Doogee BL5000 Review: Underwhelming With Few Redeeming Features
It wasn't that long agone when the Chinese-owned Spanish brand Doogee was a virtually unknown name for the global tech media. Merely recently, the company has started doing some very interesting things. With the Doogee Mix, they created a near bezel-less smartphone that sells for under $200, and by all accounts, it's a very successful product for the company. Nosotros've already reviewed that detail device, so now it'south the turn of the next mid-range offer from the company, the BL5000, to come under the scanner. Unlike the Mix, this one'south not bezel-less by any ways, merely it does accept another trick up its sleeve – a massive 5,050mAh battery. So if you're the sort who'south ever running low on accuse, should the Doogee BL5000 be your next smartphone? Let's find out!
Doogee BL5000 Specifications
Correct off the bat, let's take a expect at the cardinal hardware specifications of the Doogee BL5000.
| Dimensions | 155.two x 75.8 10 x.3mm |
|---|---|
| Weight | 210 grams |
| Display | 5.v" TFT IPS 1920x1080 (650 nits max Brightness) |
| SoC CPU GPU | Mediatek MT6750T 64-scrap Octa-core Cortax-A53; 4x 1.5GHz, 4x 1.0GHz Republic of mali-T860 MP2 650MHz |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Storage | 64GB (MicroSD card upwards to 128GB) |
| Primary Camera | Dual 13MP Cameras, f/2.2 with AF and LED Flash |
| Secondary Camera | 8MP with LED Wink |
| Bombardment | five,050 mAh Li-Po, Not-removable |
| Operating organisation | Android seven.0 Nougat |
| Sensors | Light sensor, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer |
| Cellular Connectivity | LTE (B1:2100, B3:1800, B7:2600, B8:900, B20:800MHz), 3G HSPA (900, 2100MHz), 2G GSM (850, 900, 1800 and 1900MHz) |
| Price | ~$150 |
What's in the Box
- Doogee BL5000
- Charging adapter
- USB to microUSB cablevision
- Transparent silicone dorsum-cover with textured, micro-dot end.
- SIM ejector tool
- Instruction transmission, Warranty card, Plastic screen-protector, Microfiber material
Retail Packaging
The Doogee BL5000 comes in a matte black retail box that'southward got a glossy moving picture of the phone, while the every bit glossy 'BL5000' market at the bottom is accompanied past a tagline that reads, and I qoute, "Exist long time, vest to you". Say what? Maybe the visitor was trying to convey something about the durability of the production, simply it got lost in translation for sure. Incomprehensible English language nevertheless, the box looks fairly absurd, but not quite as premium as the ane we saw on the Doogee Mix, which is surprising, considering that the two phones are priced similarly.
Some other thing worth noting is that on the side of the box, the company has actually etched in what looks like 2 cameras that are meant to symbolize the dual-cameras on the smartphone.
The contents of the box have already been detailed in a higher place, but a few points need to be noted. The phone actually came with the transparent silicone back-comprehend already on by default, which, I felt was pretty cool. The box also has Doogee's classic SIM ejector tool that looks and feels way amend than the stuff generally supplied by other vendors.
As for the power brick, information technology'due south a rather hefty 1 that supports upward to 12V / 2A. It calls itself a 'Fast Charger iii.0', but information technology wasn't immediately clear what that signifies, considering the official literature doesn't specify whether MediaTek's fast charging tech, Pump Express, is supported by the device or not, nor does Doogee has its own propitiatory quick charging applied science dissimilar Asus's BoostMaster, OnePlus'south Dash Charge or Huawei's SuperCharge, but more than on the device's battery credentials a bit later.
Design and Hardware
Taking a look at the telephone itself, we've got the bluish version here, and there's something very interesting about the rear panel. The company claims to have created 15 different layers to refract the lite in all unlike directions, which is similar to what nosotros saw on the Honor ix. However, the refraction event on this one is neither as impressive nor as extreme as what we saw on the Honor 9. I made information technology a bespeak to spent a bit of time moving from different lighting conditions, trying to run across the consequence on the rear of the smartphone, and my initial impression is that, is a absurd finish and, the effect is present, only it's just not that significant. Also, the sleeky texture makes it a bit of a fingerprint magnet, which is withal another badgerer, if but a minor one.
