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Rugged phones get a bad rap. They are written off as some act of innovation, a huge behemoth that should only show its face on the construction site or in the military. But apart from a few niche cases, the Chinese company Doogee is looking to bring us the Doogee S200, a mid-range smartphone with serious ruggedness but enough features to brush fingertips with the flagship category.
Available for as low as $229 on Aliexpress or $339 on Amazon , the S200 is pretty much a steal with its extreme durability, near-all-day battery life, and features you’d expect in a premium smartphone. However, there are a few caveats. For example, since this phone is not sold for the US market, it will not work on some 5G networks on some major carriers. Although the performance is good, it doesn’t match other mid-range phones. But somehow it handles some of the most taxing games surprisingly well.
However, the S200 is affordable for those looking for a rugged smartphone with ridiculous endurance and performance that will surprise them.
Doogee S200
The Doogee S200 brings rugged durability and great battery life to a powerful gaming phone for under $500.
Pros
- Super solid design
- Excellent battery life
- Amazingly powerful gaming performance
- Interesting camera features
- Really affordable
Cons
- Limited 5G networks in the US
- Performance is not as strong as its base model rivals
- Cameras are a mixed bag
- No Android 15
Doogee S200 Review: Design
“Is there such a thing?”
“Why is it so heavy?”
“You can use this thing as a weapon!”
These are the common responses I got from everyone I showed the Doogee S200 to. While it’s an interesting idea to put a smartphone inside a sturdy sock and use it as a makeshift blackjack, that’s not what the S200 is about. As someone who has broken a phone or two in his life, I’m a fan of most of the phone. This is a sign of its innate resilience. The phone has IP68, IP69K and MIL-STD 810 ratings. This means that the phone is waterproof and dustproof. It is also drop resistant and can withstand a drop of 5.9 feet (1.8 meters). There are even covers over the USB-C port to prevent water or dust from getting inside. The screen is made of Corning Gorilla Glass to prevent scratches.
Admittedly, this extra protection adds up to quite a bit. The 7.1 x 3.23 x 0.63-inch device weighs 12.9 ounces. does Google Pixel 9 (7 oz., 6 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches), Samsung Galaxy S24 SE (7.5 oz., 6.4 x 3 x 0.31 in.), Nothing Phone (2a) Plus (6.7 oz., 6.4 x 3 x 0.33 in.) and iPhone 16 (6 ounces, 5.8 x 2.8 x 0.31 inches) looks like a feather in comparison.
Despite the stiffness, the Doogee Gundam has a mechanical design that will appeal to fans of the Gundam, Transformers and Power Rangers. The black and dark gray aerospace alloy rear panel features a series of sharp angles leading to gentle slopes. . The centerpiece of the design is what Doogee calls the bottom screen. It’s like the Dynamic Island found on modern iPhones, just in a more convenient location (More on that later). The 1.3-inch circular AMOLED mini display is surrounded by four cameras on both sides with camera sensors.
The phone continues the mecha look with four prominent screws running down the sides. The volume and fingerprint reader/power buttons sit on the right, with a dual-SIM card tray and a button that users can customize for three separate actions — one for single, double, and triple presses. The USB-C charging port is hidden at the bottom of the phone, under a rubber gasket.
The front of the phone mainly consists of a display surrounded by thick bezels, especially at the top and bottom. The teardrop camera protrudes very slightly to the top of the screen.
Although the black and gray colorway is cool, I wish I could get my hands on the green and yellow versions because I love the pop of color.
Doogee S200X Review: Display
It’s not OLED or even AMOLED, but I’ll still take the S200X’s 6.7-inch IPS LCD display. As I watched the second second of the Squid Game, I saw every drop of blood splatter as the unlucky contestants left their bodies. The crimson 2400 x 1080 display provided a bright contrast against the cheery rainbow-painted floors in the episode “Six Feet.” It’s certainly not as bright as the aforementioned screens, but I’m not going to say what the S200 has to offer for the price.
The screen is not as bright as before Pixel 9however, I had no problem reading articles in direct sunlight. Games like Dead Cells and Zenless Zone Zero ran smoothly with an automatic refresh rate that automatically boosted the speed from the standard 60Hz to 120Hz when gaming or working on something particularly taxing. Doogee has also included a barebones Game Mode that integrates all your games and turns off notifications.
