Doogee S99 hands-on review: Tough phone at an aggressive price
The Doogee S99 is the latest phone from the Chinese smartphone company. The S99 boasts a rugged design and is loaded with pre-installed apps aimed squarely at a more "hands-on" crowd. The phone's main claim to fame is a "108 MP AI camera," which uses the triple camera array on the back to stitch together high-res photos. We will see how the shooter holds up in this review.
As this is a quick hands-on look and not a full review, we will briefly examine key aspects of the phone. We will not assign a final rating to the S99. The review sample was provided by Doogee.
The Doogee S99 directly competes with other budget- and mid-tier smartphones. While this market segment has no lack of options, the Doogee may stand out for those that want a ruggedized smartphone at an aggressive price.
potential competitors in comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
v (old) | 01 / 2023 | Doogee S99 Helio G96, Mali-G57 MP2 | 320 g | 15.5 mm | 6.30" | 1080x2340 | |
| 80 % v7 (old) | 09 / 2022 | Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S Helio G96, Mali-G57 MP2 | 179 g | 8.09 mm | 6.43" | 2400x1080 | |
| 81.6 % v7 (old) | 03 / 2021 | Blackview BL6000 Pro Dimensity 800, Mali-G57 MP4 | 273 g | 12.8 mm | 6.36" | 2300x1080 | |
| 80.5 % v7 (old) | 05 / 2021 | Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 SD 678, Adreno 612 | 178.8 g | 8.29 mm | 6.43" | 2400x1080 | |
| 79.8 % v7 (old) | 10 / 2020 | Motorola Moto G9 Plus SD 730G, Adreno 618 | 223 g | 9.7 mm | 6.81" | 2400x1080 | |
| 80.8 % v7 (old) | 07 / 2022 | Motorola Moto G42 SD 680, Adreno 610 | 175 g | 8.3 mm | 6.43" | 2400x1080 | |
| 80.2 % v7 (old) | 02 / 2022 | Motorola Moto G51 SD 480+, Adreno 619 | 208 g | 9.1 mm | 6.80" | 2400x1080 |
Case, Connectivity and UI
The S99 is built to be tough. The back is mostly made from a rubbery plastic, and the sides are hewn from metal. This gives the S99 a robust feel in the hand. The downside is that the device is thick and heavy, but the weight feels reassuringly durable. The display and three rear cameras are covered with Corning Gorilla Glass. The phone is not IP-certified.
Ports, software, and connectivity
The sides contain the typical buttons for a smartphone (lock/wake, volume rocker) in addition to a configurable "easy key" button. A single, double, and long click can each be mapped to one of six preset actions or to launch any app installed to the phone. In practice, this button works well and registers each input method accurately. The USB-C charging port has a plastic flap covering it.
The S99's SIM card tray can hold two nano-SIM cards and a microSD card at the same time. The tray is difficult to pull out with just a fingernail, but Doogee includes a plastic spudger with the phone that makes the job easier. The fingerprint reader on the right side is fairly quick and accurate (~95% accuracy). The phone can also be unlocked via facial recognition through the front-facing camera.
A 3.5 mm audio jack is noticeably absent.
The S99 runs on Android 12 with some added touches from Doogee. These include pre-installed apps like Easy Launcher (which is a simplified home screen with selected apps), Children Space (which only displays whitelisted apps), GameSpace (which allows users to configure the phone for a better gaming experience), and Outdoor Tools (which is a suite of measurement and alarm tools). For the most part, these pre-installed apps work reasonably well but offer little to the overall experience and are largely filler that will likely be forgotten after the first few uses.
The pre-installed launcher invokes iOS; all apps are arranged across the homescreens and there is no app drawer. Otherwise, Doogee's customization does not get in the way of a smooth experience.
Connectivity options are outdated. The Doogee S99 does not support 5G, capping out at 4G LTE. Here in the United States, the S99 connected to Verizon's 4G LTE network without issue. On paper, it is compatible with AT&T's and T-Mobile's networks as well. Phone calls came through clear on both ends, and text messages were sent and received without any problems. The phone supports WiFi 802.11ac on both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. However, the phone does not support WiFi 6. The S99 support Bluetooth 5.0.
Cameras
The Doogee S99 uses a Sony IMX616 image sensor for its 32 MP selfie camera. Like other phones that use this image sensor, the resultant photos are actually closer to 8 MP due to pixel binning. Photos from the front-facing camera are subsequently adequate. The front shooter gets the job done, but there is little to distinguish it from other selfie cameras on the market. It can capture video at 1080p, albeit at 30 fps.
The rear camera array consists of a 16 MP wide-angle lens, a 64 MP night vision camera, and a 108 MP primary shooter. The cameras do a fine job in well-lit conditions, though details get somewhat blurred in less-than-ideal shooting environments. Color reproduction is also dull compared to other cameras. This is true for both the 16 MP wide-angle and 108 MP main shooters. Speaking of these two options, there is little distinction between the photos produced. While the 108 MP sensor produces a higher pixel count and significantly larger files, there isn't much more detail compared to the standard 16 MP camera. As such, there isn't a key advantage for the 108 MP, and considering that it lags when shooting multiple photos due to processing time, it may be more of a hindrance.
