Blackview BV8800 Review: A New Flagship Rugged Phone Killer

At the start of the new year, the leading rugged phone brand Blackview introduced a new flagship called BV8800, excelling its predecessors with great upgrades on display, camera, OS, and performance. Will it be a good offer? What’s to expect? We’ll see in this Blackview BV8800 review.

Blackview BV8800 specifications

• Dimensions: 176.2 x 83.5 x 17.7mm
• Weight: 365g
• Durability: IP68 & IP69K & MIL-STD-810H
• Display: 6.58-inch 2408×1080 FHD+, 90Hz Refresh Rate
• Performance: Octa-core MediaTek Helio G96
• Memory: 8GB LPDDR4X
• Storage: 128GB UFS 2.1
• OS: Doke OS 3.0 based on Android 11 OS
• Rear Camera: 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1 main camera, 20MP Sony IMX376 IR night vision camera, 8MP 117° ultra-wide camera, 2MP Depth camera
• Front Camera: 16MP Samsung ISOCELL 3P9
• Battery: 8380mAh 33W fast charge, Reverse Charge
• Audio: 1217 super-linear speaker
• Connectivity: Global LTE bands, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, BT 5.2, GPS+GLONASS+Beidou+Galileo

Design

True to the Blackview rugged DNA, as soon as you grip the BV8800, you’ll find it as bulky as a brick measuring about 17.7mm thick and 365g weight, relatively heavier than a can of 330ml coca-cola, causing hand fatigue in long-time use. However, on the other side, the weighty body makes it dare any challenging environments, which cannot be comparable to most delicate modern smartphones. The back cover uses the TPU and rubber material by a double-shot molding process. The top and bottom sides adopt screws to help fix and avoid breaking apart. The frame adopts the metal material with fixation screws. The right side comes with the volume+, volume-, and a button with power and fingerprint unlock function, while the left side features the SIM card slot and a shortcut button. Four corners are thickened and rubberized to help buffer impacts, while the bottom 2-in-1 Type-C port for charging and earphone connecting adopts a tight, secure lid for waterproofness.

The robust structure makes it IP68 & IP69K & MIL-STD-810H certified. To test the durability of our Blackview BV8800 review unit, we repeatedly threw it onto the dusty, stony, muddy ground or into the water. After 30 to 60 mins, BV8800 worked well without any damages, proving it a reliable partner for any outdoor adventures and industrial uses, let alone prevention from the daily kitchen oil smudges and coffee splashes.

Display

On the front, BV8800 sports a 6.58″ 2408*1080 FHD+ display with an 85% screen-to-body ratio, 18:8 aspect ratio, 400PPI, and 480nit of brightness, turning the display visuals to be sharp and vivid with rich details for easy web browsing, movie streaming, or gaming. Of course, the screen visibility is relatively poor under the sun but doesn’t make a big deal.

Here is one highlight to mention — the 90Hz refresh rate. BV8800 is the first Blackview smartphone to engineer a 90Hz fluid display. Higher refresh rate displays increase the smoothness of graphical motions appearing on the screen and make moving content look and feel smoother and snappier. We carried out a test with the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 Pro and compared difference between 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz. Compared to a standard 60Hz display with lag or stuttering, a 90Hz or 120Hz panel will feel more fluid when you scroll through the UI, browse through the web, or use any app or games.

Hardware

Under the hood, BV8800 runs on the MediaTek Helio G96, the most powerful chip in the 4G MediaTek lineup. It features two powerful Arm Cortex-A76 processors cores clocked up to a speedy 2.05GHz in its octa-core CPU, and Arm Mali-G57 provides excellent graphics performance. Paired with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 ROM, BV8800 is to level up the performance like no before.

We put our Blackview BV8800 review unit through the Antutu benchmark test, and it scored a total of 300,128 points, a bit lower than the Blackview official test of 301167 and effortlessly rivaling mainstream mid-end smartphones. However, the score only tells half of the story. Whether for loading demanding CPU-intensive games, running multiple apps simultaneously, switching the apps, BV8800 copes with ease.

Cooling system

Few rugged phones attach much importance to temperature control, but not the case for BV8800. Blackview configures the 3D liquid cooling system, claiming to give as much as 8.5°C temperature reduction for this hard-core rugged beast. We tested the temperature changes in 30 mins of gameplay. Before the gaming, the temperature maintains between 33.2℃ and 35.6℃, and it reached 36.1℃ and 38℃ after the Blackview BV8800 review test, so slight the temperature rises that you can barely feel the heat.

Battery

As for the battery power, BV8800 packs a massive 8380mAh battery, higher than most rugged phones. According to the Blackview Laboratory tests, BV8800 can offer a video time of up to 12 hrs, music time of up to 34 hrs, and standby time of up to 720 hrs, killing your low battery anxiety on the go in case of no power bank or power socket. In actual use, the battery power of BV8800 drops only from 53 to 47 in 30 mins of continuous gaming.

Fast charge

Speaking of charging speed, BV8800 is the first Blackview smartphone supporting a 33W fast charge that helps quickly resume to full power. Generally, BV8800 takes about 20 mins to refill by 30% of the power and about 1.5 hrs to charge fully. Playing while charging for half an hour, the battery power reached from 46% to 63%. Indeed, it cannot compete with the 66W or higher fast charge for modern smartphones. However, think about that, once you get the BV8800 fully juiced up, it can use longer than expected.