On the hardware side of things, the Doogee BL5000 comes with pretty decent specs for the price. The device ships with a MediaTek MT6750T chipset, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of built-in storage that tin can exist expanded by way of a microSD card of upwardly to 128GB in chapters. As for the rest of the phone, the first thing that strikes you when you pick it up for the first time is its immense heft. Weighing in at a staggering 210 grams, the BL5000 is a heavy phone, there'due south no getting effectually that. The device packs a massive 5,050mAh battery and that adds not only to the its heft, but also makes it noticeably thicker than almost of the other devices at this cost-betoken.
As far every bit the telephone'southward aesthetics are concerned, Doogee has employed something called the 'viii-curve design'. What that ways is that, not only are the iv rear corners slightly curved to make information technology a chip more comfortable to hold, the same holds truthful for the front corners every bit well. The fingerprint scanner is integrated into the concrete Home button on the front end, the microUSB port is at the bottom forth with the speaker and the microphone, while the 3.5mm AUX port at the meridian is certainly a welcome step. Overall, the phone feels nice and well-build, but is a bit too hefty for me, although, it's nothing that you deceit become used to if you lot really value the actress juice.
Display
The display on the Doogee BL5000 is actually quite interesting. It is a 1080p, 5.five" IPS console, and information technology's got really deep colors with really nice dissimilarity that belies the device's super-affordable price-point. The viewing angles aren't one-half bad either, although, similarly-priced devices like the Redmi Notation 4 easily outshines it in this particular section. However, where the Doogee BL5000 display really shines through is in the brightness department, where the 650 nits maximum is even higher than the 600 nits on the iPhone 7, which is actually unheard of for any telephone in this segment. In real life, the crazy level of brightness actually translates to great outdoor visibility, even in bright daylight. What's as impressive is the minimum effulgence of just 1 nit, which makes the phone eminently usable in full darkness without straining your eyes. Overall, the display is amongst the very all-time I've seen at this toll-point, no questions asked.
User Interface
The telephone runs on Android seven.0 Nougat out-of-the-box with Doogee'due south own rather garish looking peel on top. The UI looks kinda' cartoonish to me, but one of the major benefits of Android is that, with a bit of tinkering, you can change most parts to suit your own way and taste. So throwing in a free custom launcher and third-party icons will help you easily articulate out most of the annoyances that come with the OEM skin. I interesting thing to note here, is that the OEM launcher does come with an 'All Apps' push button at the center, which is rare with Chinese devices, whose manufacturers are manner too enamored with the apps-haphazardly-placed-across-the-dwelling-screen artful of iOS rather than the clean-cut app-drawer of Android.
Some of the other features of the OEM launcher include a news center that y'all tin can admission by swiping from the left-edge on the Dwelling screen, an integrated theming engine that can be accessed past pulling the annoying string that dangles from the top, and some gesture and motility controls that piece of work fine, but to be perfectly honest, I haven't actually used them too ofttimes because they felt more than contemporary than anything else. Sure they may help you lot navigate your phone quicker if you take the fourth dimension to learn more about them, just they are a niggling bit hit and miss in terms of their effectiveness, although, it'due south nice to take the options.
The news-center, on the other paw, works peachy in my feel. Information technology aggregates stories from reputable media houses, such as NYT, CNN, NBC, BBC etc. and I found myself communicable upwardly on the 24-hour interval's news through that module adequately often. It's a good idea that's implemented well, then it does its job without getting in your face up and disrupting your workflow. The theming engine works alright besides, and offers y'all some overnice themes that look cool, only none of them gets rid of that annoying drawstring dangling from the top, unless you install a third-political party launcher.
Another cool feature is the fast-capture selection that allows you to record video straight from the standby way, and I absolutely loved that feature because it is something that I actually found useful. Finally, the fact that the bottom-bar with software navigation buttons tin can exist hidden is a great addition to the UI. Just tap on the down arrow to hide and swipe upward from the lesser to bring it upward. It's a fantastic idea that gives you the best of both worlds, and I've no idea why non as well many mainstream manufacturers implement this feature. I absolutely loved it, and I'grand confident that more than people volition, if they simply used it for a day or two.
Performance and Benchmarks
Every bit mentioned before, the Doogee BL5000 is powered by the MediaTek MT6700 SoC, which constitutes an integrated octa-cadre Cortex-A53 CPU where iv of the cores are clocked at a maximum frequency of ane.5GHz while the other four are clocked at a measly one.0GHz. Cortex-A53 may be power efficient, merely what it isn't is powerful. Clocking them at a maximum of 1.5GHz might be keeping in line with the battery-saving ethos of the BL5000, but unfortunately, information technology doesn't make for a decent performer.
