Smartwatch shipments saw a 12% increase in 2022 compared to 2021 based on the latest Global Smartwatch Model Tracker report from Counterpoint Research. The growth was fueled by strong smartwatch sales in the first three quarters of 2022. Shipments in the Q4 period (October 1 - December 31) saw a 2% YoY decline fueled by rising inflation levels and slow growth in India.
Global smartwatch shipments share 2021 vs 2022 (Counterpoint Research)
Apple remains the top brand worldwide in terms of shipments with 34.1% of the market, followed by Samsung (9.8%) and Huawei (6.7%). Apple saw...
Lava launched another budget offering in India with the Yuva 2 Pro – a direct successor to last year’s Yuva Pro. The new model brings an updated MediaTek Helio G37 chipset, 4GB RAM and 64GB storage which is also expandable via the microSD slot. You also get a redesigned back now with a new camera island.
Lava Yuva 2 Pro in its three official colors
The rest of the specs fall in line with last year’s model – you get a 13MP main camera and two additional VGA cameras. Selfies are handled by a 5MP front-facing shooter which sits in a waterdrop notch housing. The phone boots Android...
In 2022, Samsung released its first generation of TVs to use the company’s QD-OLED technology. And while Samsung simply refers to these sets as “OLED,” the new tech, which combines the self-emitting pixels of OLED with the color and brightness enhancing Quantum Dot layer found in the company’s QLED TVs, is a different beast altogether.
Samsung’s 2022 QD-OLED, the S95B, earned a five star rating and ranks on our lists of the best 4K TVs and the best OLED TVs. For 2023, the company has expanded its OLED TV size range to include a 77-inch model alongside the 65- and 55-inch offerings. That 77-incher was made available for me to do a hands-on review at the company’s facility in New Jersey, where I had sufficient time to make an in-depth picture quality assessment.
Before I get into those details, let’s review some of the features of Samsung’s new S95C OLED TV. The 77-inch model I tested will cost $4,499 / €4,800 / around £4,200 and is currently available for pre-order in the US. Its 4 HDMI 2.1 ports support up to 144Hz refresh rates, along with VRR, FreeSync Premium Pro, and Nvidia G-Sync.
Samsung's Tizen smart TV interface is largely unchanged from last year's models. (Image credit: Future)
For the S95C series, Samsung is introducing a new, light output-boosting Quantum HDR OLED Plus feature that uses AI deep learning to fine-tune brightness on a per-pixel level. A Quantum Neural Processor is also onboard that upscales pictures to 4K using AI-based algorithms, with the processing performed on a scene-by-scene basis while the set simultaneously adds dynamic HDR10+ tone mapping. (As with all other Samsung TVs, HDR10+ is the only advanced high dynamic range format the S95C supports, with Dolby Vision once again left out of the HDR mix.)
On the audio front, Samsung’s new OLED features a 4.2.2 speaker system – a clearly audible upgrade from the 2.2.2-channel configuration of last year’s S95B. There’s also Object Tracking Sound Plus, a feature that improves the directionality of sound effects when using the set’s built-in speakers and Q Symphony 3.0, which lets you combine the TV’s built-in speakers with a compatible Samsung soundbar for an enhanced audio presentation.
Samsung's Infinity One design for the S95C is strikingly slim. (Image credit: Future)
Samsung’s incredibly slim OLED TV has what the company calls an Infinity One design, with an external One Connect box handling connectivity and linking to the TV via a cable. The set’s Solar Cell remote control soaks up ambient light to extend battery life, and the set also features an ATSC 3.0 tuner for receiving NextGen digital TV broadcasts in the US.
The Smart Hub interface on Samsung TVs hasn’t changed much from the previous generation aside from the addition of new Health options. A Samsung account is still needed to download apps, and you can edit the order of menu options to a degree. A Game Hub screen acts as a centralized location for console-free playback of selections from Xbox, Nvidia GeForce NOW, Amazon Luna, Utomik, and more, and AirPlay 2 is supported for casting audio and video from an iOS device.
