The segment of rugged smartphones sometimes looks like a playground for smartphone manufacturers. Various devices in this category feature night vision or infrared cameras, integrated earbuds and even a secondary display. But with the BV4800 SE, Blackview is now selling a rather plain and simplistic rugged smartphone at a pretty low price. The phone officially costs $129, but is already available for $103 excluding shipping via import from Banggood.
In terms of specs, the phone is equipped with the Unisoc Tiger T615 SoC with two Cortex-A75 cores, but no 5G connectivity. Thanks to the three card slots, users don't have to choose between a microSD expansion of the 64GB eMMC 5.1 storage and two SIM cards. That said, the memory is rather small at just 4GB.
The phone weighs 10 oz and is half an inch thick. The reinforced edges typical of rugged smartphones are also found on the BV4800 SE, which results in a less than optimal screen-to-body ratio. The 6.56-inch display has a refresh rate of 90Hz and a low resolution of just 1612 x 720 pixels. Blackview advertises MIL-STD-810H, IP69K and IP68 certifications, which means that the device is protected against water, dust and drop damage. The company also asserts that it’s usable with gloves.
Moreover, the customizable button can be used to activate the flashlight. The main camera has a resolution of 16 megapixels, while the 8MP selfie camera can be used for face unlock. GPS, Glonass, Beidou and Galileo are supported, and the 5,100mAh battery can reverse-charge other devices. Last but not least, the Blackview BV4800 SE runs on Android 15 out of the box.