Blackview BV8800 review

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Introduction

Yes, it's a Blackview review, the first of its kind on our website! The maker has been gaining traction in different markets, and its phones have finally made it to our office, too. Blackview makes affordable, rugged smartphones; some of them even have cool features like thermal or night vision cameras. And today, we will be exploring such a device - the Blackview BV8800 with a night vision camera and an impressively large 8,380mAh battery.

So, Blackview seems to be a lot like Ulefone, doesn't it? Indeed, the Blackview BV8800 we have for this review is as rugged as the (Power) Armor Ulefones, and it has both IP69K water resistance and drop-to-concrete resilience from a 1.5m distance.

The BV8800 offers a 6.58" 90Hz Full HD display and runs on the Helio G96 chipset by MediaTek. Of course, its most interesting bits underneath its reinforced body are the battery and the camera departments.

This Blackview BV8800 model weighs 367 grams, and it's not because of the thick plastic and metal shielding. The large battery inside has an 8,380mAh capacity, which should give this phone days, if not weeks, of battery autonomy.

And then there is the quad-camera on the back with a 50MP primary, an 8MP ultrawide, a 2MP depth sensor, and the showstopper - a 20MP Night Vision camera with IR emitters. The last piece will help you see and capture what's in the dark, and we are not talking Night Mode here, but real night vision like those available on security cameras or dedicated NV goggles.

So, the BV8800 is a rugged midranger with a beefy battery and a night vision camera. It is a unique piece of equipment, that's for sure, so let's scroll through its specs and get this review started.

Blackview BV8800 specs at a glance:

• Body: 176.2x83.5x17.7mm, 367g; reinforced metal frame with rubber top and bottom, plastic back; IP68/IP69K dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins), Drop-to-concrete resistance from up to 1.5 m, MIL-STD-810H compliant.
• Display: 6.58" IPS LCD, 90Hz, 480 nits, 1080x2408px resolution, 20.07:9 aspect ratio, 401ppi.
• Chipset: Mediatek MT6781 Helio G96 (12 nm): Octa-core (2x2.05 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G57 MC2.
• Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM; UFS 2.1.
• OS/Software: Android 11, Doke-OS 3.0.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 117˚; Macro: 2 MP; Night Vision: 20 MP, f/1.8, (IR camera), 2 IR emitters.
• Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, (wide).
• Video capture: Rear camera: 1440p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Battery: 8380mAh; Fast charging 33W, 31% in 30 min, 100% in 90 min (advertised), Reverse charging.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); NFC; FM radio.

Even if the Blackview BV8800 is a midranger, we can spot two obvious omissions right away - there is no microSD expansion slot and a 3.5mm jack. We think those are essential for this type of rugged smartphone and would have definitely raised the BV8800 perceived value.

And that's about it. The rest seems like a solid package for a solid device. So, let's get this thing out of its box, shall we?

Unboxing the Blackview BV8800

The Blackview BV8800 arrives in a reasonably large box that contains the phone itself, a 33W USB-PD power adapter, and a USB-C cable.

The phone has a pre-applied screen protector - it's not a glass one, but one of these thin films that get smudged in no time. And while it is not our cup of tea, we do appreciate having it.