Blackview BV9500 is quite a unique phone that costs just about $330 but it has a massive 10000mAh battery that is packed into a water-resistant and shockproof body. As always, I will go through all the pros and cons of this device, so stay tuned.

VIDEO REVIEW

UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual items and some extras include USB OTG cable, USB-C adapter, a pair of earphones, a screen protector and a tool to open up the SIM card tray.

DESIGN, DISPLAY, BATTERY LIFE

The Blackview BV9500 is a really big and heavy device but it has a few serious reasons for that: an insanely huge 10000 battery and rugged, water-resistant and shockproof body.

Let’s start with the battery. Obviously, the phone will last you forever on standby mode but if you use it on the daily basis, you should expect to get up to 24 hours of screen-on time, which is an amazing result, to say the least.

You can also charge it up in just about 2.5h thanks to the supplied fast charger. The phone supports wireless charging for added convenience and this feature works fine.

The overall build quality is excellent. The phone uses a hefty metal frame on the sides and shockproof rubber on the top and bottom, and on the back of the device.

The buttons are very nice and premium too. There is also a programmable key that can be assigned to open up an app you want.  In addition, there is a dedicated PTT button, if you ever need to use the push-to-talk feature. On the top of the phone, there is what I believe a port to attach an external antenna. On the bottom, you can find USB-C port and a headset jack. There is a lanyard hole if you ever need to carry the phone around your neck.

The phone has the IP68 rating, meaning it is water and dust resistant. Also, the device’s tough credentials include MIL-SPEC 810G and Gorilla Glass 5 screen protection. That means that the BV9500 is salt, dust, humidity, rain, vibration, solar radiation, transport, and thermal shock resistant. In real life, you can rest assured that the phone will survive drops from up to 1.8 meters.

Obviously, to assure rugged properties of this device, Blackview had to make a few tradeoffs. For example, you need to remove a SIM card door with the screwdriver to access two SIM card slots and the SD card tray.

The display is very good overall. It’s plenty sharp and vibrant, and it is bright enough for outdoor use thanks to 500 nits of brightness.

As for cameras, we are looking at a dual-optics system. On the front, there is a 13MP selfie shooter and LED notification light.

The fingerprint scanner is implemented on the side and it’s really convenient to reach. Also, it is very accurate and fast. There is also a face unlock feature that actually works surprisingly well.

I found the headset jack to provide good sound quality. The loudspeaker is probably the best I’ve heard on any rugged smartphone. First of all, it can get really loud but most importantly, the sound is quite balanced and there is even a decent amount of bass. 

HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

In terms of hardware, we are looking at a well-specced out phone.

Gaming performance is quite good but not perfect. You will be able to run most of the 3D games but you should expect some stutter and skipped frames. Also, there is some lag in Pubg even on medium graphics but the game is still playable.

USER INTERFACE

As for the user interface, the phone ships with the Android 8.1 but it has the Blackview’s skin built on top of it. That means we have redesigned icons and some added features but in general, you get a stock Android experience which is great.

A few notable features include a toolbox that utilizes a variety of sensors inside the phone. There is also a new Blackview Note app and quite a few smart assist features like gestures, the ability to customize the phone and so on.  

I’m happy to report that the overall performance of the UI is very good. The device feels fast all the time and I’m yet to see it lag or stutter.

IMAGE QUALITY

The overall image quality is actually pretty good. You can take some nice daylight pictures that have a good amount of detail and colors are fairly accurate. However, there are quite a few pictures were corners or a certain part of the image is out of focus. Portrait shots may look quite good on social media. 

In terms of low-light performance, it’s not mind-blowing but you can take some decent pictures considering this is a budget rugged phone

Selfies look really nice. The pictures are very sharp and detailed and even low-light selfie quality is decent.

1080p video quality is quite decent but there is no continuous auto-focus which is a bit frustrating.

1080p video selfie video quality is quite good too. However, sound recording quality could be better.

CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues with this device as the call quality and signal reception are pretty good, and the GPS lock speeds and accuracy were okay.

The phone has quite a few sensors including a gyroscope, so you will be able to use the device with VR headsets. Finally, the phone has NFC and FM radio.

CONCLUSIONS

The Blackview BV9500 turns out to be a very solid rugged smartphone that offers a nice and sturdy design, great display, good overall performance, amazing battery life, very good loudspeaker, plenty of sensors and connectivity options, and even good cameras.

However, I wish we didn’t need to use the screwdriver to open up the SIM card tray. Also, there is no continuous auto-focus in video recording.

