Blackview N6000 review - Affordable outdoor phone with plenty of power
Possible competitors in comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Drive | Size | Resolution | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76.5 % v7 (old) | 11 / 2023 | Blackview N6000 Helio G99, Mali-G57 MP2 | 208 g | 256 GB UFS 2.1 Flash | 4.30" | 1200x540 | |
| 75.4 % v7 (old) | 01 / 2023 | Cubot KingKong Mini 3 Helio G85, Mali-G52 MP2 | 149 g | 128 GB eMMC Flash | 4.50" | 1170x480 | |
| 75.3 % v7 (old) | 07 / 2022 | Cubot Pocket T310, PowerVR GE8300 | 128 g | 64 GB eMMC Flash | 4.00" | 1080x540 | |
| 86.1 % v7 (old) | 04 / 2022 | Apple iPhone SE 2022 A15, A15 GPU 5-Core | 144 g | 64 GB SSD | 4.70" | 1334x750 |
Case and features - The outdoor cell phone fits in many pockets
There are hardly any cell phones with screens smaller than 5 inches. The Apple iPhone SE is still a notable exception, but at over 500 euros it is also expensive. The Blackview N6000 is just half the price and is also suitable for outdoor use: it is IP69K and MIL-STD-810H tested. This means you can take it with you on diving trips in shallow water or use it in very dusty environments without damaging the phone.
However, at 208 grams, the handy cell phone is not quite as light and has wide edges around the screen to provide adequate protection against damage from drops. The screen is also protected by Gorilla Glass 5. A rubber coating should also prevent the Blackview N6000 from slipping out of your hand.
In terms of design, the outdoor phone is classic for its product category, with visible screws and industrial design indicating that this is a robust device. The phone is available in either pure black or with orange or green color accents.
The phone comes with NFC, so you can also use mobile payment services. There is also plenty of space for data with 256 GB of mass storage and 8 GB of RAM ensures that the system is not slowed down.
There is no microSD slot or support for eSIM, but you can insert up to 2 nano SIM cards into the smartphone.
Communication, software and operation - Pure Android 13 without advertising
WiFi 5 is the fastest Wi-Fi standard that the Blackview N6000 can use to connect to a network. In our test with the Asus ROG Rapture AXE11000 reference router, it, therefore, achieves very stable transfer rates that are on par with its class. At speeds between 310 and 362 MBit/s, a Gigabit Internet line can be utilized to a maximum of one third.
For mobile networks, 4G is the highest level, but there are several frequency bands available so that the phone can also be used abroad. During our test period of around 2 weeks, we repeatedly checked the reception strength in urban areas. The Blackview N6000 is somewhat less stable here than high-end smartphones but still has good reception quality.
Android 13 is used as the operating system, with the manufacturer installing its own DokeOS interface. However, this changes very little to the standard Android and does not include any third-party advertising software. The security updates date from July 2023 and are therefore older.
In terms of operation, the Blackview phone is also suitable for smaller hands thanks to its compact dimensions, although many buttons are tiny. There is a button on the left-hand side of the casing, where a single press and a longer press can each be assigned an app, which then starts. More sophisticated functions, such as macros or switching on the flashlight via the button, are not possible.
The Blackview N6000 also has a fingerprint sensor, which is concealed in the standby button on the right-hand side. If you touch it, there is only a short delay before the system is unlocked. Face recognition is also possible, which also works reliably, but is not as secure against manipulation due to the 2D image recognition used.
| Networking | |
| Blackview N6000 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Cubot KingKong Mini 3 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Cubot Pocket | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Apple iPhone SE 2022 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
Camera - Moderate equipment
The 48-megapixel camera on the back usually only takes 12-megapixel pictures since it combines 4 pixels into one pixel and thus achieves a higher light sensitivity. The full resolution can also be used in a special mode of the camera software.
The resulting photos are rather mediocre in terms of dynamic range, with bright areas in particular quickly becoming too bright and hardly any details visible in darker areas. The color reproduction is also somewhat pale. The image sharpness is only at a low level. In low light and with high contrasts, images are taken that also lack detail in dark and bright areas and are not as sharp.
