With the smartphone market getting more saturated and prices dropping, Blackview has decided to foray into the relatively untapped market of tough phones.
BV6000 display
The display on the Blackview BV6000 is IPS OGS 4.7″@720p and gorilla glass protected. Blackview included a standard screen protector already placed on the phone and an extra in the box.
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- Dynamic contrast
Some may bemoan the 720p, but on a 4.7″ display, pixel density is very good and provides for a pleasant experience. In addition, the smaller display and 720p resolution gives us a nice bump in battery life.
The display is great, with no obvious vignetting, and no corner pixel light bleed. Viewing angles are excellent, with no contrast or color changes from extreme angles (see video).
Color saturation is very good, and with Miravision vivid turned on adds some significant pop. In our opinion vivid mode on this phone is a bit much, and we prefer the more laid back standard color saturation. If you like vivid colors though, the BV6000 vivid mode won’t disappoint.
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| Component | Parameter |
|---|---|
| SoC | MT6755 MT6755 Helio P10 |
| CPU | big.LITTLE 64-bit Cortex-A53 [email protected][email protected] |
| GPU | Mali-T860MP2 |
| Display | 4.7"@720P IPS OGS Gorilla Glass 3 |
| RAM | 3GB |
| ROM storage | 32GB |
| Rear camera | 13mp OmniVision OV13853 Intervalometer & Slow motion supported |
| Front camera | 5MP OV5670 |
| Atmosphere pressure sensor | Yes |
| Compass | Yes |
| Gyroscope | Yes |
| Dual-SIM | Yes |
| NFC | Yes |
| TF SD expandable | Yes |
| IP rating | IP68 Shockproof / Waterproof / Dustproof |
| Battery | 4200mAh (tested and confirmed) |
Blackview BV6000 review style and build
The BV6000 is one beefy mobile, coming in at just under 16mm thick. One might think the phone is unwieldy due to the thickness, but we didn’t find this to be the case. The BV6000 feels very good in the hand, and we actually find the weight and size a bit refreshing after handling the slew of thin mobiles we’ve recently reviewed.
It’s got heavy armor protecting it all the way around, and attractive aluminum sides tightened by torx screws.
In the back is a plate that’s removed by loosening two screws; this is where the SIMs and TF SD card go to expand storage.
BV6000 OS
Blackview BV6000 OS quick points:
- Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
- No force closes during our time with with the phone
- Rapid typing is quick and effortless with great sensitivity and no pauses
- Transitions are extremely smooth
- System animations and general flipping about the phone are extremely smooth (see video)
- OS is for the most part vanilla Android (standard / stock Android)
- OS has OTA (WiFi system update)
- Three finger slide down for screenshot is very handy
- Excellent quick-flick fast scrolling
- Smooth slow scrolling
- Deep sleeping without issue
- Google Play Store working without issue
- Dedicated physical camera button can open camera from screenoff
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- Quick settings
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- Apps in memory timer
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- Whitelist apps to stay in memory
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- Android 6.0 permissions
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- Play Store installs
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- Mute settings
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- RAM usage
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- Gestures
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- Intelligent standby
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- NFC settings
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- NFC tap to pay
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- 3-finger slide
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- Volume screen on
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- OTA no problem
Blackview BV6000 SOS
The BV6000 has an SOS mode. Here’s how it works:
- Add a contact and message through Android settings > SOS
- In an emergency, hold the SOS button for 5 seconds
- An SMS with your exact GPS location and preset message will go out to the contact you selected in step 1
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- SOS warning
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- SOS contact
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- GPS and SOS msg
You then have an option to put the phone into “Rescue mode”. In this mode your phone will shut down all functions, including the SIM. Every 30 minutes the phone will wake to resend the distress signal. It’s not mandatory to put it into this mode, but consider you’re in an emergency in a remote area and have no idea about the next time you’ll be able to charge, this will conserve maximum battery.
Set phone to emergency mode
This feature seems great for hikers, mountain bikers, climbers, fisherman and travelers. In addition, we’re also thinking this might be something excellent for the elderly.
