Best rugged smartphones Blackview - 5 best models

Specifications

Blackview BV6900 - Review of a modern and at the same time outdated secure smartphone

We continue our series of reviews of rugged smartphones. This time the hero was the Blackview BV6900, one of the features of which is that it went on sale primarily in some Russian stores, and not on Aliexpress, becoming a kind of exclusive for some time. Although something similar has happened to some smartphones before, the situation is interesting, and the device itself has a large set of functions, although in some places the device is noticeably outdated. But first things first.

Specifications

Announcement: 2020, April. Networks: LTE bands 1-5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17-20, 25, 26, 28, 38, 40, 41, 66. Wi-Fi: a/b/g/n, 2.4 + 5 GHz. Screen: S-IPS, 5.84″, 1080×2280, 432 ppi, 16M colors, touch, capacitive, multi-touch, FHD+, Gorilla Glass 5. OS: Android 9.0 Pie. Hardware: MediaTek Helio P25 MT6757, 2.6 GHz, 8×Cortex-A53, Mali-T880 MP2. Memory: RAM 4 GB, ROM 64 GB, microSD, hybrid slot, LPDDR3. Battery: Li-Ion, 5580 mAh, fast wired charging, wireless charging 10 W. Weight: 292 g. Dimensions: 164.45x81.4x15 mm. Photo: rear camera: quad, flash, autofocus. — 16 MP, f/2.2; — 8 MP, wide-angle, f/2.2, 120°; — 0.3 MP, f/2.8, GC0310 (?); — 0.3 MP, f/2.8, GC0310 (?). Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.2, no flash, no autofocus. Radio: yes, with support for RDS and broadcast recording. Bluetooth: v4.2, A2DP. Navigation: GPS, GLONASS. SIM cards: 2, Nano-SIM. Sensors: accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, proximity, light, fingerprint scanner (rear), NFC. USB: Type-C v2.0.

Equipment

Packaged in a large white box, the BV6900 smartphone comes with the following items:

• charger supporting fast charging;
• cable and headset with Type-C connectors;
• two films to protect the screen (one is already glued to the display);
• some kind of mediator for removing the tray with cards;
• user guide.

The power supply, as stated, can produce voltage up to 12 volts, although the smartphone itself does not take more than nine. Probably, the same charger is used for several smartphone models at once. The included headset does not stand out in any way, and from the sound quality we can conclude that it is intended mainly for talking on the phone.

But I didn’t need a device for removing the tray, since the tray can be easily pulled out with a fingernail.

Appearance and water protection

Official specifications say that the smartphone weighs 284 grams, but in reality the device is even 8 grams heavier, which, of course, is immediately felt when you take the device in your hand. In terms of dimensions, the smartphone also cannot be classified as compact, but I know that some users love such massive devices and do not trust thin and light solutions.

On the front side of the device we see the usual screen rounded at the corners. At the top of the display there is a drop-shaped cutout for the front camera, above which, in turn, there is a speaker.

Just below the screen, if you look closely, you can see the only microphone in the smartphone.

A bright LED indicator while charging the BV6900 can glow blue, green or red, depending on how charged the device is, but the diode also informs about missed events. The proximity and light sensors, which are located just to the right of the LED, do not have a cutout in the film, which is strange and which, in theory, could lead to the fact that they will not always work correctly.

On the top edge we notice only massive rubberized material.

The bottom end looks more interesting due to the Type-C port, which is protected from water and dust by a moderately dense rubber plug. The port is deepened, but the connector of the supplied cable has a standard length, which means that when using a third-party option, the main thing is that the cable casing is not too thick.

The left side with a metal insert held on by screws will delight users with an additional programmable button, to which you can assign up to three actions.

This can be quick access to any application, as well as launching a flashlight, or, say, a walkie-talkie (only via the Internet). For some reason, when the screen is off, the button does not always work, but there are smartphones where it does not function at all with the display locked.

The card tray can accommodate two nano SIM cards, or one SIM card will have to be sacrificed for a microSD memory card.

On the right side there is a more familiar on/off button and separate volume control buttons. True, the buttons are not quite the usual shape, but they feel comfortable.

The back side is mainly made of durable, practical rubber, and the design is further enhanced by metal inserts both at the top and at the bottom.

The camera modules, like the flash, are slightly recessed into the body, which will have a positive effect on their security. The same can be said about the fingerprint scanner, which, however, is located too close to the cameras, but this is unlikely to become a problem, since in the worst case the finger will fall on the fake module. But more on that later.