Connections to the S95C are made using Samsung's One Connect box, now with an even slimmer design. (Image credit: Future)
Looks good from any angle
A main advantage to OLED TVs is that pictures look uniformly bright and maintain consistent contrast over a wide viewing arc. QD-OLED models such as the S95C go a step further than conventional W-OLED TVs like those sold by LG and others by providing consistent color saturation over a 180 degree viewing window.
This was easy to see on the S95C, which also showed excellent screen uniformity on full-screen gray test patterns at various brightness levels. The S95C turned out to be the brightest OLED TV we’ve yet tested, with peak light output on a 10% white window pattern measuring 1,374 nits in Filmmaker mode. For the sake of comparison, last year’s S95B hit 1,040 nits peak light output in the same picture mode, which makes Samsung’s new model approximately 25% brighter. (LG’s OLED65G2, meanwhile, managed 950 and 942 nits in its Cinema/Cinema Home and Filmmaker Modes, respectively, when we tested it last year.)
OLED TVs typically serve up excellent UHD-P3 color space coverage and the S95C was no exception, measuring better than 99%, along with 74.6% BT.2020 coverage. This basically means that the S95C offers uncompromised color reproduction when watching HDR programs on disc or from streaming services. Input lag in Game mode measured 9ms, an excellent result that ranks the S95C among the best 120Hz 4K TVs for gaming.
Samsung's S95C OLED TV maintains brightness, contrast, and full color saturation even at extreme off-center viewing positions. (Image credit: Future)
Processing Perfected
Samsung’s video processing enhancements for its 2023 TVs provide a clear step up from last year's models. Looking at the video montage section from the Spears & Munsil UHD HDR Benchmark disc, images mastered at 4,000 nits peak brightness maintained much of their highlight detail when viewed on S95C. And the black clipping, an effect that obscures detail in deep shadows, that I had spotted during a hands-on session with last year’s S95B, was completely absent, with shadows instead looking layered and nuanced.
Motion handling is also seeing an improvement in Samsung’s 2023 TVs. Watching a scene from No Time to Die where a camera pans slowly across a craggy hillside, the image looked mostly solid and detailed. Scenes from Dune following Paul’s testing by the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother also revealed the TV to be adept at handling noise in dark, grainy images.
While I didn’t have time to view a wide range of content on the S95C, everything I did watch, from reference scenes I’ve viewed hundreds of times on various TVs to programs streamed from the Samsung TV Plus free TV portal, looked great, with the set’s enhanced brightness lending an extra level of punch to the picture.
The S95C comes with a sturdy metal center-mounted stand, shown here with the company's Solar Cell remote control. (Image credit: Future)
I had the chance to give the 77-inch S95C a good look over when I was given a preview of it at CES 2023 and was impressed enough to declare it the best TV I’d seen at the show. Now, having spent some quality time with the set, I’m convinced that my CES judgement was spot on. Samsung’s S95C is a fantastic TV, and one I look forward to getting in for a full review to get an even better handle on its capabilities.
This is our full review of the Wahoo Kickr Bike. This is a fixed exercise bike designed to be ridden at home yet features so many adjustable positions, it's also akin to riding your road bike.
There's a reason Team GB has trained on Wahoo tech for years and it's apparent in the quality of this fixed-only version of the turbo trainer tech that this company specializes in. Even the best treadmill doesn't offer this level of personalization.
This is more expensive than a turbo trainer but means you don't have to faff about with your bike, attaching it to this to train – one less excuse to avoid a ride when it's raining out. Of course, there is more to it, and our guide on turbo trainers vs exercise bikes is worth a read if you're unsure which cycling solution to buy. This bike is also backed by a host of apps that allow you to ride in virtual worlds with other riders or to train to a specific goal with a training plan generated for you.
There are more options than ever and with some great exercise bike deals out there, this model is certainly sitting at the higher end of the price range – yup, even when compared to Peloton. Unlike Peloton, this doesn't come with a display, or even a mount, but rather puts all that investment into the bike itself. As such you're getting a reassuring heavy and solid bike that will keep up with any level of training you need.