Videos can be recorded in a maximum resolution of 2K at 30 fps - a higher frame rate is not supported even in FullHD. The autofocus does not work quite correctly from time to time, and the exposure compensation takes a while to react. Overall, however, the resulting videos are usable in good light.
Although there is a second lens on the back, the manufacturer does not provide any information about it. This means that it is probably only a support lens for portrait shots. In any case, you cannot take photos with it.
There is a 16-megapixel selfie camera on the front. It takes usable selfies in good light. However, you should not enlarge them too much, as the details will result in very grainy images.
Image Comparison
Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.
Main cameraMain cameraLow Light
Display - Bright, but not true to color
The IPS screen is not that large at 4.3 inches, so the resolution of 1200 x 540 pixels is sufficient for a reasonably sharp image. The brightness also surprises positively and is at a high level with average maximum values of 661 cd/m² with an exposed brightness sensor. However, the comparison devices achieve similar values.
In any case, the Blackview N6000 is also suitable for brighter environments, as the screen content is still easy to read. In our measurements with the spectrophotometer, we noticed a rather strong blue cast in the display, so that the color fidelity suffers.
However, we did not measure PWM flickering even at very low brightness levels.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 92 %
Center on Battery: 644 cd/m²
Contrast: 1073:1 (Black: 0.6 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 5.6 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.91
ΔE Greyscale 5.5 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
87.3% sRGB (Calman 2D)
Gamma: 2.257
| Blackview N6000 IPS, 1200x540, 4.3" | Cubot KingKong Mini 3 IPS, 1170x480, 4.5" | Cubot Pocket IPS, 1080x540, 4" | Apple iPhone SE 2022 Retina HD, IPS, 1334x750, 4.7" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response Times | -69% | -40% | -71% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 28.7 ? | 44.6 ? -55% | 34 ? -18% | 56 ? -95% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 13.7 ? | 25 ? -82% | 22 ? -61% | 20 ? -46% |
| PWM Frequency | ||||
| Screen | 5% | 13% | 36% | |
| Brightness middle | 644 | 639 -1% | 628 -2% | 662 3% |
| Brightness | 661 | 624 -6% | 632 -4% | 647 -2% |
| Brightness Distribution | 92 | 82 -11% | 93 1% | 92 0% |
| Black Level * | 0.6 | 0.6 -0% | 0.57 5% | 0.4 33% |
| Contrast | 1073 | 1065 -1% | 1102 3% | 1655 54% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 5.6 | 4.98 11% | 4.23 24% | 1.44 74% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 10.32 | 8.55 17% | 8.81 15% | 4.74 54% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 5.5 | 4 27% | 2.3 58% | 1.7 69% |
| Gamma | 2.257 97% | 2.223 99% | 2.136 103% | 2.179 101% |
| CCT | 8251 79% | 6873 95% | 6945 94% | 6746 96% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | -32% /
-10% | -14% /
2% | -18% /
14% |
* ... smaller is better
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 13.7 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 10.5 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 3.2 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows good response rates in our tests, but may be too slow for competitive gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 31 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (20.9 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 28.7 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 19.9 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 8.8 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows relatively slow response rates in our tests and may be too slow for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 34 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (32.8 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8705 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. | |||
Performance, emissions and battery life - Powerful and lasts a long time
The MediaTek Helio G99 would also look good in a slightly more expensive smartphone than the Blackview N6000, so the phone is certainly impressive in terms of performance. Of course, it doesn't reach the performance of the iPhone SE, but comparable smartphones are significantly slower.
This means that the N6000 can also run somewhat more complex apps smoothly in everyday use and even demanding graphics calculations are possible in the fairly low resolution of the screen.
With its UFS 2.1 memory, the Blackview N6000 is also very fast.
The phone heats up to a maximum of 37.5 °C even under heavy load. This is noticeable as a slight difference to the surroundings with your hand on the casing but is by no means unpleasant. The SoC is not throttled, even if the phone is under heavy load for a longer period of time.
The speaker on the back of the ruggedized smartphone can be clearly muffled, for example, when the phone is placed on a soft surface. Although the sound is loud when the speaker is not covered, it is rather mediocre in terms of quality and lacks fullness and clarity. The sound can also be sent to external audio devices via USB-C port or Bluetooth. The Blackview N6000 supports several audio codecs for wireless transmission, including aptX HD or LHDC for approximate or actual HiRes audio.
