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Cell phones get a bad rap. It is written as something strange, a gigantic behemoth that needs to show its face in a construction site or an army. But Doogee, a Chinese company, sees through several cases to bring us the Doogee S200, a mid-range smartphone that has some issues but looks good enough to replace the fingers with a popular group.
Available for as low as $229 on AliExpress or $339 on Amazon, the S200 is almost a steal with its durability, near all-day battery life, and features you’d expect from a high-end smartphone. However, there are a few caveats. For example, since this phone isn’t sold in the US market, it won’t work on some 5G networks on some major carriers. And the performance, while good, is not on par with other mid-range phones. But somehow, it can run some incredibly taxing games.
However, the S200 is affordable for those who want a rugged smartphone with ridiculous endurance and performance that will surprise them.
Doogee S200
The Doogee S200 brings rugged durability and great battery life to a rugged sports phone under $500.
Goodness
evil
“Is that so?”
“Why is it so heavy?”
“You can use this thing as a weapon!”
These are the responses I got from everyone I showed the Doogee S200 to. And putting a mobile phone in a hard sock and using it as a real-time blackjack is an interesting idea, it’s not what the S200 wants. As someone who has broken a phone or two in his life, I’m a big fan of phones. It is a sign of his innate hardness. The phone is IP68, IP69K, and MIL-STD 810. This means the phone is waterproof and dustproof. It is also lightweight and can withstand a drop from 5.9 meters (1.8 feet). It also has a cover on the USB-C port to keep water or dust out. The display is made of Corning Gorilla Glass to prevent scratches.
Of course, that extra security adds up to a lot more. The 7.1 x 3.23 x 0.63-inch device weighs in at a chunky 12.9 ounces. It makes it so Google Pixel 9 (7 ounces, 6 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches), Samsung Galaxy S24 SE (7.5 ounces, 6.4 x 3 x 0.31 inches), No Phone (2a) Plus (6.7 ounces, 6.4 x 3 x 0.33 inches), and iPhone 16 (6 ounces, 5.8 x 2.8 x 0.31 inches) seems like a featherweight in comparison.
Despite this, Doogee has a mechanical design that will please fans of Gundam, Transformers, and Power Rangers, the aerospace-grade alloy back panel in black and pewter gray is formed by a series of sharp corners that return to the slope. . At the heart of the design is what Doogee calls the screen. It’s like the Dynamic Island found on modern iPhones, in a more convenient location (More on that later). The small 1.3-inch AMOLED round screen has four cameras that house the camera sensors.
The phone continues its look with four stylish bezels running along the sides. The volume and fingerprint/power buttons are on the right, with a dual SIM card tray and a button that users can change to three different settings – one for single, double, and triple printing. The USB-C charging port sits on the bottom of the phone, hidden under a rubber gasket.
The front of the phone has a display surrounded by thick bezels, especially on the top and bottom. The teardrop camera protrudes slightly above the display.
Although the black-and-gray color is nice, I wish I had my hands on the green and yellow colors, as I love the pop of color.
It’s not OLED or AMOLED, but I’ll still take the S200X’s 6.7-inch IPS LCD screen. When I watched the second half of the Squid Games, I saw every drop of blood seeping out as it left the bodies of the contestants without a chance. The deep red provided a nice contrast against the happy rainbow colors in the “Six Legs” section of the 2400 x 1080 display. Of course, it’s not as bright as the aforementioned screens, but for the price, I’m not going to pooh-pooh what the S200 has to offer.
The screen doesn’t light up like that Pixel 9but I had no problem reading a story in the sun. Games like Dead Cells and Zenless Zone Zero ran smoothly with a refresh rate that only increased from 60Hz to 120Hz when playing or doing taxing work. Doogee has also included a barebones Game Mode that integrates all your games and disables notifications.
Let’s talk about the subscreen. It is a very useful way to interact with other applications and functions of the phone without using a large display. In addition to the clock, you can read notifications, control your music app, check battery life, take a photo, answer calls, and a few other useful things.
Unlike other Android phones, Doogee runs stock Android-Android 14. The 2.2-GHz octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 7050 processor, 12GB RAM, and 256GB of onboard storage are impressive, allowing for zippy navigation between apps and home screens. . I only noticed a slight slowdown when I started playing Zenless Zone Zero, and after launching 50 pages of Google Chrome, several G-Suite programs, BlueSky, and Threads.
We must remember that the smartphone has 32GB of RAM. That’s because Doogee has mapped another 256GB to RAM to trick the system into thinking it has more capacity to install apps.
Although the S200 hasn’t jumped to Android 15 (and I’m not sure it will), you still get a lot of features from the previous OS, like customizing the lock and home screens. You also get better security and data protection, such as using biometric authentication instead of passwords for most apps. Speaking of apps, there’s Toolbag, which is a collection of apps that rival the capabilities of a phone’s hardware. There is a Protractor, Plumb Bob, and Level. Doogee also threw a Pedometer, NFC Card Emulator, and Mirror in there, which is a bit confusing.
When I ran Geekbench 6, the S200 returned a single score of 990 with a maximum of 2,471 cores. This is a solid score, but it doesn’t match the No Phone (2a) (1,198/2,824), Pixel 9 (1,699/4,241), or iPhone 16 (3,412 and 8,416).
Doogee has dressed up the S200 with an impressive collection of cameras and features. The main shooter is 100MP with a 20MP night vision camera and a 2MP macro sensor. The pictures I took were of good color, but the details are sometimes blurry. The parts of the wasp nest that I took on a cloudy day are not as sharp as I expected. The same goes for flowers dipped in glitter. However, I was impressed with how well the phone held up to my dog’s fur even as one was walking around licking his sister.
But my favorite pictures are the night vision pictures. That’s right, night vision. Although it made me look like a horror movie, the visuals were perfect for capturing my dogs’ shenanigans in the pitch black. There’s also an underwater feature, but since the phone isn’t designed for swimming or submersion, I’m not sure what you’ll be able to capture. The 20MP selfie camera was excellent, capturing a few of my highlights and beautiful scenery.
I love how many cameras the S200 offers. Besides Night Vision, there is Beauty, 100MP, Super Night, GIF, and Mono, to name a few. But I was missing the chance to hit a big shot or more. The phone also lacks image stabilization, it only offers digital, which is why some of your photos aren’t as bright as they should be. The Night Vision and Macro cameras do the same, leaving the smaller 100MP camera to do all the heavy lifting. And maybe I shouldn’t complain when the phone is undoubtedly cheap, but if other phones of the same price do, I can’t help but notice.
The S200 has a lot of good features, but the best has to be the battery life. Its 10,100mAH battery lasts about 24 hours, at 23:12, playing a 24-hour YouTube video at 50% brightness. The phone has Quick Charge 3.0, which means that the S200 can get 50% in just 30 minutes. And if you’re in a pinch, you can use the S200 as a charging brick that has its own return feature.
But Doogee, I have a bone to pick. Why, you have a big plate on the back of the phone that looks like a lightning bolt? I thought it meant that the S200 has wireless charging capabilities. But imagine my surprise when I put the phone on one, but two different wireless chargers and get bupkis. Then I thought it was NFC, but it’s not.
Should you buy the Doogee S200? It depends. The S200 has a lot of automation. It is more robust and durable, has better performance, and better battery life. The backlit display adds functionality, and man, that Night Vision is great. And you can’t beat that price. But I don’t know how many people will want to stick to 4G in the 5G era. In addition, the cameras with all its features could be better, and I’m not sure that Android 15 will come to the S200. But for people who are looking for a solid, durable, affordable phone for $ 500, the competitors of the Doogee S200 are few.