Unlike a lot of the competition, the Wahoo Kickr Bike sets itself apart by offering super levels of personalization. That means a whole host of adjustable options that let you get the perfect fit to match your other bike. It also offers hydraulic moving adaption to incline and decline which gives the feeling that you're really riding up or down a hill. Couple that with shifters that can be adjusted to match your bike and this is a really complete package for training at home without going out the door or sacrificing very much at all.
So is the Wahoo Kickr Bike worth its top-end price?
Wahoo Kickr Bike: Price and availability
The Wahoo Kickr Bike is out now in the US, UK and Australia. The retail price sits at a premium $3,999.99 / £3,499.99 / AU$6,499.95.
It's also worth thinking about adding a Wahoo Tickr X chest strap heart rate monitor, Kickr Cycling Desk, and even the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt, a cycling computer which can enhance your on-road work.
(Image credit: Future)
Wahoo Kickr Bike: Design
Five point adjustment system
Electromagnetic motor
Two-year warranty
The Wahoo Kickr Bike is solid. The second it comes to removing this from the box its 42kg weight becomes very apparent. Despite coming in a relatively compact form, this folds out pretty easily. Once you have the legs added to the rear, which slot right in with ease, all you have to do is add the saddle and handlebars.
Crucially, the whole setup process can be followed on the app which guides you through with words and images. You can do this as you feel or use a guided setup to match this to your road bike. Take a photo of your road bike against a white wall, highlight some key points on the bike and input some data and this will give you the settings to have the Kickr Bike match that exactly. Or if you've had a professional bike fit you can simply import the data from Guru, Trek or Retul.
All that is great if you ride and want to match this up, but if you're new to setup then it just means you have a whole host of options to play with before you can start. There's stack, reach, setback, saddle height and frame height. And if you don't really know what you're doing there isn't a whole lot of guidance on how to find the right position for you to get the most power out of your legs. Even the pedals have five attachment point options.
(Image credit: Future)
The bike itself is finished in a premium metallic paint and all the twist out handles to make adjustments are very easy to use. There is minimal tool requirements to get this setup and to make adjustments you need none at all. Plug in the power cable and the bike is ready to go – just get WiFi setup and then you're set to start working with an app.
On the bike itself there is a small LED display that shows your gearing and allows you to double-tap a large button to make sure the bike is self-levelled to be flat. All of which usefully lets you get riding even without an app, if you wanted. What's lacking is a mount for your phone or laptop, which you will most likely be training with. Wahoo charges you for a table that sits in front of the bike but with a price tag in the hundreds I just used the box the bike arrived in to prop up my laptop.
Design score: 4/5
(Image credit: Future)
Wahoo Kickr Bike: Features
Hydraulic height adjustments
Personalizable shifters
Multi-app support
The Wahoo Kickr Bike features a hydraulic adjuster that allows the bike to move between incline and decline from 20% to -15%. When this is used in combination with virtual and automatic resistance variations, it can create a super life-like riding experience for a fixed bike setup. Theoretically this should mean your muscle groups will respond more like riding up or down a hill to give the best possible training experience.
(Image credit: Future)
The shifters are a brilliant addition to this bike as they are fully digitally adapted. So while you move the armature left and right, as you would on any bike, the way they work can be changed. Using the app you have the choice of shifter so this will work like your bike with options including Campagnolo, SRAM and Shimano.
There are also two inner buttons and two upper buttons. The upper ones are fun in apps where they allow you to look behind or signal to another rider. But the inner buttons have been used well to allow you steer your bike in apps like Wahoo RGT or Zwift. While these could be seen as unnecessary, for serious riders that want to follow a specific line and don't want to leave it up to the auto-steer, this is a useful option to have.
(Image credit: Future)
The addition of rear wheels makes moving this bike, despite its considerable weight, a doddle. Hold the front, tilt the bike up and move about as needed – much like a bench at the gym. Then double tap the auto level button and you know you're riding flat no matter what surface you need to place the bike on.