The eyelet for the strap at the bottom is made, according to tactile sensations, of plastic, although externally the insert looks like metal.

With protection from water, according to my impressions after briefly bathing the smartphone in a pan, everything is fine. The plug does not come off, and bubbles do not form in warm water. An interesting addition to the protection is the underwater shooting mode, when launched, the screen becomes immune to pressing, and the volume down and up buttons are used to control the cameras. Thus, underwater you can take pictures (including with a wide-angle module) or record video.

Display

The screen has high resolution and pixel density, as well as good maximum brightness and comfortable viewing angles. But there are some shortcomings, which, by the way, wander from manufacturer to model, as if it were necessary. Brightness adjustment is not smooth, the minimum brightness is too high, and the color gamut falls just short of the boundaries of the DCI-P3 color space, which is why in many cases the displayed colors will be oversaturated.

The anti-glare properties of the screen are good, and there are unlikely to be any problems with viewing information on the street on a bright sunny day.

The uniformity of illumination is also good.

It is also worth noting that in the Miravision settings there is, among other things, color temperature adjustment, but even when it is set to the minimum, it is not possible to obtain the optimal value of 6500 K.

Display Specifications:

• matrix - IPS;
• official diagonal – 5.84″;
• visible diagonal (including rounded corners) - 5.7″;
• resolution - 1080x2280 (FullHD+);
• PPI - 432;
• multi-touch - 5 touches;
• maximum white brightness - 491 nits;
• minimum white brightness - 18.98 nits;
• maximum black brightness - 0.338 nits;
• contrast in the center of the screen - 1452:1;
• color temperature - 7000-8800 K;
• refresh rate - 60 Hz;
• backlight modulation (screen flickering) - no;
• there is no air gap between the layers of the screen;
• Glove mode - no.

Hardware, operating system and software

Putting the MediaTek Helio P25 chipset into a smartphone (and obviously not the cheapest one) in 2020 is such a solution, considering that a high screen resolution creates an additional load. As a result, the device cannot be called productive, and you should not count on a large number of points in synthetic tests. However, for solving basic tasks not related to running heavy games, the hardware is quite powerful.

When passing synthetic tests and while charging, the smartphone may well become hot, but in other usage scenarios there are no heating problems.

Initially, 56.3 GB of user memory is available for storing various data, and transferring applications to a memory card is not provided.

Not the latest Android 9 works stably on our review hero, but Blackview was again forgotten or could not translate some additional menu items into Russian, and this situation is repeated over and over again in a variety of models, perhaps with rare exceptions.

However, it’s quite rare to come across untranslated words, and it clearly could have been worse.

There are no third-party dubious applications in the firmware, nor are there any advertisements. In addition to the usual services from Google, the manufacturer preinstalled a set of tools often found in secure smartphones. We are talking about a compass, sound level meter, magnifying glass, plumb bob, pedometer, flashlight, etc. Additionally, there are non-deletable applications “Translator” and “SOS” - the latter can be useful for quickly sending SMS asking for help or for making a quick call.

Additional OS functions are represented mainly by gesture control.

The unlocking methods are not very fast, but everything is within normal limits. The accuracy of unlocking both by finger and face is as close as possible to 100%, and in the case of the face, it is possible to remove the lock even in complete darkness due to the function of filling the screen with white.

Connection

In general, everything is good with the connection, although one can find fault with the fact that two SIM cards cannot simultaneously work in 4G networks, and Bluetooth is not the latest version 4.1. As they say, you can’t just go ahead and add new modules to the Helio P25. But there is dual-band Wi-Fi, support for a huge number of LTE bands (see the “Technical Specifications” section), USB-OTG and, importantly, an NFC module. The device is certified by Google, and there are no difficulties with paying through Google Pay.

There is no automatic call recording in the operating system, and there is no way to block unwanted numbers without using third-party software. The vibration strength is slightly below average, but the main speaker is quite loud, but at high volumes it begins to wheeze.

Among the sensors, support for a gyroscope and magnetometer stands out.

Cameras

The Blackview brand has more than once seen devices with fake cameras, and, unfortunately, in the hero of the review, two out of four rear modules also do not work. In fact, only the main module and the wide-angle one work, while a normal bokeh effect cannot be obtained under any circumstances.

The main module produces good pictures, but the lighting must also be good. You shouldn’t count on high-quality shots in the dark, especially since there is no separate night mode. There is no HDR, as well as automatic scene recognition. Examples of pictures taken on the main module:

Additional photos with the main camera

And below are pictures taken with a wide-angle module.

