BV 9800 pro, is it a good phone ?
I bought this BV 9800 pro for 6 months and thought I would share my experience with this phone. I see that the reviews and comments are rather extreme with either very good or very bad experience. I bought this phone for its price, thermal camera and other tools that comes with the phone which I think will be useful for me. I switched from a Samsung and initially was reluctant to switch to a Balckview branded phone after seeing so many bad reviews. Then I came across several Chinese website with user reviews as well, and the rating was generally good. I was able to read the review in Chinese with the help of Google. Considering this thing is less than half the price of a Samsung, I thought I will give it a try. Let's start with the things that I don't like first. i) To start with, I did not expect any support and the shop also told me so when I bought the phone. I get to test it out for 7 days and if things works fine, then I am on my own. The shop committed to fix/repair at a cost after 7 days, fortunately, I do not have to verify this commitment so far. ii) the phone is heavy, but then since the battery can last me for 2 days for every charge under normal use, I can live with that weight. The problem is that unlike the Samsung where I will charge it every night, I sometimes forgot to charge this as it does not have to be done every night. iii) compass need to be recalibrated after the phone is shutdown. It take 1 minute to do but a bit annoying iv) Accessibility have to be reset everytime the phone is turned on otherwise customize widgets and some other apps will not work. This should be a known issue and reportedly can be solved after rooting and changing some settings afterwards. Even so, Blackview should tackle that for a better user experience. v) pairing of bluetooth is not difficult but the connections occasionally drops. This can be annoying when you are driving as you either have to wait several minutes for it to auto reconnect or manually reconnect it again. vi) camera is just mediocre, its usable but quality is no where close to the Korean phones but then, the money you save from this phone can probably buy you a prosumer camera Now, let's go to the things that I like about this phone. i) as I have mentioned before, its cheap. Its less than half of a Sumsung flagship phone and it comes with thermal camera, wireless charging and various useful sensors ii) IP69K and I think it lived up to my expectation. I dump the phone into soapy water frequently to disinfect it after I go out. Sometimes, I would even soak it for a minute or 2 and so far no issue at all. This phone have also survived alcohol/HOCL sprays. The plastic screen protector is turning a bit smoggy, but everything else is fine iii) thermal camera, its fun to use and does have some practical application as well but if you need accurate temperature reading, then you need better equipment iv) random auto shutdown is common even for Samsung phones, Blackview is similar but my impression is that this happens less than Samsung v) this phone is loud and ring tone can be heard even when you are out on busy streets vi) most other functions works well including GPS, finger print sensor, touch screen, etc. vii) build quality is good and feels solid. I have not dropped the phone from 6 feet but I did dropped it on my work desk several times and I am more worried about denting my desk than the phone. Net-net, it does not have the best camera nor good after sales services but it does offer very good value/features considering it price.