Features score: 4/5
(Image credit: Future)
Wahoo Kickr Bike: Performance
Wahoo RGT app offers virtual rides
Up to 2200W output
Super stable electromagnetic ride
The Wahoo Kickr Bike is built to such a high standard that it is capable of handling up to 2200W (with the V2 model hitting 2500W). To give that some context, most basic riders have an FTP (functional threshold power) score of about 150W – this is the amount of output power you can maintain for an hour. Better riders are at 300W and some can even hit over 1,000 but in most cases that is a peak power output, not something that is maintained. Get up to Olympic level and riders can hit 2,200W and even maintain that for a short while, but not long.
Here is a good example of an Olympic cyclist powering a toaster at 700W:
So all that means this bike is built to be used by the very best possible riders in the world. That should mean (unless you're reading this as one of those) this bike will be able to handle anything you can put out. That's important as riding at power, or high cadence can have you bumping off your saddle and rocking the bike. In the case of this bike, there is no rocking at all. It's super solid leaving you feeling safe enough to ride to your limits.
(Image credit: Future)
The electromagnetic motor is very quiet, runs smoothly, and adjusts quickly to gear changes, all of which leave you feeling like you're riding a bike out on the road. Add in the immersive Wahoo RGT app and that is taken even further. This is akin to Zwift, where you can set up your rider profile, select a place to ride and go join others on those roads in real-time. The app shows you your power output, your cadence, and your heart rate all at a glance.
Crucially the app allows you lots of ways to ride from simply picking a spot and riding as you please to selecting a workout and following training guidance as you go. You can even enter events that happen in real-time, ideal for meeting up with others virtually or racing against other riders.
(Image credit: Future)
The saddle, like everything else on this bike, is like a real road bike, which means it is not comfortable. You'll need bib shorts with padding, or a gel seat cover if you're new to this and plan to put in any amount of miles. As mentioned before, there are lots of adjustments to make on this bike so getting more comfortable should be possible but ultimately it's just part of riding that means toughening up a little. Or taking a break. The Wahoo Systm app also offers yoga, strength training and more to give you a well-rounded training experience.
“Vodafone plans to expand the availability of Pixel smartphone and wearable devices to additional markets in 2023,” writes the carrier in a press release for the European market. This gives hope to Pixel fans, since even though Google expanded sales to 10 markets on the Old Continent, many regions still are not served by the search giant.
Unfortunately, Vodafone doesn’t say which markets will be covered. The carrier has networks in several countries and partnerships with carriers in a number of other countries. Wikipedia has a handy list. We marked the countries where the Pixel is already...
Vimeo, one of the best video hosting sites, is most famous as an alternative to YouTube - and even launched just a few months before the Google-owned platform. But it also boasts some interesting tools beyond video uploads, one of which is Vimeo Create.
It’s a video maker, letting you edit videos straight from your browser without investing in the best video editing software.
Vimeo Create: Getting started
Create an account to start the ball rolling, except Vimeo will try to sneakily get you to pay for the privilege
Vimeo has a free plan, but it’s made to entice some to purchase one of its subscriptions. If you’re interested in paying for this service and gain more advantages - the more you pay, the more features you’ll gain, and removing the watermark is really the least of it: you’d gain the addition of video chapters, unlimited use of Vimeo’s stock image and stock video libraries, branded invites, and so on.
All subscriptions are billed annually, but priced at a monthly rate. So Starter is $9 / £9 / AU$15 a month. Standard is $27 / £27 / AU$39 a month. Advanced $51 / £51 / AU$69 a month. There are no cloud storage limits here - instead, the higher up you go, the more videos you can upload as well, from 60 per year for Starter, to 240 for Advanced.
You’d think a video editing option might only be available to those willing to pay for it, but we’re pleased to say, this isn’t the case. There is a free video editor option, as far as a video maker allows for editing (they’re no Adobe Premiere Pro), but your output will be, inevitably, branded with a watermark.