Besides, BV8800 supports OTG reverse charging, which comes in handy when another device is short of power, and you can lend some juice from BV8800, serving as an alternative power bank. In this Blackview BV8800 review, we’ve made a test to see whether the device is compatible with reverse charging, and the result was that — BV8800 successfully charged the IQOS, smartphone, smartwatch, TWS earphones, Switch, mini electric fan, etc.

Doke OS 3.0

There’s a lot to appreciate for the operating system. BV8800 features the latest upgraded Doke OS 3.0 developed by Blackview based on Android 11. According to Blackview, Doke OS 3.0 achieves a giant leap from OS 2.0 version. Not exaggeratingly, the functions and designs are bucking up to the mainstream smartphone OS such as Xiaomi’s MIUI, Huawei’s EMUI, and OPPO’s ColorOS, etc.

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First of all, Doke OS 3.0 has redesigned the themes, wallpapers, and icons to improve the design consistency for the best UI aesthetics, visual comfort, and operation intuitiveness. You can customize the UI to match your style.

Then, long-pressing the desktop can provide various options, including quickly reaching the widgets, home settings, wallpaper adjustment. You can also DIY your desktop by grouping the apps, dismissing folders, reshaping app icons, etc. The versatile desktop unlocks great possibilities for convenience.

Besides, the floating window also shines out to boost functionality and usability to a new level. Swipe down for Control Panel. The screenshot function is for the first time included on the quick panel, and without jumping to the setting interface, you can set the WLAN and Bluetooth just on the Control Panel. Swipe left for Smart Sidebar — you can customize and stick the frequently used apps and functions to the Sidebar and quickly access them next time. Swipe right for Minus-one Screen that shows important information in the card styles all in one panel. Access what we need fast.

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Moreover, more features are ready to impress. For example, Split Screen facilitates multitasking and enhances productivity. System Manager provides a one-stop solution to the app and battery management, while Cold Room helps stop the self background running of the third-party rogue apps. Game Mode allows you to block notifications to improve immersive gameplay with one click. 

Finally, the OS has installed the Toolbag app integrating the Compass, Warning, Barometer, Magnifier, Protractor, HeightMeasure, Flashlight, and more functions. It can’t be more convenient than with these helpful gadgets when traveling outdoor.

On the whole, though not offering pioneering features, Doke OS 3.0 is powerful, smooth, and friendly enough for our everyday use.

Camera

If you’re a shutterbug, then you’ll find BV8800 perfectly covers your photography needs with its 16MP Samsung ISOCELL 3P9 front camera and the rear 50MP Samsung® ISOCELL JN1 camera, 20MP Sony IMX376 IR night vision camera, 8MP 117° ultra-wide camera, and 2MP depth camera. You don’t have to try photography tricks of different kinds to get a perfect shot.

First’s the front sensor. BV8800 has the same 16MP sensor we’ve already met on another rugged phone Blackview BL5000 but provides better selfie quality thanks to the algorithm optimizations. The resolved detail is average, but everything else is excellent day or night, from the contrast, colors to dynamic. Each selfie will be a delight.

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BV8800 is the first-ever Blackview smartphone to adopt the 50MP camera and the first smartphone to equip the Samsung® ISOCELL JN1 sensor. Here are the samples. You’ll notice that the night snapshot is super bright with low noise but doesn’t exhibit more details, and the photo shot by day is crisp and clear with vivid details of great contrast and colors, owing to Samsung’s Tetrapixel and re-mosaic algorithm technology.

Next is the fancy cool night-vision shooter. BV8800 is also the first Blackview smartphone to support night vision, echoing its slogan Make Blackview the Blackview. When you expect to shoot photos of black-and-white style, capture snaps of nocturnal wildlife, ensure safety in adventuring outdoor at night, spot the stealthy pinhole camera on the way traveling, the multifunctional camera is right at the service.

As for the 8MP ultrawide camera, anyway, it’s good: sharp enough at the center while the corners are soft due to the automatic distortion correction, perfectly for one-shot-panorama scenery and group photography.

To express ourselves well, BV8800 also gives different photography modes, including the Night Mode 2.0 that can get bright and stunning night images.

The PortraitColor Mode keeps the focused subject to be colored. You’re always the protagonist of the photo.

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The Portrait Mode blurs the background and tweaks the contrast to focus on your subject, a bit similar to the PortraitColor Mode.

We also recommend the Underwater Mode and Beauty Mode. You can record memorable moments not only with photos but videos as Blackview BV8800 supports 2K@30fps video shooting.

Sound

To enhance the audio experience, BV8800 adopts a 1217 super-linear speaker combined with a 0.9cc-equivalent speaker chamber producing high-volume wide-range sound at the bottom side. In the volume test, the decibel reaches 92 when tested 5cm away from BV8800 and reaches 83 when 20cm away. Without connecting to the earphones, the sound is loud and clear enough in watching TV episodes, playing games, and listening to music for the best immersion.

Final line

Blackview BV8800 review doesn’t stop there, with more features awaiting to explore. To conclude, there’s nothing to complain about — rugged build, 8380 long-lasting battery with 33W fast charge, 90Hz fluid display, top-tier 4G processor, latest Doke OS 3.0 based on Android 11, 50MP AI quad camera, night vision function, etc. Considering the price reaching down to $199.99 for its premiere offer, BV8800 is worth being on your smartphone wish list.

Compared with rugged phone counterparts, it’s excellent in every aspect while being affordable. Compared with mainstream smartphones, it also integrates up-to-date features while being durable. BV8800 strikes a perfect balance between toughness and versatility, well deserved to be one of the best rugged phones for 2022. If you’re interested, go ahead to learn more.