Oscal is a sub-brand of Blackview—renowned for its rugged and durable devices—the Oscal Modern 8 marks a significant pivot towards capturing the essence of modern smartphone design without compromising on the rugged DNA that has defined Blackview’s legacy. This phone is positioned as an entry-level smartphone, but its offerings suggest something beyond the ordinary. It brings to the table a series of features that are designed to elevate the user experience without burdening the wallet. With its eye-catching aesthetics, including a soft-touch, ultra-slim body, and a suite of technical specifications aimed at ensuring a seamless operation, the Oscal Modern 8 stands out as a compelling choice for those who value both form and function.

Oscal Modern 8: First Look - Entry-Level with a Premium Feel?

Design & Build

The Oscal Modern 8 introduces an artful blend of aesthetics and ergonomics, marking a significant departure from the rugged design language traditionally associated with Blackview’s offerings. Its artistic appeal is immediately noticeable, featuring a soft-touch finish that feels luxurious in the hand. The slim profile of the device, measuring just 9.1mm in thickness and weighing 214g, makes it both comfortable to hold and easy to carry.

In a market where smartphones increasingly resemble one another, the Modern 8 distinguishes itself through its ultra-slim and lightweight construction. The use of advanced materials and manufacturing techniques has resulted in a device that is durable and resistant to fingerprints, thanks to its sophisticated electroplating technology. This approach ensures the phone maintains its elegant appearance over time, free from the smudges and scratches that often plague handheld devices. The Oscal Modern 8 is available in three eye-catching color variants: Wisteria Purple, Ripple Blue, and Ash Gray. The colors, combined with a gradient design, allow the device to stand out, ensuring it shines brightly in the palm of your hand.

Oscal Modern 8: First Look - Entry-Level with a Premium Feel?

The design and build of the Oscal Modern 8 set a new standard for entry-level smartphones, offering a premium feel that belies its affordable price point. This device proves that one does not need to compromise on aesthetics or build quality when opting for a budget-friendly smartphone option. As we move forward, we’ll delve into the performance aspects of the Modern 8, examining how it stacks up in terms of processing power, memory, and overall user experience.

Performance

At the heart of the Oscal Modern 8 lies the Unisoc T616 processor. This octa-core chipset is designed to provide a reliable performance for everyday tasks, including web browsing, social media, and light gaming. With a 12nm manufacturing process, the T616 strikes a balance between power efficiency and performance, featuring 2 Cortex-A75 cores for demanding applications and 6 Cortex-A55 cores for energy efficiency. Operating at a peak frequency of up to 2.0GHz, the processor is equipped with AI enhancements to improve app launch times, battery life, and photography capabilities.

Oscal Modern 8: First Look - Entry-Level with a Premium Feel?

The Modern 8 is equipped with 8GB of RAM, which can be expanded by an additional 8GB, effectively offering up to 16GB of RAM. This unique feature allows the device to handle multitasking and demanding applications more smoothly, reducing reload times and enhancing the gaming experience. For storage, the device offers a top-capacity option of 256GB ROM, with support for up to 1TB of TF card expansion. This generous storage capacity ensures that you can store all your photos, videos, and apps without worrying about running out of space.

Display

The Oscal Modern 8 doesn’t just promise a compelling performance; it also offers a visually stunning experience through its display features. At the forefront of its appeal is a large 6.75-inch HD+ screen that brings content to life with vivid colors and sharp details. This display utilizes a resolution of 720 x 1600 pixels, striking a balance between energy efficiency and visual clarity. The HD+ designation means that while the screen might not boast the highest resolution on the market, it delivers crisp, clear images and text, making it suitable for everyday use. The choice of an IPS panel ensures wide viewing angles, so colors remain consistent even when viewing the screen from off-center positions.

Oscal Modern 8: First Look - Entry-Level with a Premium Feel?

One of the highlights of the Modern 8’s display is its 90Hz refresh rate, a feature that’s still relatively rare in the entry-level smartphone segment. This higher refresh rate results in smoother scrolling and better responsiveness, enhancing the overall user experience, especially during dynamic content consumption like gaming or video playback. It makes the interface feel more responsive and can significantly improve the viewing experience by reducing motion blur and making animations look more fluid.