Don't get me wrong, information technology isn't a slow, laggy device dissimilar the cheap Androids from a few years dorsum, but information technology's a pretty middling phone, scoring only around 43,000 on AnTuTu. While synthetic benchmarks rarely always tell the full story, the results in this instance does tell yous that we're not exactly dealing with a performance beast past any ways, even accounting for its budget positioning. The Redmi Note 4, in dissimilarity, scores around 84,000 with the Helio X20 and over 62,000 with the Snapdragon 625. I'm not going into 3DMark, Vellamo, Geekbench, Basemark or any of the other pop benchmarking tools only for one reason. This phone was never meant to be a performance-oriented automobile anyways, with battery-life beingness pretty much the sole focus.
The inclusion of 4GB of RAM, thankfully, makes the BL5000 a snappy multi-tasker, and then you won't feel any real lag even with several apps running side-by-side. I was honestly surprised at how easily I was being able to switch from Uber to VLC to Firefox and the Dialer app without whatsoever of them having to reload even one time. Heed yous, there were other apps running in the background the whole fourth dimension, including the figurer, calendar, gallery, etc. What it means is that, overall, you're unlikely to have any existent problems with the device in mean solar day-to-day usage.
As for the fingerprint scanner, it works, but but virtually. Truth exist told, information technology is as tiresome as information technology is inaccurate, which was a surprise, given how the Doogee Mix's fingerprint scanner performs. Information technology will go the job done and you'll not even know the departure if you oasis't used a device with a fingerprint scanner before, simply if you have, this i will feel way on the slower side. Yet, it's not really slow enough to be a deal-breaker in my opinion, just another small irritant that takes away a bit from the user-feel.
All said and washed, the one thing that stood out for me was that the phone remained fast and responsive fifty-fifty subsequently installing a lot of apps that usually run in the background. Fifty-fifty with many processor and RAM-intensive apps running in the groundwork simultaneously, I never had whatever bug with calling, messaging or even streaming YouTube. I don't know how much of this responsiveness will be retained as the device ages and more apps and media are added to the mix, but for at present, there's not really a whole lot to mutter.
Gaming
As far equally gaming is concerned, the phone does a decent job for the almost function, although, there are some pretty important caveats to that statement. The Republic of mali-860MP2 GPU establish on the MT6750T is well past it'due south sell-by date, so even though it's clocked at 650MHz on this detail chip instead of the 520MHz on the basic MT6750, it only struggles to return circuitous graphics with the same efficacy and precision expected from devices in this segment these days. I tried graphics intensive games such every bit Aspalt 8, 3D shooters similar Modernistic Gainsay 5, besides as relatively-more resource-friendly games, such as Subway Surfer and Dead Trigger, and all of them worked all right, although, in that location were some definite skipped frames with the offset 2.
While Asphalt 8 was all the same playable at highest settings even with the skipped frames, I had to reduce the settings to medium on Modern Combat v to go a playable frame-rate for a smoother gameplay experience, and even then, the skipped frames were eminently noticeable. The phone also tends to oestrus up a little once you play graphics-intensive games for too long, and it is then that things start falling apart a flake, and the lag starts becoming a hindrance.
Although the other games I played worked almost perfectly, I wouldn't say this is a gaming telephone by whatever stretch. Certain, it would play more or less anything you lot wanted to, but at this segment of the market place, at that place are devices with faster GPUs like the Adreno 506 in the Snapdragon 625. Also, increasing your budget by a chip volition get you better options like the Mali-880 MP10 in the Exynos 8890 or even the PowerVR 7XTP in the Helio X30, both of which will definitely brand for a meliorate gaming experience overall. While this isn't a terrible phone to game on by whatsoever means, if there was i place I would better this device, I think this would be it.
Cameras
Even equally budget smartphones have become increasingly more capable over the past few years, the i surface area that continues to differentiate meridian-tier devices from their cheaper counterparts is imaging. As is the case with most devices in this price-segment, the image quality on the BL5000 is decent, merely with huge telescopic for comeback. The dual 13MP cameras at the back sit down completely flush with the body and don't protrude out, which is a good thing, although, the placement is pretty different from how most other manufacturers exercise it.
Daylight photography is decent, although, colour reproduction could exist better and dynamic range adjustment is kinda' average. What I did similar, however, is that Doogee did not try to make the images more 'vibrant' by over-saturating the colors and making them look artificial.
