As a new rugged flagship from Blackview, the Blackview BV8800 from the BV Series, Undoubtedly it’s one of the best-rugged smartphones in the market including leaders such Doogee and Oukitel that offer us value for the price. This time brings a few new upgrades in durability, display, camera, and overall performance and has everything to impress you no matter what you’re using it for. So, how well it performs and whether it is worth an upgrade, all this and more in this review.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

Blackview BV8800 Features

  • Doke-OS 3.0 (Based on Android 11)
  • MediaTek Helio G96
  • ARM Mali-G57 MC2
  • 8GB RAM + 128GB eMMC
  • 6.58″ FHD+ Display, 90Hz refresh rate
  • 50MP Quad Rear Camera + AI Night Vision
  • 8580mAh Battery, 33W Quick Charge
  • Dual 4G Network, NFC
Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

Design And Build Quality

In such devices, showing durability and ability to handle challenges is the first thing that catches your eye, and this is what comes with it Blackview BV8800 is solid and rugged, it features a large screen on the front of 6.58 inches and on the back a high-quality synthetic rubber layer with a length of 176.2mm and a width of 83.5mm with a metal frame and fixation screws that gives you a kind of thickness with 17.7mm. It feels great when you hold it in your hand despite its weight of 365g, which is considered very heavy and this is acceptable in a durable phone, I hope its performance is worth it. If you ask me about the manufacturing quality, there is nothing to complain about, because Blackview has always been working on providing quality products to users all over the world at an affordable price.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

On The Front

In front of the device is a full screen measuring 6.58 inches with very thin bezels on the sides, and at the bottom, there is a narrow chin, in addition to the Dot Drop notch from the top that contains a 16MP camera in the middle of the top for taking selfies and video chats, which we will talk about a lot soon.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

On The Back

At the back, has a rugged-looking panel made of a high-quality synthetic rubber layer, Which gives it an appearance of solid and durable. What will catch your attention is the quad rear camera set with night vision and a LED Flashlight in the upper middle. At the bottom of the back is the name “Blackview” and just below it is a lanyard hook and speaker. And what makes it more durable, is in the corners, there are cushions for extra protection and comfort when holding the phone.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

Ports And Buttons

As for the ports, the phone comes with a USB Type-C port from the bottom with a tight, secure lid for waterproofness. The buttons are, the usual, the power button build-in fingerprint sensor, volume button, dual SIM without memory slot. It should be noted that there is a customizable shortcut button on the side for 7 function shortcuts and quick access to your favorite app.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

If you notice the 3.5mm audio jack is missing, that means either you have to use wireless headphones or a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter.

Waterproof

The Blackview BV8800 is covered by high-quality synthetic rubber and rated with IP68 and IP69K, which means it is dust-resistant, scratch-resistant, shock- and drop-resistant, and water-resistant up to 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes. Moreover, it can withstand high pressure and high-temperature washing test, and withstand 100 bar (1450 psi) high water pressure and 80°C high water temperature.

In addition, it also has MIL-STD-810H certification, a military standard certification that ensures the integrity of the device is maintained in almost any situation. And this version is the latest revision of MIL-STD-810, which includes numerous changes from its predecessor, MIL-STD-810G.

Blackview BV8800 – Display Quality

The screen uses IPS technology size 6.58 inches FHD+ with 18:8 aspects ratio and a very good resolution of 2408 x 1080 gives you bright, sharp colors and wide viewing angles which are more than great for consuming visual content on YouTube or otherwise. Finally, Blackview has upgraded the refresh rate to 90Hz for notably smoother scrolling of webpages and animations in apps. The screen visibility stays relatively poor under the sun but doesn’t make a big deal.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

In short, with the BV8800 I will say that it’s one of the best screens for Rugged smartphones in the mid-range category, you will get the best value for what you pay, a large and high-quality screen suitable for media consumption, whether you are watching the video, playing games or browsing the social media.

Blackview BV8800 – Cameras

For those interested in photography and video, one of the main points of the Blackview BV8800 is the cameras. In terms of their specifications, there is nothing to worry about, but the last word remains in the actual performance.