There is another catch. Point your favourite browser towards the homepage and click on one of the many ‘Get Started’ buttons plastered throughout the page. As soon as you’ve created an account, you’re asked to choose a subscription plan, and there doesn’t appear to be a choice to go with the free one (you have a couple of ‘start free trial’ buttons, but those are linked to their respective subscriptions, and not what you might be after). This is pure dark pattern stuff, a cardinal UX sin. Close that overlay window by clicking on its ‘x’ top right, and you can bypass the subscription service altogether.
But you’re not out of the woods yet: you’ll then find yourself in Vimeo’s ‘Storyboard’, which offers only very basic functionality. Not the editing features you were expecting with Create. Having logged in though, just go back to finally get to where you need to be - that’s a very convoluted, roundabout and highly unhelpful journey.
Getting started: 2/5
Vimeo Create: Quick Video
The video maker offers you a vast selection of templates, for any need and format (Image credit: Vimeo)
A quick video, where everything is done for you, with extremely limited options. Great if you’re in a hurry
Your first step is to choose from what seems like a limitless number of templates. Thankfully you can narrow down your selection by clicking on a category, use the search field, or do away with all of that, by going with ‘Create your own’, and start with a blank project.
If you’re really in a hurry, there’s the ‘Get a quick video’ option. The concept is very simple and is the ‘Storyboard’ you stumbled into during the login in process: feed it with all the media you wish to use, either from Vimeo’s stock library of clips and photos, or with your own content, reorder them, add some caption to some or all of your clips, choose a soundtrack, click on ‘Create’, and job done.
After a few seconds, your video’s ready to be shared with others. Should you want to work on it more, perform additional edits and such, then clicking on the ‘Edit video’ button (represented by a pair of scissors), will take you into the more detailed side of Vimeo’s Create tool, the same interface you would’ve accessed by selecting a template or a blank canvas directly.
Quick Video: 3/5
Vimeo Create: Interface & experience
The interface is clean and simple with tools located in sidebars or contextual menus (Image credit: Vimeo)
A good number of options with nice text animations, but it’s still pretty basic in the end
This is where you can perform more detailed edits, and add additional features to your video project. You’ll find the interface is very clear and easy to use. To the left are various categories, such as Media, to get additional clips from Vimeo’s stock, your Google Photos library, or upload them from your computer. There are also Text boxes, Graphics, Music, alter the colour Palette of your project, and Brand. The latter is only available to paid customers.
To add any of these, just click on an object, and it’ll appear in the middle of your canvas, from where you can directly reposition it, and resize it. It’s all very straightforward.
The top of the interface has a basic menu which includes a choice of aspect ratios, from widescreen (16:9), square (1:1) and portrait (9:16). What’s nice is that any object you’ve added to your scene is repositioned depending on the new format, potentially saving you a lot of time, when the automation does it right.
Trimming a clip is easy to do, although you’ll have to wait for the service to render the change before you can preview it (Image credit: Vimeo)
Beneath the canvas is your timeline, with each clip you’ve added being represented by a simple rectangular thumbnail, known as a scene. That rectangle remains the same size no matter the clip’s duration. Mouse over any of these thumbnails to get a couple of icons. The three dots let you Duplicate, Hide or Delete the selected scene. On the right are scissors. Click on them to trim your footage, altering its duration, or selecting a different part of the clip altogether.
What’s frustrating though is having to wait a few seconds every time you resized or trimmed a clip, before your changes take effect and can be previewed.
Directly above the Canvas, you’ll find a row of contextual tools that change depending on what you’ve selected. A text box will contain Font, Size and Alignment options for instance, while a motion graphic will include Opacity, Flip and Rotate tools, and the background media will have a Resize tool, Audio controls, and Layout.
Layout is perhaps the most interesting of those as it lets you alter the scene’s canvas to accommodate more than just its chosen media, letting you add some text to the side, or any other additional content, for instance.
All objects (aside from the background) include an Animation menu, but the Text boxes have by far, the best and most varied selection. At the end of the day, this is a basic video maker built with tools to help you create simple videos fast, while retaining professional quality.
