, at the end of the process green. When a message or notifications from applications arrive, the color changes to blue. There is a music mode where the colors change alternately to the music. And of course, all this can be turned off.
The gaming capabilities of the smartphone allow you to work out the picture smoothly, without pauses and jerks. Perhaps extremely demanding games on hardware and graphics will behave differently, but PUBG Mobile, Injustice 2 and War Robots Remastered worked fine.
In conclusion, a few words about the application and sample pictures. At first, the application raised questions. The fact is that it has only two modes — normal shooting and panoramic. But there are three cameras. Where is the portrait mode? It turns out that the camera is not a fake and is used for its intended purpose for taking a portrait. When you point the camera at the face in normal mode, a frame appears around it and tracks the movement of the head. Also missing is the contribution of macro photography.
But is such a mode needed here, if in the usual close range the camera shoots more than decently.
The camera does not fall into sepia, as it was in the N30 model, and normally perceives the light areas of the frame, like the sky.
Some more pictures of the phone.
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Well, well, S88Plus really turned out to be successful. There are minor flaws, but they are lost against the background of the level of protection, huge battery capacity, high-resolution screen, very, very good cameras. In the “armored” sector, the gadget demonstrates excellent navigation results, boasts dual WiFi ranges and multimedia capabilities. If we are not talking about “survivors”, but about working in difficult conditions, then the S88Plus will definitely be a reliable companion.