BV6000 battery life SOT time
We ran the Blackview BV6000 battery through our standard test of a 720p YouTube video over WiFi with the display at 140lux and the BV6000 gave us a fantastic result, hitting 11 hours 42 minutes with its 4200mAh battery.
11h 42m 720p video
We also ran the Blackview BV6000 through our meter and came back with 4048mAh(±5%).
Blackview BV6000 battery charging
According to Blackview, the BV6000 battery is capable of quick charge and we found this claim to be true, charging from 0%-90% in just over 2 hours, and to 100% in 2h 45m.
The quick-charging taken together with the excellent battery life make the Blackview BV6000 a great phone for long trips, power users, and anyone who appreciates quick-charging and long-lasting juice.
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- 0%-90%
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- 0%-100%
WiFi
Outstanding. The BV6000 maintains a stable, fast connection at 144ft / 44m.
GPS
GPS on the BV6000 is great. A cold lock happened within seconds. SNR hits and maintains mid/high 30’s to low 40’s on 7 satellites (see video).
GPS SNR
Camera sample images
The camera on this Blackview OmniVision 13mp OV13853. This is a good sensor, capable of 1/4 speed slow-mo (see video). It delivers images easily adequate for social sharing and medium sized prints. Sensor quality is in line with mid-range Samsung / Sony / Panasonic mobile sensors. There is also an intervelometer which comes in very handy for time-lapse videos.
Definition: An attachment or facility on a camera that operates the shutter regularly at set intervals over a period. On a movie camera the device is used for time-lapse photography.
This allows us to make movies of things which change slowly over time. Instead of recording video the entire time, the BV6000 will take a shot timed to the user’s choice, for example, every 10 seconds.
At the end, the camera will automatically make this into a video.
- Conditions: Generally hazy / overcast
- Quality: All images saved at 75%
- Size: Resized to 1280 (can be seen at 1280 size in comparison to other phones here at flickr (opens in new tab))
First 3 shots are HDR. The rest are taken standard. All images are unedited other than resize and crop.
Blackview BV6000 Antutu
Antutu on the Blackview BV6000 hits a very respectable 47.5k with a 3D score of 6283, UX score of 20411, CPU score of 16057 and RAM at 4762.
Antutu
Other components
- Compass: Working without issue
- Gyroscope: Working without issue
- External speaker: Beyond adequate loudness for videos and hands-free.
- FM radio: Working without issue
- Ambient light sensor: Working without issue and appropriately adjusting display brightness
- OTG: Working without issue (tested mouse, keyboard, generic gamepad)
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- Gyroscope
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- Compass
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- Built-in compass app
Blackview BV6000 root and TWRP
At this point we have successfully rooted the Blackview BV6000 for those who are interested. The guide is here, with all files required (opens in new tab).
The IP stands for International Protection Rating. It’s also sometimes known as Ingress Protection Rating.
The ‘IP’ is then followed by two digits. These digits correspond to international standard IEC 60529. The digits rank the level of protection based on increasing levels of protection definitions. Higher digits are better.
First digit: corresponds with Solids, with a ‘0’ being not protected. The highest level of protection is a ‘6’, which means the product is dust tight; dust can not enter.
Second digit: corresponds with Liquids, with a ‘0’ being not protected. The highest level of protection is an ‘8’, which means the product can be continuously submerged beyond depths of 1m.
Blackview BV6000 review summary conclusion
The Blackview BV6000 gets an easy recommendation from us. Strangely, it lacks a notification LED, but beyond that it’s an excellent phone. The battery life is excellent, the ROM is super fluid and smooth, WiFi is excellent, GPS is great, and the display is a pleasure.
It’s got big 32gb storage and 3gb RAM, is dual-SIM, carries a gyroscope, NFC, compass, SOS button, physical camera button, and storage can be expanded with TF SD.
To top it off, it’s IP68, which means you can take it pretty much anywhere without concern. This is a phone we would easily recommend to a friend or member. If you’re looking for a tough phone, or just looking for a phone in general, and can handle this monster, get it. Get it now.