The design of the Modern 8’s display also emphasizes minimal bezels, achieving an 89.9% screen-to-body ratio. This design choice contributes to the device’s modern aesthetic and maximizes the available screen space for content, making the phone more compact and easier to handle. The brightness level of up to 450 nits ensures that the display remains visible even under bright sunlight, and the 178° viewing angle of the IPS panel guarantees that the screen looks great from almost any angle.

Camera Capabilities

At the forefront is a 50MP main camera equipped with a Samsung® ISOCELL JN1 sensor, ensuring high-resolution photos with crisp detail and vibrant colors. Complementing the primary camera is an 8MP selfie camera, featuring a Samsung® ISOCELL 4H7 sensor, and a 2MP depth sensor for enhanced portrait shots. This trio of cameras empowers you to capture stunning photographs and videos in a variety of settings and scenarios.

The 50MP rear camera, with its larger sensor size and pixel technology, is adept at capturing detailed images in both well-lit and low-light conditions. The inclusion of Tetrapixel technology allows the sensor to adapt to varying lighting conditions by adjusting its pixel size, improving clarity in bright environments, and enhancing low-light photography by combining pixels for greater light sensitivity.

Oscal Modern 8: First Look - Entry-Level with a Premium Feel?

Oscal Modern 8’s camera software is packed with features to enhance your photography experience. HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode brings out more detail in high-contrast scenes, ensuring that highlights aren’t blown out and shadows retain detail. Night Mode leverages the camera’s sensor and AI enhancements to produce clear, detailed photos in low-light conditions without resorting to overly aggressive noise reduction. Panorama Mode allows for sweeping landscapes to be captured in their full glory, and Beauty Mode ensures that portraits are flattering. The Portrait Mode, with the help of the depth sensor, creates a pleasing bokeh effect that focuses attention on the subject by blurring the background.

For those who like to take more control over their photography, Pro Camera Mode offers adjustable settings such as ISO, shutter speed, and white balance, allowing for a tailored shooting experience. The Modern 8 also supports 1080P video recording, enabling to capture of high-definition videos with clarity and stability. The Face Fill Light feature improves selfie and video call quality in low-light conditions by providing additional illumination.

Operating System & User Experience

The Oscal Modern 8 runs on DokeOS 4.0, a custom user interface based on the latest Android 13 platform, offering a blend of enhanced features and intuitive operation. This operating system brings a fresh aesthetic to the device, with a focus on user personalization, privacy, and seamless multitasking. Users can enjoy a more personalized experience through a variety of themes, widgets, and customization options that allow for a unique and individualized interface.

The EasyShare App, for instance, facilitates rapid, hassle-free file transfers between devices without the need for a network connection, using Wi-Fi direct technology to achieve speeds that are significantly faster than traditional Bluetooth transfers. Another noteworthy feature is Atomized Memory 2.0, which optimizes RAM allocation in real-time, ensuring smoother performance even when multiple apps are running concurrently. This smart memory management system allows for a more efficient use of the device’s 8GB of RAM, effectively expanding its multitasking capabilities without compromising on speed.

Focus Computing is another innovative feature that allows one to choose between Performance Mode, which maximizes speed and responsiveness for demanding tasks, and Battery Saver Mode, which extends battery life by reducing CPU usage for less intensive applications. Additionally, Smart Pre-Loading anticipates the user’s app usage patterns and pre-loads frequently used apps, further enhancing the device’s responsiveness and reducing wait times.

Battery Life

One of the standout features of the Oscal Modern 8 is its substantial 6000mAh battery, providing the stamina needed for all-day use and beyond. Complementing the impressive battery capacity is the 18W fast charging capability, which significantly reduces the time required to replenish the battery. To give you a clearer picture of what to expect from the battery life, on a full charge, you can enjoy up to 27 hours of calling, 26 hours of music playback, 12 hours of web browsing, or 8 hours of continuous video playback. Even under heavy use, the device is engineered to last through one day and into the next.