Note: Gearbest is currently offering a flash sale on the DG550 (code: gizbeat550). $159.99 + 8GB SD + free shipping.
Doogee is a new brand on the block. They haven’t been around for more than a year, yet have come on very strongly by sponsoring Villarreal football club and having a relatively legit looking English website. I reviewed their website a bit back, but today we’ll be doing a Doogee Dagger DG550 review of specifications and design.
The DG550, while having a more than passing resemblance to the iNew V3 is nonetheless a completely different phone. The iNew V3 is a 5.0″ MT6582 with NFC, while the Doogee Dagger is MT6592 and lacks NFC. Another significant, yet possible overlooked spec is the substantial battery size difference between the two. The DG550 has a 2600mA battery, while the iNew V3 has an 1830mA battery.
Doogee DG550 Dagger review LCD
While the PPI of 267 couldn’t be considered retina, it should be more than adequate.
The LCD is 720p on a 5.5″ screen. Given the SoC, this is the right choice for this phone, as 1080p models with MT6592 have not fared well in regards to battery life. 720p screens are significantly cheaper than 1080p as well so it keeps the cost of the phone down. While the PPI of 267 couldn’t be considered retina, it should be more than adequate.
Doogee DG550 Dagger review camera & battery
The battery is removable, so battery swappers can order 2 or more batteries and rejoice
The camera is 13mp rear and 5mp front. Whether these are interpolated resolutions is not easy to tell, even with the phone in hand and examining pixels 1:1. This is the official reported spec by Doogee, so we’ll take them at their word for now.
The battery is 2600mA. Obviously more would be better here, but for the LCD size and resolution 2600mA is appropriate and adequate. Really, given the thickness of the Doogee Dagger it’s a nice surprise. The battery is removable, so battery swappers can order 2 or more batteries and rejoice in many hours of use without having to tie the phone to a charger.
Doogee DG550 Dagger review OS
The Doogee Dagger DG550 is reportedly to come with KitKat, but whether it’s the case remains to be seen. For myself, the absolute last thing I look at when deciding on a phone is whether it has KitKat or Jelly Bean. Doogee has a good chance here to make a big name for themselves if they can release the phone with true KitKat. They also have a good chance to tarnish their own name by releasing the Dagger with Jelly Bean after marketing the phone as coming with KitKat, or even worse — faking KitKat.
It wouldn’t be the first time Doogee blundered with OS, having released the DG2014 with non-existent Android 4.2.9. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt here as well and expect them to deliver as promised.
Doogee Dagger DG550 review frequency support
I think if I were spending mega bucks on sponsoring a Spanish football club, I’d make sure my units supported all the frequencies in Spain
Doogee’s official site reports the Dagger as being 850/2100 WCDMA/UMTS/HSDPA & 850/900/1800/1900 GSM. It’s a good thing for people from the Americas, as this phone will support 3G for AT&T in many areas.
It’s good to see 850 supported, but it’s interesting they haven’t gone with 900/2100 in light of their recent sponsorship of Villarreal. I’m not complaining, it’s just another curious thing. I think if I were spending mega bucks on sponsoring a Spanish football club, I’d make sure my units supported all the frequencies in Spain.
Doogee DG550 Dagger review design
The Doogee DG550 bears striking resemblance to the iNew V3. Here Doogee took the exact same design as iNew V3 and rearranged where the buttons, inputs and LED were located. For me, this is no problem and perhaps is even a very intelligent move given the huge success of iNew V3.
Size wise this is a tad bigger than I like to carry around. I prefer 5.0″, but this is personal preference and I don’t think the choice of 5.5″ is necessarily a bad decision.
Doogee DG550 Dagger review connectivity
Very interesting to note that nowhere in the official Doogee Dagger DG550 marketing information do we see anything about OTG. Let’s hope this is an oversight by the marketing staff. To not have OTG in 2014 is a crucial misstep.
What should be noted is that the Doogee has touted the Dagger as coming with HDMI support. If this turns out to be the truth, and if it’s implemented successfully, it will be a big step in China brand history. If it turns out to be false advertising, then a large Blemish on Doogee’s record.
Other than the possible lack of OTG, and possible inclusion of HDMI support, the Doogee DG550 Dagger has the typical array of connectivity — Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi b/g/n, USB 2.0.
Doogee DG550 Dagger review SoC & RAM/ROM
The DG550 carries MT6592 SoC. MT6592 has an 8-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU and Mali-450 MP4 GPU. It’s more than capable of running Android smoothly. Battery economy can normally be rated as good when coupled with a 720p LCD.
The Doogee Dagger has 1GB of RAM, which coupled with a proper SoC is fine for running today’s Android smoothly — though I do recommend reading my post about 1gb vs 2gb before laying down the dough. The ROM storage of 16GB is more than fine. The phone has TD SD-Card support officially up to 32GB, and possibly may support 64GB if formatted correctly.
Doogee DG550 Dagger review specification conclusion
If the HDMI is included and works right, it will be a very positive move for this phone towards success.
Design wise it’s a beautiful looking phone. Even if the style was borrowed from the iNew V3, Doogee can’t be faulted here. If anything it’s a smart move.
It’s very curious there’s nothing about OTG in the official specs and we will just have to wait and see whether this was an oversight or if they’ve truly made a blunder by it’s lack of inclusion. If the HDMI is included and works right, it will be a very positive move for this phone towards success.
Given the current presale price of the DG550 at around $170, the specs of the Dagger are excellent. You can’t ask for more at this price point. Assuming the ROM is relatively bug free, the phone includes OTG and the battery life is satisfactory, the Doogee DG550 will be a huge winner and should be at the top of anyone’s shortlist.
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