The Blackview N6000's battery has a capacity of 3880 mAh. The manufacturer refers to a solid-state battery, which should be more robust and resistant to extreme temperatures. In any case, the battery achieves good runtimes: the phone managed 16:54 hours in our WLAN test, which should be enough for 2 working days with average use. The phone is charged with a maximum of 18 watts, so it takes 1:30 hours to charge the battery from empty to completely full.
| PCMark for Android - Work 3.0 | |
| Average of class Smartphone (4609 - 27169, n=193, last 2 years) | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G99 (8885 - 11379, n=17) | |
| Blackview N6000 | |
| Cubot Pocket | |
| Cubot KingKong Mini 3 | |
| Blackview N6000 | Cubot KingKong Mini 3 | Cubot Pocket | Average 256 GB UFS 2.1 Flash | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AndroBench 3-5 | -81% | -80% | -41% | 42% | |
| Sequential Read 256KB | 971.8 | 277.3 -71% | 261.6 -73% | 826 ? -15% | 1859 ? 91% |
| Sequential Write 256KB | 914 | 131 -86% | 186.9 -80% | 358 ? -61% | 1445 ? 58% |
| Random Read 4KB | 264.6 | 43 -84% | 32.7 -88% | 166.6 ? -37% | 278 ? 5% |
| Random Write 4KB | 275 | 46.4 -83% | 59.5 -78% | 141.5 ? -49% | 310 ? 13% |
Temperature
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 37.5 °C / 100 F, compared to the average of 35.1 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 63.7 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 33.6 °C / 92 F, compared to the average of 33.9 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 25.3 °C / 78 F, compared to the device average of 32.8 °C / 91 F.
Speaker
Blackview N6000 audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (83.4 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 24.3% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (10% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 11.4% higher than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (13.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 9.3% higher than median
(-) | highs are not linear (16.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(-) | overall sound is not linear (33.4% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 82% of all tested devices in this class were better, 1% similar, 17% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 37%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 91% of all tested devices were better, 1% similar, 7% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Apple iPhone SE 2022 audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (85.9 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 25.4% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (7% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | reduced mids - on average 5.1% lower than median
(+) | mids are linear (5.9% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 4.6% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (3.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (18.3% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 15% of all tested devices in this class were better, 8% similar, 77% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 37%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 36% of all tested devices were better, 8% similar, 56% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Battery life
| Battery Runtime - WiFi Websurfing | |
| Blackview N6000 | |
| Cubot Pocket | |
| Average of class Smartphone (476 - 3244, n=205, last 2 years) | |
| Cubot KingKong Mini 3 | |
| Apple iPhone SE 2022 | |
Pros
Cons
Verdict - Small outdoor phone with big advantages
The Blackview N6000 is a comparatively inexpensive and handy outdoor phone that won't let you down even in extreme situations: The screen can shine relatively brightly and the housing is protected against shocks and environmental influences.
The phone is by no means a dwarf in terms of performance either: it has plenty of power and can also cope with more complex apps. It also has a good battery life and reasonably fast charging.
However, the N6000 is only suitable for camera fans to a limited extent, and the phone is comparatively heavy and perhaps not necessarily suitable for a business meeting due to its striking industrial design. The loudspeaker sounds rather mediocre and is not optimally positioned.
The Blackview N6000 impresses as a handy yet robust phone with plenty of power and good battery life.
Even more compact and cheaper is the Cubot Pocket but here you have to do without protection from dust and water. The older King Kong Mini 2 can offer even longer endurance but is also not IP-certified.
Price and availability
Users can buy the Blackview N6000 directly from the manufacturer. Amazon US also lists the device for around $280.
Blackview N6000
- 11/04/2023 v7 (old)
Florian Schmitt
Transparency
The selection of devices to be reviewed is made by our editorial team. The test sample was provided to the author as a loan by the manufacturer or retailer for the purpose of this review. The lender had no influence on this review, nor did the manufacturer receive a copy of this review before publication. There was no obligation to publish this review. We never accept compensation or payment in return for our reviews. As an independent media company, Notebookcheck is not subjected to the authority of manufacturers, retailers or publishers.
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