Right: Exposure Time 1/l, ISO 173
The telephoto lens does its job likewise, which means zooming in on a subject works fine fifty-fifty in relative low-low-cal without any noticeable reduction in details, every bit can be seen in the images below.
Right: Exposure Time 1/33, ISO 262
It's also got a very good shutter time, which means that in proficient lighting, you pretty much practice not demand to worry about blur on the photos. Colors wait natural as well, merely as we start turning the lights off, y'all'll accept to be more careful about blur, because the longer exposure needed to capture the actress details does oft event in blurry and unusable photos unless you're using a tripod. As expected, noise levels start going up to alarming levels if you try to bump up the ISO to anything above 400 to capture more details at night, so fifty-fifty though the 'Pro' fashion offers upwardly to 1600 ISO, that'due south pretty much a no-go right from the outset.
Correct: Exposure Time one/8, ISO 1012
The HDR mode – and I have to assert this in no uncertain terms – is completely rubbish and makes literally no departure to the ultimate flick. While capturing a scene with high contrast, the lighted areas remain done out and the darker areas remain pretty much invisible irrespective of whether you utilise the style or not, so Doogee might also had not bothered with it at all.
Right: (With HDR) Exposure Time ane/viii, ISO 1081
What'south even more atrocious is the manner the bokeh mode is used. The portarit-fashion images taken with the device may (or may not) look cool on Instagram, merely it's more of a software trick rather than quality dual-camera implementation. As can be seen from the images below, the effects look comical, and to exist honest, more like 1 of those awful filter apps available for download on the Play Store rather than any quality technological wizardry.
Right: Exposure Time ane/50, ISO 124
Coming to the video quality, I must admit that I didn't get a lot of time to test every aspect the Doogee BL5000's video recording abilities, but from what I saw, 1080p videos look surprisingly good for a budget phone, only only in brilliant daylight. The merely night-time video I shot looked pretty atrocious, which is perfectly keeping in line with what I was expecting, given it'south less-than-impressive imaging prowess.
As for the selfies, the BL5000 has a cool feature up its sleeve. A front-facing selfie-flash. And while in theory I beloved the idea of information technology, the implementation here leaves a lot to be desired. Without the wink on, the images taken with the forepart-facing 8MP cam lack a lot of details, but when y'all plough the flash on, all it does is make the image look washed out (see image below), which completely takes the point away.
Right: (With Flash) Exposure Fourth dimension 1/15, ISO: 1173
The forepart-cam tin can record videos at 480p (max), and even in vivid daylight, the quality is quite bad. The aforementioned can besides be said about the audio recording quality, then all of that taken together means the Doogee BL5000 certainly isn't your friend if you're looking for a quality camera phone on the cheap.
Note: All the images (selfies included) were shot with the default three.5mm focal length.
Telephony & Audio
I couldn't test the Doogee BL5000's 4G connectivity considering the device doesn't seem to back up LTE networks in India. While Jio and Vodafone'due south 4G networks were existence detected by the device, it could merely connect to Vodafone'due south 3G network, while Jio never worked. On Vodafone'south 3G network, phonation phone call clarity was comparable to other smartphones in the same cost-range, but I couldn't check 3G data because I don't even have information enabled on my secondary BSNL SIM.
While the lack of back up for Indian LTE networks is a huge letdown for would-exist buyers in Republic of india, another disappointing aspect of the phone is its speaker. Fifty-fifty when you creepo up the volume to the fullest, you'll however have to be in the aforementioned room to hear the phone band, no matter which ringtone you lot choose. And if you're in a crowded, chaotic environs, might too be prepared to miss a lot of calls.
YouTube videos are barely aural, and you'll struggle to hear anything even when you take the phone in your hand, barely a pes or ii abroad from your face. The speaker also lacks depth and clarity, sounding pretty awful at high volumes, even though the volume doesn't get high at all in the first identify. The state of affairs improves quite a bit both in terms of volume and quality when using my Sennheiser headphones, then y'all'll likely need to plug the device into external speakers if y'all're looking to mind to any music out loud.
Sensors and Connectivity
Sensors are i area where nearly manufacturers, including industry leaders Samsung, oftentimes cut corners in their lower-end devices, and Doogee is non different. The BL5000 comes with just an accelerometer, a low-cal sensor and a proximity sensor, and that's about information technology. Compare it to the similarly-priced Redmi Note 4, and you'll immediately realize what you're missing out on. The BL5000 doesn't have a magnetometer, gyroscope, and a whole host of other sensors that would otherwise raise your Android experience.
