Blackview is a well-known brand in the market for rugged phones, and for good reason. With its BL and BV lines of rugged phones, the company often hits the sweet spot. These devices are very durable and priced competitively, but some internal specifications were cut to make them more durable. The company is back with another strong, hard-to-break piece of glass. The Blackview BL8800 Pro is one of those phones you could throw down a flight of stairs and it would still work.
Blackview BL8800 Pro: Description
It’s made for people who need a tough piece of tech for rough jobs. Like most rugged phones, Blackview’s newest phone in this category probably won’t win any beauty contests. It looks big and bulky, like many of the best rugged Android phones. This is done to make it as durable as possible. The Blackview BL8800 Pro has a lot going for it, starting with its hardware. Blackview did a great job putting good hardware in the phone and making it hard to break.
The phone’s side rails are made of rubberized aluminum. The rubber coating goes all the way to the corners, front, back, and bottom. Because of the rubber flap, the USB-C port seems to be in a safe place. It feels heavy (12.95 ounces) and big for an average-sized hand, but that’s what gives the phone a sense of durability that’s comforting. At the bottom, you’ll also find a place to hook a lanyard.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Absurdly cheap during promotion
- Excellent design
- Night vision camera
Cons
- No microSD card slot
- Too heavy and bulky
- Hit-or-miss fingerprint sensor
Blackview BL8800 Pro: Specifications
| SoC | MediaTek Dimensity 700, Cortex-A76 |
| Display | 6.58-inch |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Storage | 128GB |
| Battery | 8380mAh |
| Dimensions | 75mm x 82mm x 15mm |
| Weight | 373 grams |
Blackview BL8800 Pro: Design
The BL8800 has a rugged design that screams “outdoor smartphone” more than anything else. I’ve looked at a lot of these kinds of smartphones, and to say that Blackview played it safe would be a huge understatement. All the boxes are checked, from the required rubber flap to protect the USB Type-C port to the four corner protectors and metal screws for the frame.
Because of economies of scale and sticking to what works, the BL8800 doesn’t change much from the common design language that hundreds of other rugged and outdoor smartphones have been based on. It comes in black, orange, and green.
The latest midrange smartphone from Blackview feels heavy in your hand. This is because it has a more powerful cooling system and a bigger-than-usual 8.38Ah battery. It’s a big phone: it weighs 365g and has dimensions of 176 x 17.7 x 83.5mm. The front of the beast has a pinhole camera near the top, a SIM card reader (but no microSD card slot), and a customizable button on one side, and the volume rocker and power button (which also works as a fingerprint scanner) on the other.
The back is slightly curved to make it easier to hold, and it has an octagonal glass surface that protects four camera sensors and an LED light. As expected, the phone is rated IP68 and IP69K for resistance to water and dust, but it also says it meets the stricter MIL-STD-810H standard.
Blackview BL8800 Pro: Features
The main reasons to buy this Blackview phone are the thermal imaging and ruggedized chassis. But what does it offer besides that? This 5G mobile phone has a 50MP camera, fast charging, and measures to protect it from damage. It has been called a “game-changer for rugged lifestyles.” With ratings of IP68/IP69K and MIL-STD-810H testing, you can count on the Blackview BL8800 Pro to stay safe in most situations.
On the downside, it runs on Doke 3.0, which is based on Android 11 and comes with some games and apps that you don’t need or want. With a “glove mode,” you can use your phone while wearing gloves, which is helpful in cold weather. But the touchscreen doesn’t work well when it’s wet, so make sure to wipe it down if it rains or if it gets dirty in some other way.
Lastly, a screen protector is already on the BL8800 Pro. Even though our test device had a few small air bubbles under the protector, it’s still better than having to put the protector on by hand.
Blackview BL8800 Pro: Performance
The BL8800 has its own version of Android called DokeOS 3.0, which is just a skinned version of Android. There are a lot of games on the phone, but none of the DIY apps we were used to, which is a shame since that’s who it’s for.
The raw benchmark numbers show what would be expected, with a few outliers (like the highest overall Passmark score ever recorded), which could be caused by software updates, tweaks, etc. Overall, it’s a very capable machine, though it’s not very fast. As long as you know it’s not a gaming powerhouse, you won’t be disappointed.
The 6.58-inch screen’s resolution is 240 x 1080 pixels (18:8 aspect ratio), and it can get as bright as 480 nits, which makes it a great choice for use outside. Overall, both indoor and outdoor colour rendering is subjectively good, but that depends on a number of things. It seems to have a layer that keeps oil from sticking to it.
Price and Availability
Both the Blackview BL8800 and the Blackview BL8800 Pro came out in May. It costs $400 in the US, but if you buy one through Blackview’s website and use the coupon code discount01, you can save $10. The phone sells for £383 in the UK. Also, you can buy the device from major online retailers like Amazon.
It comes in black, orange, and green colours. It costs about the same as other mid-range devices. It’s too bad that it only comes with one memory configuration (8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage).
Final Words
It’s big, heavy, and tough, and it can take a lot of abuse. The Blackview BL8800 Pro could be used as a weapon or a door stop, but at the end of the day, it’s just an average phone wrapped in thick plastic to protect it.
This isn’t a bad thing at all, but it may take you a while to set up the BL8800 Pro to your liking, even though it has good benchmarks and is not too expensive. Because of the problems with the Russian set-up and the apps and games that come with it, this may not be a good choice unless you really want a tough phone with thermal imaging night vision. Other than that, it’s a good, tough phone you can count on in any situation.
FAQs
How good is Blackview phone?
A design that is rugged and useful that is also affordable. The lower cost shows up in the camera sensors and the amount of RAM. Few people would choose this as their main phone, but it’s good for camping.
How strong is Blackview phone?
The device is known for being tough, and it has modern smartphone technology called “Rugged.” Reverse charging is a feature of the Blackview BV4900 Pro. This is a feature that is usually associated with smart devices, and it is still pretty new to rugged phones. The phone has a battery that lasts a long time: 5580mAh.