Additional shots with a wide-angle camera

Videos are recorded with the 3GP extension, which is very rare these days. But recording is possible on both modules with a maximum resolution of 1920×1080 and 30 frames per second.

The front camera has a relatively high resolution of 16 megapixels, and if the lighting is good, you can count on high-quality images. As soon as you go somewhere in the shade, your face is already blurred, so the impressions from the front camera are ambiguous. The screen does not work as a flash, at least when using the standard “Camera” application, which has a very small set of capabilities.

The main flash as a flashlight produces 70 lux from a distance of 50 cm, which is very good by modern standards. You'll definitely be able to illuminate your way, but if the charge level is low (starting from about 20%), you won't be able to turn on the flash.

Navigation

In my area, the smartphone was only able to detect GPS and GLONASS satellites, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other navigation systems are not supported at all. But testing navigation in bad weather made it clear that unexpected satellite losses do not occur, and GPS tracks are smooth. If we also take into account compass support, we get a really good navigator in the Blackview BV6900.

Working hours

A battery with a capacity of 5580 mAh is enough for a couple of days of work, if you do not turn the brightness to maximum and if you do not get carried away with heavy games, which are too difficult a test for the BV6900. When playing HD video (offline), you can count on almost 17 hours of operation at a brightness of 150 nits (in our case, this is 80%), and the indicators in other modes are available below:

• navigation in Osmand (on window): 14 hours;
• Gods of Boom game: approximately 6.5 hours;
• GeekBench 4 test at maximum brightness: 7 hours 5 minutes.

Fast charging is supported, although its maximum power does not even reach 15 W, so it will take a little more than 3 hours to fully charge using the included charger. There is also wireless charging with a power of 10 W - without wires, it will take about 4 hours to replenish the charge.

Games

The smartphone is not designed for heavy games, although I was able to play GTA:SA and GTA:VC comfortably on low graphics settings (it’s better not to try to improve the standard settings). In the PUBG toy, frame drops are already occurring, making the gameplay unpleasant, and in the popular World of Tanks, more than 45 frames per second can hardly be obtained even on the minimum graphics.

Results

Although the smartphone turned out to be controversial mainly due to its performance and two absolutely unnecessary cameras, it has a good set of functions for its price. Let's not forget that protected devices are always more expensive than their regular counterparts, with the possible exception of Ulefone Armor X7 and maybe a couple of other models. The Blackview BV6900 has a well-built massive body, a screen with FullHD+ resolution, a modern charging connector, support for wireless charging, NFC and a large number of sensors. You can also benefit from the programmable button, although it doesn't work perfectly when the screen is locked, and there will certainly be those who will appreciate the large number of supported LTE bands.

I would like to express my gratitude to the store https://blackview.pro/ for providing the Blackview BV6900 smartphone for testing. At the time of writing the review, the cost of the smartphone was 17,900 rubles.

Off-road design: frame separately, body separately

Rugged smartphones are a separate category of devices. They cannot be called beautiful, and Blackview BV6000s is no exception. Large, heavy, with an awkward grip, and even red and black (there are a couple more color options on sale).

But in field conditions, a huge rubberized body, the basis of which is an all-milled metal frame, is the key to protection. The rubber is not solid. The side ends of the device became a continuation of the frame; all the main buttons (also metal) are placed on them.

Moisture protection is achieved by rubber plugs covering the headphone output and microUSB port. The plugs are attached to the case with ordinary screws; the kit includes spare ones (screwdrivers for disassembly are also included).

There are two screwdrivers - with a Phillips and a flat head. The cross one is necessary for removing the plugs, and the flat one is necessary for dismantling the rear panel. Behind it is a compartment for two microSIM and a microSD memory card. Blackview engineers did not save space: there are separate slots. They are separated from the plastic housing cover by a rubber mat that acts as a gasket.

On the right are two separate volume control keys and a power button. On the left is a camera call, SOS and a PPT key, the function of which remained unknown to me.

In addition to plugs, additional screws and screwdrivers, the package includes headphones, an OTG cable, a charger and a microUSB cable. Please note: regular cables will not work. Due to the protective covers, the port is deeper than in a regular smartphone. Therefore, the original wire is equipped with an extended connector.

Appearance

The appearance of the smart phone is quite standard for secure devices. Not everyone may like the design of the device; this is clearly not an “office flagship” in a thin body with graceful curves. However, all markers are different in taste and color. Taking the device in your hands, you immediately understand that it was created primarily not for the sake of beauty, but for purely practical reasons.

