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Doogee N100 hands-on: A low-cost, entry-level rugged phone with a long-lasting battery
Doogee N100
pros and cons
- Large 10,000mAh battery
- Wireless charging
- Not waterproof
Mobility
The N100 from Doogee is a nice addition to the Doogee range of rugged phones. Positioned at a sub-$200 entry-level, the phone has a huge battery to give it more time in your pocket and not on charge.
I was reluctant to take the N100 out of its box, as I was so impressed with the last phone I tried, the Doogee S95 Pro, that I did not want to reset it and put it away. But as soon as I started to use the N100, I liked its smaller form factor and slimmer design.
Although this phone is low-cost, it has some great features. The N100 has a 10,000mAh battery, which charges using 12V/2A 24-pin USB type C fast charging. You can charge this phone completely in 3.5 hours.
It also supports 10W fast charging. I like the fact that the phone stays in my bag and tops its charge up quickly.
Doogee says that the phone will give up to 350 hours -- over two weeks -- of standby time. It will also last for up to 100 hours of talk time and give you 20 hours of video playback and up to 35 hours of music play. That's impressive for a consumer phone.
I get very frustrated that other phone batteries only last me for less than a day if I'm using data-rich applications all the time.
Inside the N100, a Mediatek Helio P23 MT6763T octa-core A53 processor is running at up to 2.0GHz with 4GB RAM and 64GB ROM. Graphics are supplied by a Mali-G71 MP2 chip running at up to 700MHz. The N100 is fast and responsive and the UI is nice.
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Its 5.99 inch screen delivers 2160 x 1080FHD resolution. Its dimensions are 162.7 x 78.1 x 14.2mm surprisingly slim for a rugged device. It weighs 267g.
The N100 has two cameras: Its rear dual camera has a Sony IMX230 sensor with 21MP and 8MP and an f2.0 large aperture delivering up to 90-degree wide-angle images. The front camera is 8MP f/2.2 and has an 80-degree wide-angle lens.
The camera software has a range of beauty features to buff, enlarge, and slim the face both in the rear and front camera software. The rear camera also has bokeh to blur the backgrounds and sharply focus items in the foreground.
You can secure the phone using face and fingerprint. Unlike the S95 Pro, which was fiddly to get a thumbprint to register, the N100 has the fingerprint touch screen on the rear of the phone. This was far easier to set up than the S95Pro.
Like other Doogee phones, the phone is not stuffed with OEM bloatware. The N100 runs Android 9.0 Pie with no added extras. The only thing that might be an issue is that the phone is not rated as waterproof, but it is knock-resistant.
All in all, the Doogee N100 is a superb entry-level phone for less than $200, which is tough enough to stand up to the knocks and bumps of everyday use and has a battery that will last and last.