Interface & experience: 3/5
Vimeo Create: Sharing & social media
Not only can you share your work directly from Vimeo, but you can also upload it to other social media sites (Image credit: Vimeo)
Simple solutions to share your work directly from Vimeo, or on other social media platforms
Once you’re happy with your project, save it, and Vimeo will render your footage. It’s then available to share on its platform after a few seconds or minutes (depending on the length of your video).
Top right of the page are various options, like the ability to make your video private or public. Although many features are only open to subscribers. Including password protecting your file, or allowing it to be downloaded by others. Still, you can grab the link to share it with others.
Fundamentally a content marketing tool, it’s little wonder Vimeo Create neatly integrates social media sharing. You can quickly publish your video on other social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and Vimeo’s biggest competitor, YouTube.
Sharing: 4/5
Vimeo Create: Scorecard
Should I buy?
Layouts are a simple way to cleanly populate your frame with more than just a background clip (Image credit: Vimeo)
Buy it if...
You’re looking for a convenient online video maker to upload footage, perform simple edits, and publish the result, all in one place.
Don't buy it if...
You need the tools of a fully fledged video editor app, dislike the inherent lag in many browser-based platforms.
Doogee believes that ‘more is always better’, and proof of that is the V Max.
This is a rugged phone with everything set to 11 on the dial. Big screen, powerful SoC, lots of RAM and storage, an impressive camera selection, 5G, and the biggest battery we’ve seen in a phone so far.
This is our first phone review covering a design that uses the new MediaTek Dimensity 1080 SoC. An option increases the clock speeds and RAM capacity seen on the Dimensity 900 series and includes 5G comms.
But by far, the one headline feature of this phone is its 22000 mAh battery, a capacity that
dwarfs that in other phones, including many rugged designs.
When you put a battery in a phone that dwarfs that in some laptops, there are significant physical changes that make the V Max either the phone you must have or make it entirely impractical.
The obvious advantage of a battery this large is that it can operate for a week or more without a recharge. With management, this could be extended to a considerable time without mains power. That could be critical for a camping break or adventure holiday where the nearest power socket might be a long walk away.
The flip side of having all that battery time is that this is a very heavy and bulky phone that doesn’t easily fit in a typical pocket. The weight is 543g or nearly 1.2 lbs for those that like those measurement systems.
Wielded as a blunt instrument, the V Max has sufficient mass to seriously injure someone unlucky enough to be stuck with one.
If the brick-like nature of the V Max doesn’t put you off, what you get is a very capable design with an excellent camera cluster, 5G comms, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
The processor and GPU combination makes the V Max suitable for gaming, and it supports dual Nano SIMs for a convenient combination of work and play potential.
In short, if it wasn’t for its gargantuan size, everything else about this phone would be pretty useful, especially at the current asking price.
Just don’t buy one for a person who has anger management issues and likes to throw things.
When is it out? It is on pre-order after an initial release
Where can you get it? It can only be bought from Doogee directly
Normally we’d provide a range of regional pricing for a phone like the V Max. But currently, this phone is on a restocking pre-order from Doogee, and the price is in dollars irrespective of where you order it from.
According to Doogee, the V Max has already been reduced from $749, although it makes little sense that you would cut the price of a design that is currently out of stock.
The asking price is $559, although Doogee is offering a code for an extra $100 off at this time, presumably to prime the sales channel ahead of its return to stock.
When this design becomes more widely available, we suspect the discounted cost is likely to become the asking price, predictably.
There are three colour choices; Classic Black, Moonshine Silver and Sunshine Gold.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Value score: 4/5
Doogee V Max design
Built to last
By-the-numbers buttons
No audio jack
One can’t help but sympathise with the designer of the V Max, saddled with the challenge of getting the contents of this phone inside a case.
However approached, this solution was never going to be elegant or stylish, and the V Max is neither of those things.
The best description of this phone is techno-brutalism, a monolithic block that has some chamfered corners and bevelled edges added to make it seem less like a brick.