The BV6000 comes in three color options, Sunshine Yellow, Violet Black and Army Green. It was the “Sunny Yellow” version that was tested.

The phone is made in the form of a rectangle with beveled corners. Around the display you can see a black frame with three touch navigation buttons. The main material of the case is durable and bright plastic, covered on almost all sides with shock-absorbing rubber inserts with relief on the corners.

Headphone and USB connectors are located on the top and bottom edges under thick rubber plugs. Thanks to the included OTG cable, it is possible to recharge or power external devices from the phone's battery.

To replace the SIM card or memory card, you will have to unscrew a couple of bolts on the back of the phone. By removing the special shield, you can see the rubber gasket and the slots themselves under it. The device supports memory cards up to 32GB. I would also like to note the unusual way of installing SIM cards, with cross placement relative to each other.

After such a well-armored body, the screen seems extremely unprotected. The entire display is protected by scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 3 and additional protective glass adhesive on top. But if you believe various videos of the BV6000 falling onto asphalt and throwing it into a wall, which can be found on the Internet, in most cases such screen protection is quite enough.

The sides of the device are covered with durable aluminum plates, on which buttons made of the same material are placed (except for the “PTT” button). On the right side there are volume buttons and a power button. On the left there is a separate camera button, as well as “SOS” and “PTT” buttons. There are no complaints about the quality of the metal inserts - a stylish and functional solution that has received widespread approval. Plastic can cause mixed emotions. The material, strictly speaking, does not look presentable, although the yellow-black combination of the tested sample looks quite impressive.

The BV6000 was created for those who use a phone instead of an oar, hammer and bottle opener in a wide variety of living conditions, including hiking. During the testing process, the gadget passed the test with puddles, sand and running water.

Screen

The diagonal of the device immediately catches your eye: 4.7 inches. Such smartphones have not appeared on the market for a long time (at least among mass devices), giving way to five-inch devices. This suggests that Blackview may have used old stock.

On the other hand, what's the difference? An IPS matrix is ​​used, which provides a good viewing angle and no color inversion. The screen resolution is enough to not see the pixels. The only thing we can complain about is the low brightness of the display: under the bright rays of the sun it may not be enough.

The screen is protected by tempered Gorilla Glass 3. Despite this, the manufacturer glues two films to the screen at the factory: permanent and transport. There is one more spare in the kit. That's right: if you fall face down, protective glass is not a panacea. On a flat surface, the BV6000s case will protect the display, but if you hit a stone, disaster will not be avoided.

In the operating system settings, you can enable the Work on gloves function. It does work, but only for woven textures.

Equipment and first impressions

For an inexpensive device, the BV6000 comes in a very nice cardboard box with decent accessories. The large white box contains a charger with a detachable cable, a headset, a replaceable screen protector (one is immediately attached at the factory), an OTG cable, a small screwdriver for opening the back cover and two spare screws. At the same time, everything is packaged neatly, unlike many more expensive A-brand devices.

From the first minutes of operation, it becomes clear that the smartphone will be quite inconvenient in everyday use. Not every pocket can accommodate such a large case. The thickness of the device does not improve grip. But this is a tribute to the ability to survive such a thing, after which standard ergonomic devices will not save you even in service centers. In addition, Android 6.0 is available to the user out of the box, which also works quite quickly.

Performance

You can't jump over your head: the BV6000s belongs to the budget price range. The processor is quite weak, the video accelerator is from the appropriate segment. Synthetic tests show very modest results by current standards. So, AnTuTu gives the smartphone about 34,000 points.

The BV6000s uses regular memory, just like the more advanced version of the device without the letter s in the name. The smartphone has 2 GB of RAM, and this is enough to complete most tasks without lags or slowdowns. Except that some 3D shooters only work on medium or low graphics settings. Well, did you plan to play “Tanks” on your trip?

Software, tests and games

The BV9500 runs Android 8.1.0 oreo
By the way, all the screenshots have been reduced in size and put together; anyone who needs the originals can download them here. A proprietary launcher from Blackview has been installed, with black wallpaper and slightly redrawn icons. The rest of the Android is clean.

You can also immediately install your launcher and enjoy the benefits of Android 8

The menu on the current firmware is translated into Russian very poorly. We will wait for the update, the last time the update brought translations of all points, I hope it will be the same here. Here we can see options for setting the behavior of the notification LED, gestures and smart button settings.

Let's go through the program for measuring the speeds of RAM and permanent memory. Let's run the Antutu test.

, on average the device recruits 87,000 parrots.

