Blackview COLOR 8 – Review of the new low cost… but don't call it Chinese
If you are looking for a complete experience, without any particular sacrifices but have a limited budget, before buying a smartphone just for the brand, you should stop for a moment and read this review featuring the new Blackview COLOR 8. The device is available on Amazon at a price of around 139 euros but if you want to spend even less, then you can buy it from the brand's official store on AliExpress with a price of around 99 euros. I'll tell you everything in this review.
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On offer on Amazon
1948 world muslimah COLOR 8 90Hz 6.75 inch Display 128GB/256GB 50MP Rear Camera 6000mAh Battery 18W Fast Charging GPS
82,88€ available
unboxing
The Blackview COLOR 8 is shipped in a nice and sturdy box where some key specifications of the product are shown, but apart from that what you need to know is that the unboxing experience is truly rich and complete. In fact, inside the sales box we find, in addition to the smartphone which already has a pre-applied plastic film to protect the display, also a soft but well-protective silicone cover, glass screen protector, tool for removing the tray SIM, power supply with maximum output of 18W and USB-A / USB-C power and data transfer cable. Apart from the earphones, which no one now comes with the device anymore, we have a complete kit for using the smartphone without shelling out additional euros.
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION QUALITY
Blackview COLOR 8 offers a traditional design but in its own "particular" way, in fact the rear is characterized by a double color, clearly divided. Specifically, the color I tested shows a purple color in the lower half of the back cover while the lavender color in the upper half. There are 3 colors available: wisteria purple, ripple blue, ash gray but on Amazon you will only find the last color mentioned while on AliExpress you can buy the color that you like best.
Another detail that I appreciated is that the design team did not want to overdo the details regarding the rear photographic compartment, eliminating the classic plastic bumps, but incorporating everything into the back cover, via a slight step in the same color as the body. Furthermore, the cameras are not very protruding and therefore even if we use the smartphone on a flat surface without its cover, the phone will not be subject to wobbly movements.
Completely made of plastic, the finish for the body is matte, a positive thing as dirt and fingerprints are not cannibalized at all while the profiles, also made of plastic, enjoy a semi-brushed glossy treatment, pretending to be metal and therefore raising the premium feel of the device. Dimensions equal to 167.8 x 77.4 x 9.1 mm and a weight of 214 grams certainly do not make the Blackview COLOR 8 a compact smartphone but single-handed use is not impossible also due to its brick style, with rather squared which helps grip and ergonomics.
The construction and the sensation to the touch are good but looking at the profiles you immediately realize that the company has eliminated something to save money and specifically we do not find the second microphone for noise reduction on calls, but despite this absence I will spoil it for you immediately that telephone conversations take place in a pleasant manner, with good voice capture. However, we find the 3,5 mm jack to use wired headphones, useful for listening to FM radio for example, incorporated into the system and fully usable without regional limitations. We also find the Type-C input for charging with 18W and OTG support, while the SIM tray located on the left profile offers 3 slots, 2 of which are dedicated to nano format SIMs and one to the micro SD up to 1 TB to expand the built-in memory.
Considering the rather clean back of the smartphone, apart from the brand logo and the photographic compartment which is made up of 2 lenses and single tone LED flash, on the right profile we find the volume rocker and the power button which incorporates the biometric sensor for the most part unlocking of the device via fingerprint recognition, which I must admit was always reliable and never uncertain, net of a speed that does not fall within the podium of the devices I tested, however the position is convenient for both right and left hand unlocking .
I almost forgot to mention the single system speaker, positioned on the lower frame of the Blackview COLOR 8. This releases audio that is decidedly generous in volume, a little less in bass performance, but at least it never distorts. Luckily the 3,5mm jack comes to the rescue if you want higher quality audio.
CONNECTIVITY
Blackview COLOR 8 does not fare badly in the connectivity department, but however I must immediately point out two aspects: the first is that it is not a 5G device but only dual 4G LTE, i.e. with connectivity on both slots. The second aspect is that the NFC sensor is absent, so if you like payments with your phone, it is not for you.
Having said that, we find an excellent Dual WiFi on board, which always connected the signal quickly and constantly and above all even in the corners of the house where the signal is very poor. Also available is Bluetooth 5.2, the aforementioned FM radio and 3.5mm jack and a GPS with support for Galileo satellites, which allowed me to always arrive at my destination without hesitation, although in some situations the recalculation of the route took longer than expected. expected. Finally, I make a quick mention of praise to the brightness and proximity sensors: the first has always recognized the problem by adapting the display lighting to the right intensity, even if not quickly, the second, however, is of a physical type and therefore no hassle in the listening to voice notes or calls and therefore no risk of our cheek pressing random buttons because the display remains on.
As far as sound is concerned, the Blackview COLOR 8 has a single mono speaker positioned on the lower frame, capable of releasing an above-average volume without particular distortions, but decidedly unbalanced towards medium-high tones. In any case, we are able to manage hands-free calls with a decidedly acceptable quality but if we really want greater quality when listening to music and/or movies we can always turn to the audio jack to which we can pair wired headphones.