That said, the metallic sides are pleasing to touch, and the overall shape fits neatly in hand, assuming you’ve got shovel-sized appendages like your reviewer.
The thickness of this design allows for speakers to be mounted at both top and bottom, allowing for a mild stereo effect when playing games in landscape mode.
While the camera cluster is slightly raised, the back is mostly flat, suggesting that this phone might wirelessly charge, but according to the specifications, it doesn’t.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
The button layout is the now de facto model that all rugged phone makers have gravitated to, where they place a thumb-print reader/power and volume rocker on the right and a custom button with the SIM card slot on the left.
On the bottom edge is a carabiner slot for connecting the phone to a belt strap and the USB-C port. That’s the only way this phone can be charged, and to protect it from water and dust ingress, Doogee covered it with a rubber plug.
The plug is relatively easy to dislodge with a fingernail, but each removal and reinsertion does reduce the likelihood that the port will be fully protected. The designers did make the cover small to minimise exposure, but this negated the possibility of a 3.5mm audio jack on this model. No adapter to provide this functionality through USB was included.
Overall, those who designed this did their best but avoided anything remarkable or groundbreaking in the context of such a large phone.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Design score: 3/5
Doogee V Max hardware
Dimensity 1080
5G Comms
Massive battery
Specs
The Doogee V Max that was sent to us for review came with the following hardware:
CPU: Dimensity 1080 / Octa Core / 2.6GHz / 6nm / 5G GPU: ARM Mali-G68 MC4 RAM: 12GB LPDDR4X Storage: 256GB Screen: 6.58-inch IPS LCD Resolution: 1080 x 2408 SIM: Dual Nano SIM (+microSDXC up to 2TB) Weight: 543g Dimensions: 178.5 x 83.1 x 27.3 mm Rugged Spec: IP68, IP69K and MIL-STD-810H Rear cameras: AI Triple camera (108MP+20MP+16MP) Front camera: SONY 32MP Front Camera Networking: WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 OS: Android 12 Battery: 22000 mAh
The specification of this phone elevates it above almost all the rugged Chinese designs we’ve seen so far.
MediaTek’s new Dimensity 1080 SoC provides an excellent computing platform as its previous 900 series, but with marginally higher clock speeds and a generally better instruction set.
While it uses the same Mali-G68 MC4 GPU as its predecessor, the extra processing power in the two Cortex-A78 cores pushes the GPU harder, and it achieves a little more.
For those that live in a region with coverage, the 5G support in this design boosts mobile data performance significantly. And, with WiFi 6, it’s also swift when you have a suitably specified router at home or in the office.
One curiosity of this design is the amount of RAM, as most phones tend to be capped at 8GB, whereas this has 12GB. It’s also one of the new designs with the potential to take some storage and make it work as RAM, adding up to 8GB if the user sets that option.
Therefore, unless you spend your days endlessly loading new apps, it seems unlikely that you’ll quickly run out of space to store them or RAM for them to run.
The camera cluster is also impressive, but the stand-out feature of this hardware is the 22000 mAh battery. This battery scale provides not only extreme longevity but using the OTG capability of the USB-C port the power can also be utilised to power other devices.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
The only feature weakness we noted was that the dual Nano SIM card tray only takes one SIM if you use a MicroSD card. A better solution might have been to offer e-SIMs on this phone, allowing the MicroSD card not to limit the phone to a single SIM.
But conversely, this phone has a feature we’ve not seen before in that it uses a dual-frequency GPS, allowing for even greater positional accuracy even in urban environments.
We’ve seen the 108MP Samsung S5KHM2 sensor before, and while it has limitations in that the full resolution comes without all the clever features, it is still an excellent picture-capture device.
If you want special beauty modes, then pictures are limited to 12MP, although these modes operate with shake compensation and other enhancements.
Alongside the headline 108MP Samsung sensor are a 16MP OmniVision OV16B10 Ultra-Wide lens and a 20.2MP Sony IMX350 Night Vision sensor, extending the camera repertoire further.