The last camera on the back is a 64 MP night-vision camera. It uses infrared lights in the flash ring on the back to capture monochrome images in total darkness of objects up to about 5 meters away. The overall effect is a nice novelty, and the images are fairly crisp (at least with nearby subjects), but its real-world utility is questionable.
Display
The 6.3-inch display has a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels (409 ppi) in a 19:9 aspect ratio. It is crisp and colorful with no cause for complaint. Dark scenes are handled well with minimal crush or pixelation in black areas. The backlight is also fairly even with no noticeable bleed. The screen has a waterdrop notch and thick bezels, particularly at the top and bottom of the display. Coupled with the thick casing surrounding the display, this makes the phone significantly large in the hand. As such, the screen feels smaller than it actually is.
The display gets fairly bright. It is rated at 480 nits; though we were not able to measure the exact brightness at review time, it is bright enough to use outdoors on an overcast day. Direct sunlight is problematic, and glare kills visibility. However, the display is still readable on bright days provided the sun isn't shining directly on the glass. Overall, the screen is adequate for this price range. There are better displays in this market segment, particularly from Samsung's offerings.
Performance, Emissions and Battery Life
The Doogee S99 is a decidedly mid-range smartphone. The Mediatek Helio G96 SoC is an octa-core chip (2x Cortex A76 cores @ 2.05 GHz, 6x Cortex A55 @ 2.0 GHz) and offers decent performance. In benchmarks, the S99 competes well against Motorola's G-series phones and other entry-level Chinese handsets like Xiaomi's Redmi Note 10. In everyday use, the phone is fluid with the occasional hiccup. Apps load up fairly quickly, and the phone can keep several apps active in the background thanks to its generous 8 GB of RAM. There is noticeable system lag with heavier tasks, such as processing high-res photos and videos in the camera app and playing graphically intense games.
Speaking of graphics, the Mali-G57 MP2 GPU is good enough for moderately demanding graphical loads and lighter 3D titles. It is on par with the Adreno 612. As such, games like PUBG run at about 30-40 FPS on low settings, but heavier games like Genshin Impact and Asphalt 9 suffer considerable stutters.
| Doogee S99 | Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S | Blackview BL6000 Pro | Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 | Motorola Moto G9 Plus | Motorola Moto G42 | Motorola Moto G51 | Global Average -3 | Average of class Smartphone | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AndroBench 3-5 | -1% | -4% | -34% | -39% | -1% | -11% | -20% | 158% | ||
| Sequential Read 256KB | 521.31 | 524.39 1% | 873 67% | 497.4 -5% | 489.4 -6% | 843.09 62% | 512 -2% | 685 ? 31% | 2054 ? 294% | |
| Sequential Write 256KB | 479.53 | 446.46 -7% | 198.5 -59% | 241.5 -50% | 186.2 -61% | 436.32 -9% | 473.5 -1% | 417 ? -13% | 1667 ? 248% | |
| Random Read 4KB | 210.22 | 214.82 2% | 190.2 -10% | 131.5 -37% | 134.8 -36% | 122.08 -42% | 178.7 -15% | 112.6 ? -46% | 286 ? 36% | |
| Random Write 4KB | 214.05 | 216.24 1% | 181.9 -15% | 122.1 -43% | 98.1 -54% | 186.23 -13% | 157.4 -26% | 103.6 ? -52% | 327 ? 53% |
Speaker
The single speaker is situated on the bottom right of the handset. It is thin and rather quiet, likely because it is recessed beneath the thick rubber casing of the phone. It gets the job done in a pinch but is overall too quiet and tinny for an enjoyable media experience. Speaker phone calls are also somewhat difficult to hear unless the volume is set to 100%.
Battery Life
The Doogee S99 has a large 6000 mAh battery. Due to its high capacity and the power-efficient SoC, the smartphone has impressive staying power. While web surfing, users can expect to get just under 20 hours with the screen set to 1/3 brightness. This is far above competitors' battery performance, which only reach into the 13-15 hour range. The S99 lasts about a week on standby.
Pros
Cons
Verdict
The Doogee S99 is a modestly-priced handset targeted specifically at people looking for a rugged phone with some outdoorsy features built in. While the overall build quality is excellent, it makes for a rather thick and heavy device that may not be pocketable. All those extra features (e.g., the night vision camera, the 108 MP shooter, the "toolbox" apps) seem more like novelties than genuinely useful add-ons. All said, the phone is packed with extras that come across more as fluff than essential tools, and the phone feels bloated as a result.
On the plus side, the S99 offers excellent battery life, a build quality that doesn't demand tender care, and a "good enough" SoC that offers decent performance for most everyday tasks.
The S99 would make a fine phone for people looking for a work handset that can survive demanding or difficult environments (such as construction) that don't require high performance. It would also make a good phone for younger folks; its rugged design would handle accidental drops, although its size may be a bit overwhelming for smaller hands.
Price and availability
The Doogee S99 is available for purchase from Doogee for US$499.99. At the time of writing, it is on sale for US$349.99.
Disclaimer: The author of this review received the smartphone free of charge for the purpose of testing.
Price comparison