Let's do a stress test from Antutu

Let's launch CPU-Z

Let's check with device info HW

Now it's Aida64's turn

For some reason, someone's favorite Geekbench

At the same time, we’ll run a test from 3Dmark

We’ll also check for the presence of the declared sensors. open By Sensor Tool. Well, the only thing missing is a temperature sensor, but there are all modern sensors, including a barometer.

Having gone through the menu, I cannot help but notice the obvious dampness of the installed software. Menu items are not translated properly into Russian. For example, I didn’t find the usual Mirravision screen settings item at all. and there are also no settings for the functionality of the PTT button, this requires third-party software, but they could have done it out of the box. Also, there is only a setting for one press of the smart button, and there is no additional setting for a long press or double click... There are no settings for the behavior when pressing the finger sensor, as was the case in previous models. I really hope this will be fixed in updates. In general, the operation of the smartphone is pleasing; there are no freezes or obvious brakes. Everything is within the capabilities of the no longer new Helio P23. And another very nice feature is to customize the notification indicator as you want, any color for any notification. Only charging is red, and the battery is charged - green by default. Synthetic tests. This is all good, but let’s check it at the time of the toys. Download the tanks. Tanks can be played comfortably on medium settings.

Let's download asphalt 9. Settings to maximum and you can have a very good ride.

Let's download modern combat 5? It's nice to play on medium settings

Download Dead Trigger2. just flies

For games 4. The display is good, the performance is average, and the battery really makes a difference.

Cameras

The manufacturer does not name the sensor installed in the main camera. But, judging by the quality of the images, this is one of the proven 8-megapixel Sony modules, which at one time were able to win the hearts of buyers.

You shouldn’t expect that a camera can replace a camera. But you can, of course, quickly make a reminder, take a photo of an announcement, or capture something important. With flash, pictures come out even better than with artificial lighting.

The front camera here works on a “so-so” principle: you can take a selfie, but you shouldn’t count on more.

Protection and shock resistance

All connectors (3.5 mm mini-jack and USB Type-C) are sealed with plugs. They fit very tightly and are unlikely to shake before the filling of the device ceases to be relevant. This is a plus for water protection. Blackview has provided it with IP68 and IP69K standards. The latter means that the phone is also not afraid of high pressure and high temperatures.

Impact resistance here is also implemented at a high level. Compliance with the military standard MIL-STD-810G confirms this. According to the manufacturer, the body is covered with several layers of rubber, which can be seen on SUV tires. Inside there is also a shock-absorbing layer of silicone, which should absorb shock loads.

Connection

The smartphone supports all Russian frequencies in GSM, WCDMA and LTE (except Band 20). Problems may arise in the outback, but during testing the device behaved perfectly. The connection is stable and audibility is good. Internet speed is slightly lower than in analogue smartphones - this is the price for a reinforced case.

In addition, the Wi-Fi module does not support operation in the 5.8 GHz band. The Bluetooth module is not cut off, the aptX and LE profiles are functional. There is indeed an NFC antenna on the back cover, and the interface works. At least the data from Troika was read successfully.

Autonomy

The MT6735A processor has low power consumption and heat dissipation. Therefore, the smartphone does not heat up and consumes the battery rather slowly. Together with a capacious battery, this gives good results when operating on battery power. With an average load, the smartphone works for no more than two days with 4G / Wi-Fi turned on - apparently, the reinforcement of the case has an effect, reducing the quality of network reception. This increases the power consumption required for communication operation.

When watching streaming video via Wi-Fi, the device operates at minimum brightness for 7 hours, at maximum for 4 hours. 3D games show similar performance.

It is likely that newer firmware will show an improvement in these results.

Security Capability Test

As mentioned above, if a smartphone lands face down, the screen will be broken by any stone that comes along, no protection will save it. The device will survive a fall even from the third floor onto the back cover, unless it springs back and turns over.

It's more interesting with moisture protection. Some sources claim that it does not exist at all. Tests in mud and at shallow depths Blackview BV6000s passes successfully. But dirt gets clogged under the speaker grille, and washing or even complete disassembly of the device is required (which is provided, but the process is quite lengthy).

Results

Blackview BV6000s is the cheapest rugged smartphone on the market (costs about $150). Despite this, it is capable of performing any task: working as a navigator, replacing a “soap box”, playing the role of an entertainment center. You can even call.

The smartphone can be dropped and drowned - you can use it to ford a river or dive to shallow depths. Chinese PR people even lit a fire on it. Therefore, if you need a secure phone, you should pay attention to the BV6000s.