Like the Doogee V30, which uses the same Samsung S5KHM2 sensor, the V Max can capture video up to 4K in resolution. And like the V30 and the Ulefone Armor 17 Pro, it isn’t possible to have any control over the frame rate.
Not being able to trade resolution for frame rate is possibly one of the few things keeping the likes of GoPro in business, as many of the phone makers don’t exploit the sensor hardware fully.
As for the results, with a sensor this big, they’re generally very good, and it only made a mess either because of focusing issues to do with sunlight refraction or exposure compensation for highlights. The camera has a full PRO manual mode where ISO, EV, WB, manual focus and shutter speed can all be directly controlled.
In short, like the V30 that came before it, the V Max has a high-quality camera that could have been incredible with a better camera application.
We should also mention that while you can capture 4K video and play it back scaled down on the 1080 x 2408 resolution screen, you won’t be watching streaming content in 4K or even 1080p. Like it appears all rugged Chinese phones are, the V Max doesn’t support Widevine L1 security, reducing the service offered by Netflix and Disney+ to 480p resolution.
Camera samples
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Camera score: 4/5
Doogee V Max performance
Excellent performer
Strong GPU
Power and efficiency
Benchmarks
This is how the Doogee V Max performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
For the short story, this is the most potent rugged phone we’ve tested so far, and it is easily head and shoulders over those that use Helio-based SoCs.
Looking at it from a Qualcomm Snapdragon perspective, it falls fractionally short of the performance of the 778G, but the difference is less than a single percentage point in many tests.
The only caveat is that many games have been specifically coded to use the Snapdragon instruction set for enhanced performance, which might make them run better on Qualcomm SoCs.
But back to the numbers, there are many highlights here, so let’s look at a few especially impressive results.
In the Geekbench single thread task, a score of 734 is a first, with the previous best being the Dimensity 900-powered Doogee V30 achieved 694. And, the Geekbench multithreaded and OpenCL scores are equally beyond what we’ve seen on Dimensity 900 and Helio G99-powered devices.
To give an impression of how much better gaming is on the V Max over an Helio G99 SoC phone like the Ulefone Armor 17 Pro is relatively easy. The 3DMark Slingshot scores are 5315 on the V Max against just 3675 on the 17 Pro. That’s nearly 45% faster.
Compared with an Helio G85 phone, the V Max is almost twice as fast across the board.
Performance on this phone is not an issue, regardless of what you want to use it for.
Performance score: 5/5
Doogee V Max battery
22000 mAh
33W Fast charging
No Qi charging
The battery on this phone is both a blessing and a curse. Having 22000 mAh converts, according to Doogee, into 2300 hours of standby (96 days), 240 hours of ‘normal use’, 19 hours of calling, 40 hours of video, 90 hours of music and 25 hours of gaming.
That’s plenty of capacity, although the battery is a major contribution to making this design so large and heavy.
Where things are less wonderful is in respect of recharging. With a battery so large, getting it charged becomes an issue. Doogee did include a 33W charger, and using that does speed up things somewhat.
But typically, we’d estimate that charging 5000 mAh using 33W charging takes around 90 minutes, and scaling that up, the V Max could easily take more than six hours to reach its full potential. And, if you don’t use the 33W charger, it could take considerably longer.
The Doogee V30, as a good example, offered 66W charging and also 15W wireless charging, and both these options would have been appreciated on the V Max, but neither was used.
It may be that using 66W charging on such a large battery for a least three hours has implications for the generating of heat within the phone, but whatever the reason, charging is a limitation of this phone.
Battery score: 4/5
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
With so many great features and excellent performance in this phone, it seems churlish to talk about some of the obvious failings, but these need to be aired.
The scale and weight of the V Max do push it into a place where practicality becomes an issue, and for many people, this device is just too big and heavy.
Those that don’t mind lugging such a large phone around are rewarded with a feature-rich design that ticks many boxes, including 5G comms, a 108MP camera, top-tier SoC performance and a massive battery capacity. All this for a very reasonable price.
Just make sure that you have huge pockets to put it in.
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