Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2022
Lets get the bad out of the way. I am 6'2" tall. My chest height pocket is roughly 4-4.5ft. My hands were oily, and the only part of my hands that were clean, were attempting to put my less than two week old phone in my chest pocket without getting oil on the phone or myself. (I accept blame for the drop, it's my fault)
The phone felt like it was sliding into my pocket, so I let it go and, it was not in my pocket. It instead, fell to the floor, and landed on the corner as seen in the picture. I cursed, because I normally do not drop phones, ever, and my first thought was, "well, there's a new big ass FN scratch on my new $500 phone".
In reality, I had the pleasure of remaining mad the rest of the day, as a functionally damaging frame bend is the result of ONE drop, not even from the advertised max height. The phone landed EXACTLY as advertised by blackview on their website. Again, see above picture FROM THE OEM website. Yes, the picture of the phone dramatically shattering the ground, is a perfect re-enactment of my phone hitting the shop floor.
I buy tough phones. For multiple reasons. Lack of needing a phone case is one of them. This phone, obviously needs a case for drop protection. Had I known this, I would have not purchased it. My job, requires me to be able to remove my phone, usually with one hand, in awkward places. Trying to pull my pocket liner out with a large rubberized phone case, is an unacceptable hinderance.
This phone was squaring off against another 5g tough phone, and the CAT S62 pro. This phone won on the merits of superior sony camera features, and next gen flir. I say this, as an S60 owner coming FROM a CAT S60. Yes, I was, until 4 FEB 2022, using a phone, from JUNE 2016. That phone, lasted me, over 5 years in working environments. Although I did not personally drop it, it survived being knocked off equipment at heights well over 10ft and bouncing off the concrete below. It went swimming in the river. It did everything I asked it to do, and the frame, never buckled open. Not one crack on the screen. This is the durability I was expecting from a phone I paid for outright, no contracts, no insurance.
I drop this phone, one time, and the frame is now so bent, that I will never trust it in a wet environment for fear of leaks in the damaged frame. This means, I practically threw my $500 in the trash, because I have to have a water resistant phone, for my job.
Fun fact. This was apparently the last one in the country, (USA) as BlackView's amazon store, said they were no longer available after I purchased mine, and they have not been back in stock sense then, and the amazon store page doesn't know if or when it will ever have another one in stock.
So, I will be buying another phone at some point when I can afford it, and not a blackview unfortunately. If you can't tell, I don't buy phones fashionably. I buy them out of necessity. If my S60 was on a whitelist with ATT or verizon, I would still be using it. Since USA carriers with the exception of Tmobile are hardware idiots, I was FORCED to retire my S60 which still works fine to this day. I bought this phone to use with my previous carrier, straight talk, as it is advertised as a VOLTE phone, which it is, but read on......
T-mobile ONLY! Out of the box, if you want to use this phone in the USA, the only carrier that has this phone whitelisted is T-mobile under the Ultra Mobile subvendor. Google ultramobile for more information on them. You must also live in an area that THEY think you have coverage, or they will not activate your service. You can use any zip code you like through their website, hint, hint.
This phone CAN use ANY carrier with 4G service. However, if you are not technically inclined, do not bother, as it requires IMEI sharing with an authorized carrier's phone. (verizon or ATT for example) I was able to make and recieve calls on both verizon and ATT sim cards via VOLTE. Be advised, this phone only works with two of four major verizon cellular bands. I.E. coverage will not be guaranteed even if another verizon phone has coverage standing next to you. I did not get internet to work with either ATT or Verizon, as I did not get that far into the phone settings to make it work. It's probably not worth it to most users.
The microphone sensitivity is set to low from the factory. Luckily, you are not locked out of the engineering settings of this phone. I was able to adjust the input levels to fit my taste, not only on the built in mic, but any device that connects to it. This sounds great, but again, if you are a normal user of phones, this will probably be more than you are willing to do. Engineering settings are not a normal menu or app, you must know how to access them.
The good.
It's an otherwise great phone. If you have more skills than browsing an app store, if you like tech with deep features you can change, if you want an international dual sim or single sim with removable storage phone, you will enjoy this phone.
It's crisp, the fingerprint reader just works, the button placement takes adjustment, but is thoughtful, and the extra programable button is awesome. The camera is great, with clean flir pictures as well. The heartrate monitor is an odd feature, but works as advertised. It's a bit heaver than normal phones, but I am accustomed to that. It is sleek for a work phone. The rubberized back is nice, but it will take time to see how it holds up to years of use.
I like the OS. No bloatware to contend with. Google is optionally integrated, so there is no need to fight with an original carrier or oem messenger apps for dominance like other phones. I signed into google, made google messages my default, and no other messenger was ever on the phone.
The screen is as bright as you want, clear, clean, and responsive. Web browsing is enjoyable. Videos are great. Apps load fast, in and out of the background in a snap. I don't play mobile games, so I can't comment, but the reviews from others are positive in that light.
If I could get my phone repaired, I would keep it. If I could buy another one, I would have to think long and hard about it, given the first time I dropped this one, caused the need to replace it. If you still want one of these phones, FIND A CASE FOR IT.