A tour of the Doogee S96 GT ruggedized Android smartphone
As somebody who takes my cellphone with me on random adventures, I am an enormous fan of rugged smartphones. A reputation that is synonymous with rugged smartphones is Doogee.
Properly, Doogee is again once more with one other rugged Android smartphone, the S96 GT, a revamped S96 Professional.
Is it any good? Let’s have a look, we could.
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Doogee S96 GT tech specs
- Show: 6.22-inch Corning Gorilla Glass IPS Waterdrop show
- Decision: 1520×720 pixel
- CPU: MTK Helio G95 Octa Core；2 x Cortex A76 2.1GHz + 6 x Cortex A55 2.0GHz
- GPU: ARM Mali-G76 As much as 900MHz
- RAM: 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 256GB
- Rear digicam array: AI Quad digicam (48MP+20MP+8MP+2MP)
- Entrance digicam: 32MP
- OS: Android 12
- Battery: 6350mAh
- Charging: 24W (15W wi-fi charging)
- SIM tray: Twin SIM + microSD
- Satellite tv for pc navigation: GPS, Galileo, Glonass, Beidou
- Safety score: IP68 / IP69K / MIL-STD-810H
- Biometrics: Fingerprint reader
- Weight: 310g
- Dimensions: 167 x 81.4 x 15.5mm
Externally, the S96 GT seems like lots of the different ruggedized smartphones I’ve checked out over the previous couple of years. It is an enormous show clad in rubber, steel, and sealed ports.
Colourful steel and plastic are used to attempt to soften what would in any other case be a really utilitarian look, and for such a chunky handset, you would possibly go so far as to name the S96 GT “trendy.”
Properly, if chunky smartphones are your fashion, that’s.
As a smartphone S96 GT is speedy, lag-free, and nice to make use of. The quick octa-core processor helps to maintain issues shifting alongside properly, and never as soon as did I expertise any lags or hiccups in relation to efficiency.
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The cameras are OK. Not nice, however not unhealthy both. The output is ok for the likes of Fb and Instagram, or for sharing with family and friends. There are a complete bunch of digicam options to play with, starting from Portrait, AI digicam, and Evening Mode, to Professional, Panorama, and Time Lapse modes.
One phrase of warning although. Do not belief any of the instance images that the producer makes use of on its web site as a result of a fast search exhibits these to be repurposed inventory photographs.
I actually want smartphone makers would cease doing this.
Similar because the S96 Professional, there is a 20-megapixel evening imaginative and prescient digicam, which makes use of the 4 built-in infrared floodlights to seize black and white nighttime photographs. Whereas it is easy to “Ooooh” and “Ahhhhh” over this, I would a lot choose a thermal digicam, which might be extra helpful and fewer gimmicky.
Nonetheless, if you wish to see what’s occurring round you — out to about 20 meters — at the hours of darkness, this smartphone provides you with that superpower.
Battery life can be good, with the 6350mAh unit holding this going for effectively over a day of use, although I did really feel that the battery life wasn’t nearly as good as what I had with the S96 Professional.
Taking the S96 GT into the outside? No issues.
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The IP68 score implies that it shrugs off moist and dusty environments, succesful even of withstanding water immersion at a depth of 1.5m for half-hour, and, in response to Doogee, a day immersed in concrete at a depth of 1m (undecided the way you retrieve it after that).
You may even take images and video whereas underwater.
It will possibly additionally deal with temperatures extremes ranging between 70°C (158°F) and -55°C (-67°F).
Rubber flaps stop grime and water getting into the smartphone. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
OK, now onto the not so good.
First, the show. A 720p show in 2022 simply would not reduce it anymore. Sure, it is OK on a price range cellphone, however on a cellphone costing $350, it is a large letdown.
Secondly, the microphone is weak, making cellphone calls irritating. Add some wind or site visitors noise, and it is just about unusable with out resorting to earbuds.
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That stated, how typically does anybody make calls nowadays?
However one factor you do frequently on a smartphone is take a look at the show, and that 720p show actually feels previous now.
When you’re searching for a ruggedized, trendy Android 12 smartphone with an honest battery and digicam, then the Doogee S96 GT just isn’t a foul purchase in any respect. Sure, there are some limitations, and I would have most well-liked a thermal digicam to the evening imaginative and prescient function, but it surely’s nonetheless a stable, dependable, well-made smartphone that is able to surviving something the gorgeous a lot nice open air can throw at it.