On the back, you get a Quad-camera setup that features a 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1 primary camera that features improved light sensitivity and color fidelity, which captures striking texture and color every time you snap a photo. For the rest of the cameras, you have a 20MP IR night vision camera backed by two IR LEDs, 8MP ultra-wide camera, 2MP depth camera.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

For people who are into selfies, especially night selfies, Samsung® ISOCELL 3P9 16MP front camera won’t let you down. It’s powered by Tetrapixel™ technology that mimics big pixels to take a brighter picture of 4Mp while demosaic algorithm creates detailed 16Mp high-resolution images. This increases light sensitivity to greatly enhance image quality in both bright and dark lighting conditions.

More camera modes include HDR, Night mode, PortraitColor, Underwater mode. Besides, the BV8800 supports cinematic 2k video recording that supports 30 frames per second so you can capture your favorite moments in stunning detail, just as you remember them. Basically, this highly unified camera system can back you up to shoot in any conditions, day or night, wide or ultra-wide, on land or underwater.

Blackview BV8800 Performance

Well, Its time to expose Blackview BV8800 to some tasks that need more effort and there is nothing better than playing games with high settings, the conditions here differ according to the application, game, or any type of program that need large resources, and because the processor used is MediaTek Helio G96 octa-core equipped 2 performance cores of Cortex A76 at a frequency of 2.05 GHz, and 6 cores of Cortex A55, at a frequency of 2.0 GHz, and 12 nm precision manufactured by TSMC. This provides a balanced solution for both performance and energy management. However, its GPU is only Mali-G57 MC2, which is a clear downgrade from the G76 MC4 that came before in the Helio G95.

The new processor carries the same specifications as its predecessor, Helio G95, with small updates in terms of support for cameras and screens and the use of a newer Bluetooth version. But it also comes with a significant drop in graphics performance due to the use of a much weaker graphics unit than its predecessor. But on the positive side, we are expected to see a significant improvement in terms of thermal stability and power consumption, as the Mali-G57 MC2 unit is dedicated to this purpose.
In all, you can see that the Helio G96 processor is a completely overhauled version of its predecessor with improved camera and screen support and a big hit to the graphics unit. This processor’s present in many models of famous brands such as Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S and Doogee S98Infinix Note 11 Pro, and more.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

And as we mentioned the graphics processing used here is Arm Mali-G57 MC2 up to 950MHz, not the best, but its value for the price makes up for it so that it performed well in games depending on the type of game and its requirements, and sometimes there is some kind of lag in high games although it did not constitute hitch, and that’s in games like CoD mobile and PUBG. However, all you have to do is play on medium settings, more than those settings, yes you can play games but not with the perfect experience.

Memory

Most of the applications run very quickly and thanks to the 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage capacity, it would be suitable for installing any application you need, without the ability to expand.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

And for multitasking, browsing between applications was smooth because it is equipped with an 8GB RAM LPDDR4X dual-channel which is more than enough for most of the tasks that you can do with a smartphone such as keeping many applications or large games running in the background. In Short, for multitasking, this smartphone will give you a very positive experience.

Playing Content & DMR Information

To play the content on YouTube, was very smooth. You can play videos at a maximum of 1080p at 60 FPS without any problems or lag, And this is the highest quality you can get.

Next, let’s take a look at the DMR information and Widevine security. I can tell you I’m a little disappointed with this because it’s only Widevine L3 stream certification, so you won’t be able to get HD on Netflix or other streaming services. and this level maybe not be found on all Chinese smartphones without exaggeration. However, you can still enjoy Netflix and all other streaming services in 480p resolution.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

Software

Running on the newly-launched Doke OS 3.0 (based on Android 11) which brings a massive overhaul over the Doke OS 2.0, including more intuitive gestures to navigate, smart app pre-loading, more user-friendly design, an upgraded notebook supporting recording, handwriting, reminding, and encryption, etc.

Connectivity

First, it must be mentioned that the Blackview BV8800 is not 5G capable due to the Helio G96 processor. However, its equipped with a SIM slot that accommodates two 4G nano-sim cards that support all bandwidth offerings of 4G and 3G and so on, so its expected that you will get wide coverage and good signal quality for making phone calls and accessing the Internet easily, In addition to having a MicroSD card on the same socket.