DISPLAY
Our smartphone belongs to the low cost category and therefore the display is a confirmation in this sense. we find a 6.75 inch LCD panel with HD+ resolution (720×1600 pixels) in 20:9 format but capable of offering a 90 Hz refresh rate, although the difference in fluidity compared to 60 Hz is not so marked. Overall it is bright with its 450 nits but above all I appreciated the visibility at strong angles, reaching 178° and if we then add support for Widevine L1 DRM, allowing services like Netflix to offer FullHD streaming (a curious fact given that technically is higher than the resolution of the phone screen itself), we can say that overall this screen is not that bad.
There is also the possibility of calibrating colors and white points via software but the color space is already well covered and reproduced, allowing all multimedia content to be viewed without strain on the eyes. The 90 Hz helps a little in the flow and fluidity of the animations, but it is not a killer feature that I would focus on.
AUTONOMY
The dimensions and weight mentioned at the beginning are justified by the presence of a large 6000 mAh battery. Having said that, the chipset used is not exactly known for being the most energy-intensive hardware component around and therefore the sum of the hardware and the software component allows the Blackview COLOR 8 to easily reach 2 full days of use with standard use. We do not have wireless charging or ultra-fast charging available, reaching a maximum of 18W which completely recharges the device in about 2 hours. Naturally, the actual autonomy depends on the use you will make of the phone, considering that in the gaming sector the battery drain will be more marked.
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
As seen on other cheap smartphones, the Blackview COLOR 8 is equipped with the Unisoc T616 chipset, an octa-core solution with a 12nm production process and a maximum clock of 2.0 GHz. Read like this one might think of disappointing performance, but in reality the phone has always carried out the required tasks without hesitation, and even in gaming it did not complain about frame collapses or particular slowdowns, indeed the CPU temperature always remained below 40°C.
Unfortunately, the economic component of the smartphone comes out with the use of LPDDR3 RAM and specifically in the 8 GB cut with the possibility of expanding a further 8 GB virtually, while the 256 GB storage expandable with micro SD is a unit of UFS 2.1 type. In any case, in the usual AnTuTu benchmark our device did great but the real benchmark is everyday use where Blackview COLOR 8 was quite fluid and snappy.
In software terms, the graphic interface is customized by the manufacturer, i.e. DokeOS 4.0 based on Android 13 and the January 2024 patch. In reality, the graphic customization is very similar to Xiaomi's MIUI and the result is quite pleasant, thanks also to the many functions made available by the firmware. However, I will make two notes: the first is that the company will probably never release any large or major update, so if you are fanatical about releasing every little update, don't buy this phone. The second note is related to a bug found in the telephone dialer, which should natively allow recording calls without going through Google recording (and therefore with a relative warning for the interlocutor), but in reality, despite the recording being activated, it is not saved. Other than that, the user experience was pleasant.
PHOTO AND VIDEO QUALITY
Our economical device is equipped with a 50 MP main camera with a Samsung ISOCELL JN1 sensor which is accompanied by a 2 MP depth of field sensor. Finally we have the 8 MP selfie camera which is based on the Samsung ISOCELL 4H7 sensor. The camera application has a very simple implementation, therefore suitable for those who are not familiar with it.
By default, the main camera captures at a resolution of 12,5 MP. These photos look quite nice, especially for such a cheap device. The frame is rich in detail and the colors are mostly natural and faithful. The portrait mode is decent but not perfect, as in some situations the contour of the subject does not occur precisely, but overall the photos captured by the Blackview COLOR 8 are decidedly good and with good presence of details.
Unfortunately, the absence of any form of stabilization has a negative impact not only on videos but also on photos, because if you don't have a steady hand sometimes the subjects could appear moved and sometimes blurry but with a little patience we'll get there good photos, at least in favorable light conditions, while when the ambient lighting drops the final result is not of good quality, with mixed colors and poco natural. The selfie camera also captures excellent and detailed shots with good contrast and dynamic range in addition to the fact that the HDR present at the software level does its job wonderfully.
Videos can be shot both from the main camera and selfies only at 1080p 30fps with good details but the effect of movement and therefore the so-called "blur" is very present. To be honest, the contrast is a little marked with an overly elaborate effect but once again considering the price of the phone we can't complain.
On offer on Amazon
1948 world muslimah COLOR 8 90Hz 6.75 inch Display 128GB/256GB 50MP Rear Camera 6000mAh Battery 18W Fast Charging GPS
82,88€ available
CONCLUSIONS AND PRICE
We come to a verdict for Blackview COLOR 8, a cheap smartphone that you can find on Amazon with Prima shipping for around 129 euros by redeeming the discount coupon from the purchase page or purchasing it at a price of less than 100 euros directly from the brand's store on AliExpress. The overall experience was positive, solid in performance and overall complete in every area.
The absence of NFC but above all an unknown on the update side are negative aspects of the smartphone but at the same selling price it is difficult to find something better unless you divert your attention to the various Motorola ones which are currently becoming popular due to their excellent quality ratio /price. In any case, COLOR 8 is a smartphone that I recommend.