Let’s talk about the bottom screen. It’s a really useful way to interact with certain apps and phone functions without having to interact with the main display. In addition to the watch, you can read notifications, control your music program, check battery life, take pictures, answer calls and perform a number of other useful functions.
Doogee S200 Review: UI and Performance
Unlike other Android phones, Doogee runs on Android-Android 14. The 2.2 GHz octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 7050 processor, 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal memory allow fast navigation between applications and home screens. I only noticed a slight hint of slowdown when I started playing Zenless Zone Zero, and that was after running 50 Google Chrome pages, several G-Suite apps, BlueSky, and Threads.
Note that the smartphone is listed with 32 GB of RAM. This is because Doogee thinks it has more capacity to install apps to trick the system by matching some of the 256GB to RAM.
While the S200 hasn’t made the jump to Android 15 (and I’m not sure when it will), you still get a number of features from the previous OS, such as more customization on the lock and home screens. You also get better security and data protection, like using biometric authentication instead of passwords for more apps. Speaking of apps, there’s Toolbag, a collection of apps that match the phone’s build tool potential. There is a protractor, Plumb Bob and Level. Doogee also threw a Pedometer, NFC Card Emulator and Mirror in there, which is a bit confusing.
When I ran Geekbench 6, the S200 returned a single-core score of 990 and a multi-core score of 2471. That’s a solid score, but neither phone can match the (2a) (1,198/2,824), the Pixel 9 (1,699/4,241) or the iPhone 16 (3,412 and 8,416).
Doogee S200 Review: Camera
Doogee has packed the S200 with an impressive array of cameras and features. The main shooter is 100MP with a 20MP night vision camera and a 2MP macro sensor. The pictures I took have good color, but the details can be blurry at times. The beehive layers I took on a cloudy day are not as sharp as I expected. The same goes for a sparkling rose bouquet. Still, I was impressed with how well the phone picked up my dog’s hair, even though one was in motion when he licked his sister.
But my favorite shots are the night shots. That’s right, night vision. Although it made me look like something out of a horror movie, this mode was great for capturing my dogs tricks in near pitch black darkness. There’s also an underwater mode, but since the phone isn’t designed for scuba diving or deep diving, I’m not sure what you’ll be shooting. The 20-megapixel selfie camera was a little too good, capturing most of my gray hairs and colorful spots.
I really like how many camera modes the S200 offers. Apart from Night View, there is Beauty, 100MP, Super Night, GIF and Mono to name a few. But I missed the option to shoot wide or ultra wide shots. The phone also lacks optical stabilization, only offering digital, which is part of why some details in your photos aren’t as sharp as they should be. The Night Vision and Macro cameras do that, leaving that poor 100MP sensor to do all the heavy lifting. And maybe I shouldn’t complain when a phone is so undeniably cheap, but if other similarly priced phones can do it, I won’t notice.
Doogee S200 Review: Battery
The S200 has many good features, but the best is the battery life. Its 10,100 mAh battery lasts almost 24 hours at 23:12 while playing a 24-hour YouTube video at 50% brightness. The phone features Quick Charge 3.0, meaning the S200 can charge up to 50% in just 30 minutes. If you’re in a pinch, you can use the S200 as a charging brick with the reverse charging feature.
But Doogee, I have a bone to pick with you. Why, oh why, is there a big plate on the back of the phone that looks like lightning? I thought that meant the S200 had wireless charging capabilities. But imagine my surprise when I put the phone on not one, but two different wireless chargers and got bupkies. Then I thought it was NFC, but it’s not.
Doogee S200 Review: Verdict
Should you buy the Doogee S200? It depends. The S200 has a lot going for it. It’s super rugged and durable, with great performance and an even better battery. The rear sub-screen adds some handy functionality and man, Night Vision is just cool. And you really can’t beat that price. But I’m not sure how many people will agree to 4G in the 5G era. Plus, with all its features, the cameras could be better, and I’m not sure if Android 15 will ever come to the S200. But for people looking for a rugged, rugged, semi-premium flagship phone for under $500, the Doogee S200 has few rivals.
