Doogee Mix Review: Cutting Corners

An almost bezel-less display. It’s not something you’ll easily find in mid-range devices. But Doogee is out to prove that it can be done with the Mix. With its 5.5-inch display that flows from edge to edge, combined with an octa-core processor, and a dual cam setup.

The question is, did they do it right? let’s find out in this full review.

Doogee Mix Specs:

• 2.5GHz MediaTek Helio P25 octa-core processor
• 4GB/6GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage expandable via microSD card
• 5.5-inch Super AMOLED HD display, Gorilla Glass 5 Protection
• Dual 16MP + 8MP Rear Cameras, PDAF
• 5MP Front Camera
• DoogeeOS 2.0 on top of Android 7.0 Nougat
• 3380mAh battery
• Fingerprint Sensor
• OTG
• Price: PhP10,499 – 4GB of RAM, PhP11,499 – 6GB of RAM

Packaging

Design and Build Quality

The Doogee Mix is quite a heavy phone despite its smaller footprint. That being said. It’s quite easy to use with one hand. Most of the body has a glossy finish, which unfortunately takes away what would’ve been a premium feel.

Since there’s almost no bezel up top, the front camera is placed at the bottom right of the device. That means taking selfies might require a bit of repositioning, especially when in landscape mode.

The home button is a fixed mechanism, and houses the fingerprint sensor. Oddly, Doogee has decided to stick with on-screen buttons instead of putting capacitive buttons on the lower bezel, which seems like a waste of space.

The camera module of the back protrudes, which sort of destroys the balance when laying the device flat on a surface.

The lack of an LED notification light is also very baffling, considering that the Mix doesn’t have an always-on display. That means you have to power on the screen every once in a while to know whether you’ve missed a call, or if your phone is fully charged. A very huge mistake there.

While the 5.5-inch AMOLED display certainly has minimal bezels surrounding it, it only has a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. Maybe it’s for keeping the cost low, but a full HD display would’ve done the phone more justice. The Mix’s display is also too saturated, so much that it’s no longer fun to look at.

Performance

The Mix does show mild stuttering in some occasions when navigating menus, and in some instances, apps take a few seconds to open. Either it’s the CPU struggling, or a case of poor software optimization.

NBA 2K17 kept on crashing at startup, so we had to find another game to test with. Mobile Legends ran well with decent graphics without any issues. Asphalt 8 also ran well even at the highest setting. We did notice heat buildup on the upper part of the device, but not to the point of being uncomfortable.

The screen can also be quite pesky at times when it comes to responsiveness, especially when using the camera app.

Camera

With the Mix’s design, and considering its price, surely there had to be compromises. And it’s in the imaging department.

While Dual Cameras sound sweet, the quality says otherwise. Pictures taken by the rear camera fell short in almost every aspect, detail, color accuracy, and sharpness. Some shots also look grainy even with ample lighting.

There’s a dedicated Blur mode for achieving the depth of field effect. Unfortunately, it’s just as bad as when you’re in normal mode.

The front camera is also a joke, as selfies appear to have been endowed with a yellowish tint, almost like a sepia effect, making photos look like they were taken some 20 years ago.

Software

Doogee’s take on Android is quite close to stock. It’s simple, straighforward, and gives you control over most of the things that you’ll need for a personalized experience, as well as for ease of use such as gesture controls and one-handed mode.

You’re given the usual options to customize the look and feel of the UI such as text color, icon size, and animation effects. You can also download and apply a variety of themes from Doogee’s own repository.

The default camera app does allow you to shoot in several modes, including a monochrome mode, a blur mode which lets you apply the depth of field effect, and a face beauty mode for improving overall skin tone and minimizing blemishes from photos. There’s also pro-mode for in-depth tweaking the individual elements of each shot.

Battery

The Mix should be able to get you through a whole day with light to moderate usage. But power users will certainly be left wanting for more. Charging the device from zero to full takes around 2 hours, which isn’t so bad, considering that it doesn’t have fast charging.

Verdict

It some aspects, the Doogee Mix is a phone that again re-defines what a mid-range device can look like by achieving an almost bezel-less display, and keeping a small footprint ease of use. The general performance is also decent, and with 6GB of RAM, multi-tasking sure is a breeze.

Unfortunately, in the pursuit of form, Doogee has seemingly missed out on other important things, such as the very basic LED Notification Light, and the horrible camera performance. The display quality could also be improved.

For its price, you’d expect a phone like this to perform at least decently in just about every aspect, but it doesn’t. It’s going to be hard to forego its shortcomings, and the only thing that it has going, is its screen to body ratio.

The Good

• Gaming Performance (For games that actually work in it)
• Almost Bezel-Less Display
• Price

The Not So Good

• Glossy surface feels cheap
• Horrible Camera Performance
• Unoptimized Software
• No LED Notification Light
• Oversaturated Display

Emman Tortoza

Website

Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.