At the end of the day, these are just minor complaints. I believe the Blackview BV9500 is a very good super battery phone that has a sturdy rugged body and I can easily recommend you checking it out.

The post Blackview BV9500 Review – Solid 10000mAh Rugged Smartphone! appeared first on Gizmochina.

The company Blackview is known for producing all sorts of budget phones but their rugged devices series is one of the most popular on the market. The reason for that is the company manages to find a good balance between design, rugged properties, great specifications and of course, the price. Learn more in the Blackview BV9000 Pro review.

VIDEO REVIEW

UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual items and some extras include a screen protector, a pair of earphones, USB OTG cable, 3.5mm to USB C adapter, and micro USB to USB c adapter.

DESIGN and DISPLAY

It is obvious that the BV9000 Pro is a rugged phone since it is thick and heavy but I have to say this is one of the best-designed and well-built rugged smartphones, just like my previously reviewed Blackview rugged phones. The build quality is excellent as the phone uses mostly metal and rubber in its construction. I love some extra features like a highly customizable smart key.

We now have 18:9 aspect ratio display that I found to be pretty sharp and vibrant both indoors and outdoors. The phone has the IP-68 rating meaning that it is water and dust resistant. Also, the rugged body assures that the phone will survive a few accidental drops. Unlike the BV8000 Pro, there are flaps that cover the ports to avoid water damage.

Just above the display, we have an 8MP shooter for selfies. It is great that we have a multicolor and customizable LED notification light. Gone are the capacitive keys, which are now implemented on the screen.

As for optics, we now have a dual camera setup that I will cover a bit later in the review.

You can access two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot easier, you don’t need to remove the backplate like on a previous generation model.

I found the fingerprint scanner to be quite accurate even though the display could light up a bit faster.

Unfortunately, there is no headset jack but the sound quality via the supplied adapter is pretty good. Finally, the loudspeaker is one of the loudest I’ve ever heard and the quality is quite good but the sound could be more balanced.

HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

When it comes to hardware, the Blackview BV9000 Pro is one of the most powerful budget rugged phones out there.

The phone ships with an octa-core MTK6757CD chip (2.6GHz), 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage.

The gaming performance is just great. All the 3D games work without any issues even if you play them on the very highest graphics settings, which is very impressive for a budget phone. Finally, I didn’t notice any overheating issues.

USER INTERFACE

As far as user interface goes, we are looking at a heavily customized Blackview’s skin that is built on top of Android 7.1.

I’m glad that this time around they kept the app tray and there are customization options and extra features. You can customize the navigation bar, LED notification light, use some gesture controls that work fine or choose from quite a few fingerprint gestures if you wish so. Overall, it would have been nice to have Android 8 out of the box but I’m happy with the day to day performance as the phone is really fast and smooth even after installing plenty of apps.

BENCHMARKS

IMAGE QUALITY

The overall image quality is pretty good even if you take pictures on a cloudy day like I did. Sure, some of the shots could be more detailed but I at the end of the day, this is still a budget phone and I’m happy with the results.

The portrait shots are also surprisingly good in comparison to most of the budget Chinese phones I’ve recently tested.

The night image quality, however, does not impress.

On a positive note, selfies taken with the 8MP camera look pretty good.

The phone can shoot videos in 4k and 1080p. The 4k video quality does not really impress as it could be much more detailed. There are also quite a few video artifacts going on and there is no continuous auto-focus.

720p selfie video quality could be better and the sound recording quality is just awful.

Download full resolution camera samples

CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues with this device as the call quality and signal reception are pretty good, and even the GPS lock speeds and accuracy were okay. The phone has quite a few sensors including a gyroscope, so you will be able to use the device with VR headsets.

BATTERY LIFE

The Blackview BV9000 Pro ships with a built-in 4180mAh battery that performs just great. I could constantly get over 7 or 8 hours of screen-on time but your mileage may vary, depending on the usage.

Finally, the phone ships with the fast charger that can fully charge the battery in about 1.5 hours.

CONCLUSIONS

Blackview BV9000 Pro is a great-looking and well-crafted device that was built with the power users in mind who usually work in harsh weather or environmental conditions.

The phone is very fast on the daily basis, it can handle most of the 3D games, daylight image quality is pretty good and the battery life is great. However, the phone lacks the headset jack and video and sound recording quality could be better.

I still believe that Blackview BV9000 Pro is one of the most powerful and one of the best budget rugged phones out there, despite a few shortcomings.

The post Blackview BV9000 Pro Review – The New Best Budget IP68 Rugged Phone? appeared first on Gizmochina.