To connect to WiFi networks, It supports dual bandwidths of 2.4GHz and 5GHz, and of course, there is Bluetooth 5.2. That’s not all, there are also some basic sensors for a smartphone, including a gyroscope, accelerometers, and even an electronic compass. Also, has NFC so you can make mobile payments (Supports Google Pay).

Blackview BV8800 Battery And Charging Time

And completes Blackview BV8800 of his success through a built-in 8380mAh non-removable Li-Po battery that allows 3 days for moderate use such as surfing the Internet, Google, YouTube, and following social media, of course, the time is less when playing games or using 4G, but it will stay with you for a whole day on one charge it mostly takes about 90min to fully charge using Type-C with 33W fast charging, it’s very fast and I can say that the battery was very good compared to any battery on other budget rugged phones.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

Besides, BV8800 supports reverse charging which comes in handy when another device is short of power such as a smartphone, smartwatch, earphones, etc, So you can make it as a power bank at any time.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

Final verdict

Blackview BV8800 is another rugged phone with a high-resolution screen and great cameras, 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. All this does not mean that it is flawless because cannot watch Netflix in HD resolution even the GPU is not above average. But, compared with rugged phone counterparts, it’s excellent in every aspect while being affordable. So, BV8800 will not disappoint you and is well deserved to be one of the best-rugged phones for 2022.

Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

Blackview BV8800 Price And Where To Buy

The Blackview BV8800 Smartphone is currently available on the AliExpress Store and Banggood for a very good price So, don’t miss out on this great deal. And to view its price or buy it, you can access the offer by clicking on the store icon.

Packaging Accessories

  • Blackview BV8800 Smartphone
  • Type-C Cable
  • Charger
  • User Manual
Blackview BV8800 Rugged Smartphones Review

Blackview BV8800 Specifications

ColorMecha Orange, Navy Green, Conquest Black
Rugged ratingIP68 & IP69K & MIL-STD-810H
Network2G: GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 
3G: WCDMA: B1/2/4/5/6/8/19 (with RXD);
BC0/BC1/BC10(with RXD) 
4G: TD-LTE: B34/38/39/40/41       
FDD-LTE: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/25/26/28A/28B/30/66 
SIM Card Slots: Dual SIM, Dual Standby (Nano-SIM)
HardwareOS: Doke-OS 3.0 (Based on Android 11.0) 
CPU: MediaTek Helio G96
RAM: 8GB 
ROM: 128GB 
Card Extend: Not Support
DisplayDisplay Size: 6.58 inch IPS
90Hz refresh rate, 85% Screen-to-body Ratio
Panel type: IPS 
Resolution: 2408×1080 pixels FHD+
Rear CameraRear camera: 50MP+20+8MP+2MP
50MP main camera
20MP IR night vision camera
8MP ultra-wide camera
2MP depth camera 
Rear camera photography features
50MP mode; HDR 2.0; PortraitColor; Night mode 2.0; IR night vision camera; 16MP front camera Tetrɑpixel™; Portrait; Underwater mode; Ultra-wide camera Video recording- 2K; 30fps video
Front CameraFront Camera: 16MP
Rear camera photography features
Sɑmsung® ISOCELL 3P9 16MP front camera with Tetrɑpixel™ technology mimics big pixel to take a brighter picture of 4MP
LanguageMulti-Language
Battery & ChargingBattery: Non-removable Li-Po 8580mAh
Battery Quick Charge: 33W 
Charge Interface: Type-C
Other FeaturesWIFI: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 
Bluetooth: BT5.2
Positioning: GPS+GLONASS+Beidou+Galileo
Sensor: Proximity, Light, G-sensor, Gyroscope, Magnetic, Compass 
NFC: Yes 
RGB: Yes 
OTG: Yes 
FM Radio: Yes 
Fingerprint: Yes
Wireless Charging: No 
3.5mm Headphone Port: No 
FOTA(firmware over-the-air) updates: Yes
Size & WeightProduct Size: 176.2mm × 83.5mm × 17.7mm 
Product Weight: 365g