Doogee has just revived one of the most iconic and rugged phones in its catalog. The Doogee S96 Pro, the first smartphone with a night vision camera, brings a new “GT” version with a lot of news and improvements. Of course, it retains the essence of the S96 Pro, with its rugged design and very useful adventure features. Plus, it’s just as affordable.
Are you interested in a rugged smartphone with night vision? The purpose of this article is to present a detailed Doogee S96 GT review to understand the various specifications and qualities of a true professional. This may be what you like, so let’s get to know it thoroughly.
Quick Glance of Doogee S96 GT
- RAM: 8GB LPDDR4X
- ROM: 256GB in UFS format
- Weight: Approx. 310g
- OS: Android 12
- Power: 6350mAh with fast charge 24W
- Screen: 6.22″HD+ (1520×720) with LCD panel
- Chipset: MediaTek Helio G95
- Front Camera: 32MP
- Rear Camera: 48MP SONY® IMX582 Sensor chip
- SONY® IMX350 20MP Night vision camera
- Certification: P68, IP69K, and MIL-STD-810H
- Dimensions: 167 x 81.4 x 15.5mm
Durability
You can tell that the Doogee S96 GT is a rugged and durable smartphone. It has a back cover on all edges and on the camera module, which is made of two materials: metal for reinforcing the camera and the sides, and rubber-textured plastic that provides a very soft grip and protects the corners from drops. More than 50% of the phone is made of metal, which makes it heavy (310 grams), but very durable.
Either way, it doesn’t feel heavy in our hands at all thanks to its ergonomic design and pleasant rubbery texture. In addition, it has a hole. At the bottom, you can attach a pendant to carry it more securely. On an aesthetic level, we also like it a lot. We tested the “Classic Gold Black” variant, which combines the gold of metal with the black of plastic, and despite being a big and sturdy phone, it looks very elegant.
The Doogee S96 GT is certified for MIL-STD-810H, IP68, and IP69K, which in short ensures that it can withstand all kinds of violent drops, rolls, and twists as well as dust and immersion in water (up to 1 meter deep for 30 minutes).
Camera
The Doogee S96 GT still has a spectacular night vision camera. In its rear camera quad-sensor arrangement, it features a 20MP sensor that can see in the dark. Compared to its predecessor, this sensor brings a new and improved ability to capture any object within a range of 15 meters. The rest of its sensors are a 48 MP main sensor, an 8 MP ultra wide-angle sensor, and a 2 MP depth sensor.
Similarly, the phone’s selfie camera has been increased from 16 MP to 32 MP. double the resolution! It is expected to record video calls and take spectacular selfies with better quality.
Battery
The Doogee S96 GT is equipped with a 6350 mAh battery that can play 11.5 hours of video autonomously, without leaving you behind on the go, and gives you up to 2 days of autonomy. However, if you are one of those who use your phone a lot, the charge will last only 1 day. The upside is that you only need to charge it once a day or every two days.
How long does it take to charge? With 24W fast wired charging, it can be 50% full in 1 hour. With 15W wireless charging, it takes longer. Yes, it’s not the fastest-charging phone. The good side is that it has OTG, so you can use it as a mobile power to charge other devices.
Screen
As for the screen, it’s not the best on the market, but it’s acceptable. It uses a 6.22-inch LCD panel with 720p resolution (1520 x 720 pixels) and a standard 60 Hz refresh rate. It looks pretty good even in broad daylight, as it has a pixel density of 270 PPI and a high brightness of 480 nits. However, it doesn’t match the quality (especially when viewing multimedia content and scrolling through the interface) of the Full HD+ screens of other phones in this range at 90 Hz.
On the other hand, this panel is protected by Gorilla Glass, and the entire body of the phone is IP68, IP69K, and MIL-STD-810 certified. Protection against dust, dirt, water, shocks, and even temperature changes. This means it can resist everything and is ideal for the most adventurous people.
Performance
MediaTek’s Helio G95 is the chip that powers the Doogee S96 GT with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It has enough memory for multitasking and enough power to give you a smooth experience in everyday use. Whether it’s social networking apps (WhatsApp, Facebook, etc.) or gaming (as long as you use low graphics settings). It also brings enough space to save photos and videos and install all the apps you want. If that’s not enough, you can expand it up to 512 GB using a micro SD.
The hardware is certainly not the best ever, but it must be said that Doogee makes a good choice compared to other competitors in this area; the datasheet makes it a good performer in almost all usage scenarios, but not with software optimization as an example.
Conclusion
Doogee S96 GT has a very good and balanced character in all parts. Its weak point is the screen, as it is not Full HD +, but its quality is still very good. It has a spectacular quad rear camera with night vision, a decent processor and a lot of RAM, and a huge battery with wireless charging support. Plus, it’s super rugged and comes with lots of useful extras like NFC, an FM radio, a side fingerprint reader, customizable buttons, and a set of software tools to help you work outdoors.