Unfortunately, the lack of a gyroscope on this device means that you can't use it with whatever VR headset any time soon, and to my heed, this was a pretty large blunder from Doogee, given how everybody seems to be jumping on to the VR bandwagon these days, thanks to the prevalence of ultra-cheap VR headsets based on Google Paper-thin. In that location'southward also no notification LED, which is a real problem because y'all take to keep checking the phone manually for letters or calls that you might have missed while you lot were away.
The phone supports dual Nano SIMs, with the second SIM slot doubling up equally a microSD slot. Connectivity options include LTE Cat.six with VoLTE support on Bands 1/iii/7/viii/20 (B1:2100, B3:1800, B7:2600, B8:900, B20:800MHz). The telephone also supports 3G HSPA on the 900MHz and 2100MHz bands, as well every bit 2G GSM on 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz. The phone support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, merely the exact specs aren't specified on either the literature provided with the device or on the company'due south official website.
Battery and Charging
The massive v,050mAh battery is not merely the main selling bespeak of the BL5000, information technology's actually where the device derives its name from. The battery is large, but information technology also charges fast, considering within about 10 minutes of plugging it in, you lot can exist on twoscore% charge, which is no small number when yous consider the overall capacity of the bombardment. However, strangely enough, even though the MT6750T is uniform with MediaTek's Pump Express 2.0, there'southward no mention of that in the literature available with the phone, nor is in that location any word on the company's website. By my reckoning, the phone takes about 2 hours to get from 0 – 100 with the supplied charger, although, the company promises i.5 hours nether standard weather. Either way, these are impressive numbers, simply look them to change for the worse with fourth dimension.
In terms of battery life, the Doogee BL5000 is just hard to beat. I've played around with Gionee's incredibly impressive big-battery 'Marathon' serial devices before, and the BL5000 competes with them on even terms. I accept been getting around ~9 hours of screen-on time with pretty intensive gaming, surfing and streaming, merely well-nigh full general users will very likely get even better SoT, given that, unlike me, you'll probably not actively endeavour to kill your bombardment for the sake of science. Overall, the stamina that the BL5000 bombardment exhibits volition even put the Energizer bunny to shame, but whether that alone volition exist enough to convince buyers to purchase this device is something that remains to be seen.
The Terminal Word: Buy Simply if Bombardment Life Takes Precedence Over All Else
The Doogee BL5000 is a nice looking phone that has a sharp brandish, decent specs, great bombardment life, and decent overall performance, merely it'south let down past lackluster cameras, the absence of critical sensors like the gyroscope and the magnetometer, a terrible, terrible speaker, sub-par gaming operation, and many other piddling niggles that arrive an unimpressive device overall. Priced at $185.99 on Amazon.com as of October 14th, the device gets tough competition from the likes of the Redmi Note four, Award 6X and, if y'all raise your budget a bit further, the Mi A1, all of which are miles alee of this device. The 4,050mAh battery on the Redmi Note 4, specially, is a stellar performer, is much the amend choice at the ~$150 price indicate.
SEE As well: Doogee Mix Review: Style Over Substance
Doogee BL5000 Review: All That Glitters Ain't Gold
The Doogee BL5000 is an interesting phone. It's got a corking display and an absolutely killer battery, but they lonely cannot rescue what is substantially a sub-par phone in the overall scheme of things. Information technology doesn't have anything terrible about it and information technology certainly won't leave a bad taste in the mouth in one case you've used it for a while, simply there are just as well many small-scale annoyances to merit a recommendation from united states of america. The software, to be honest, didn't seem half bad once I replaced the original launcher with Nova, but unless battery is your sole expanse of business organization, we'll recommend giving this a miss.
| REVIEW OVERVIEW | |
| Pattern and Build Quality 7 | |
| Display 9 | |
| User Interface six | |
| Performance 7 | |
| Gaming 5 | |
| Battery Life 9 | |
| Telephony and Audio 4 | |
| SUMMARY The Doogee BL5000 is non a bad device, and it does have its stiff points, but for the price information technology's asking, there are many better devices bachelor these days, which is why we find no reason any to recommend it even if bombardment life is your primary concern. | six.7 OVERALL SCORE |
Source: https://beebom.com/doogee-bl5000-review/
Posted by: craigdumbet.blogspot.com
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