Powerful and Durable: Blackview BV8000 Pro takes on whatever you throw at it

Our verdict Blackview BV8000 Pro :
Reliability usually means low performance, with a special sticker attached to the large rubber boot. The Black BV8000 Pro is only $250, has good performance, long battery life, and won our durability tests. eight ten

Whether intentionally or not, modern smartphones are becoming more fragile every year. They are so thin that you can bend them just by sitting down. Edge-to-edge glass screens make even the smallest drops lethal. If you’re tired of such precious devices, consider something durable, specially designed to withstand a beating. Blackview only has one for you: BV8000Pro per reasonable amount of 250 dollars. Is it worth it? Read on to find out and enter to win the new Blackview BV8000 Pro!

Rugged Design

Ruggedized phones aren’t like the ones you’ll find on the high street or something you drag down a pub to show off to your friends. They are meant to be a function over a form. Most people would turn up their noses and call the design ugly. Therefore, it is not a mass market device.

However, for some of us, the look is actually quite attractive. I’m also leaning more and more towards more durable devices, instead of spending absurd money on the latest flagship device, only to then cover it in the most awful looking rubberized case I can find anyway, and suffer the slightest scratch that devalues his ,

I really don’t need a phone that can withstand being thrown into a pool — I can’t remember the last time I swam and I stay away from the sea. I’m not going to throw him off the second floor balcony. I could drop it into a raised bed or a sand hole, but that’s about it. However, I love the rugged look of the Blackview BV8000 Pro and take comfort in the fact that it’s unlikely to break no matter what I throw at it (or what I throw).

The BV8000 Pro is thick and mostly made of hard rubber plastic. Two strips of metal cover the left and right sides, while another metal plate sits on the back, covering the dual nano-SIM and micro-SD tray. They provide a small screwdriver to open it. A Torx screwdriver can be used to remove everything else should the need arise, though this is not included.

A thick bezel, about 1 cm thick, surrounds the 5-inch screen, and there are various textures in doing so. It’s a bit all over the place with no single defining characteristic, but aesthetically it works for me.

Oddly enough, the ports are not closed with rubber flaps. While Blackview may have prevented water from entering the device through the ports, this means you need to dry the charging port thoroughly before recharging.

Blackview has also added some useful buttons for outdoor types. In addition to the usual volume keys and power buttons, you’ll find a dedicated camera button as well as a customizable PTT/SOS alarm button.

Another quirky design element: the fingerprint sensor sits on the right edge of the phone, midway between the power button and the camera. It takes some getting used to, but it feels a lot more natural than putting it on the back of your phone.

My only minor annoyance with the overall design is that the volume buttons aren’t as tight as they could be and are a bit rattling.

Specifications Blackview BV8000 Pro

• 5″ Full HD screen, Gorilla 3 glass
• MTK6757 Octacore CPU
• 6 GB RAM
• 64 GB storage expandable via micro SD
• 16MP rear camera, 8MP front camera
• 4180 mAh battery
• USB-C fast charging
• Android 7.0, custom skin
• Two nano-SIM slots
• Dimensions: 15.3 x 8 x 1.26 cm
• Weight: 239g
• NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, Wireless to AC, 4G LTE (U.S. readers should check your network frequencies)

Along with the standard USB-C cable charger, you’ll find an OTG cable adapter, a USB-C to micro USB adapter, and a spare screen protector (it comes with it already installed, though we had a little air on hand). bubble in the upper right corner).

One notable omission is the lack of wireless charging. Considering a number of other features that feel a bit like a kitchen sink, I can only assume there’s a durability reason why wireless charging wasn’t included as well.

Performance testing and field use

Unlike the Blackview A9 Pro I tested last month, the BV8000 Pro always felt snappy, even using the default skin. Typing was crisp, apps loaded and responded well. Antutu rated the device at 65,000 and Geekbench rated it at 800 single-core, 3850 multi-core, and 2800 GPUs. These are all good numbers, but not as good as the Doogee Mix ($50 cheaper) — at least on paper. Ironically, the interface on the Doogee Mix felt a lot slower than this one.

Clearly, several compromises have been made to overall performance to justify reliability.

The side fingerprint sensor is also sensitive, with a very slow recognition rate.

Curiously, a single push of the Push to Talk (PTT) button tries to launch an app that isn’t included in the box. Seemingly compatible with a range of PTT apps, the official video tutorials for previous models refer to an app called Zello. It’s a shame we can’t set it up for something more generic like WeChat or Discord, but I guess if you’re all okay with using Zello, this might work for you. One button to send a voice message to your favorite contact would be cool. Actually, it’s not really a walkie-talkie feature given its reliance on mobile data. You’ll still want a pair of real walkie-talkies if you’re in the woods and can’t get a cell signal.

There are a few other semi-useful apps that come pre-installed, such as an outdoor toolkit that uses various sensors, an earthquake warning system, and an SOS alarm that is activated by holding down a dedicated PTT button. Despite the number of pre-installed apps, it doesn’t feel bloated.

Battery life and charging

Using the included USB-C charging adapter — 18W or 9V 2A — the fastest we could get was about 4 hours when charged from 0 to 100% (although it took just an hour to get to 40%). It sounds slow, but be warned, that’s an oversized 4180mAh battery we’re filling here.

To test the discharge, we ran a full brightness video streaming test over Wi-Fi. This went on for an impressive 8.5 hours. In practical use, the device will probably last you an entire weekend hike. I should also note that the loudspeakers are very loud, probably because they are also designed to be used as an emergency signal.

It will mix? (I’m just joking)

But how reliable is the BV8000 Pro? We have tested this, but first I must say: I really don’t like these testing procedures. Deliberately damaging an expensive device is absolutely not something I condone. I did this because, as a reviewer, if a company claims that its device is reliable, I am here to confirm or deny that claim. Please don’t give credit to the idiots on YouTube who buy a high end new phone and then keep destroying it because whatever . This is a disgusting waste of our natural resources.

With that in mind, let’s see how durable the BV8000 Pro is. The text descriptions of these tests are pretty boring, although if you haven’t already, scroll up to watch them in a video review in great slow motion.

Dust test

The first number in the IP68 rating, 6, stands for «dust-tight». Dust should not enter the device at all and interfere with its operation. This is the highest level of dust protection you can get. I tested this by placing a bucket of fine dry soil and rocks on top of it.

This, however, is perhaps the simplest test. Most modern smartphones should be able to withstand this, and the only real problem comes when trying to clean it afterwards — you’ll probably find that particles have gotten into the speaker grills and various ports, and then you can damage the water when trying to clean them.

Water test

The second number in the IP rating, in this case 8, refers to liquids. Grade 8 must withstand a depth of more than 1 m for 30 minutes. The only level above 8 is the ability to withstand very high pressure flow, like a washer.

I don’t have anything particularly deep to test this, but I threw it into the water tank a few times, by force, and finally at a height of about 2 meters. When Kannon tried this on a previous Blackview BV7000, he found a small amount of water getting behind the screen, but no apparent loss of function.