I Went Off-grid With This $200 Android Phone, And The Night Vision Superpowers Came In Clutch

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• This ruggedized smartphone has a immense battery, a monolithic 800-lumen flashlight, and a nighttime imagination camera.
• The monolithic artillery does make nan handset measurement a hefty 2 pounds.
• The show tin beryllium a spot washed retired successful agleam sunlight.

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I retrieve erstwhile smartphones started utilizing nan built-in flash arsenic a flashlight -- it was rather revolutionary. While nan flash is bully capable for galore situations, location are times erstwhile its powerfulness output capacity is somewhat limited, and thing bigger would beryllium welcomed. 

Also: The champion rugged phones you tin buy

Enter nan Blackview BV7300 -- a ruggedized smartphone pinch nan biggest flashlight I've seen connected a phone.

Let's talk hardware

The BV7300 features a 6.67-inch HD+ IPS show moving astatine 720 by 1,604 solution and a adaptable refresh complaint that shifts betwixt 60Hz and 90Hz depending connected nan contented connected nan screen. To adhd other ruggedness, nan show is armored pinch a furniture of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for effect and scratch resistance.

It's a passable screen, pinch conscionable capable colour and opposition to vividly picture apps and text, but it looks a small washed retired nether nonstop sunlight. A boost successful brightness (nits) would thief nan telephone a lot.

Powering nan smartphone is simply a 2GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio G81 spot backed by 6GB of RAM (with nan expertise to adhd a further 12GB utilizing representation description , which I urge doing), 256GB storage, and nan expertise to bump that up moreover further pinch a 2TB microSD card.

The BV7300 is big, thick, and weighs complete 2 pounds!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Inside, there's a 15,000mAh artillery (for comparison, nan iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 4,685mAh battery) that tin powerfulness nan portion for 57 days connected standby, up to 56 hours of telephone time, 28 hours of web browsing, and astir 16 hours of video playback. Given nan size of nan battery, nan smartphone supports accelerated charging up to 45W pinch nan due charger, making charging little of a headache.

Audio output is handled by a brace of 1712 container speakers that are bully and large and person rather a decent scope for a smartphone successful this value range. 

Also, I've ne'er seen an Android telephone that does everything that this 1 tin (including nighttime vision)

That's a very powerful battery, but it does adhd to nan size and weight of nan BV7300 -- it measures 8.15 x 8.11 x 1.46 inches and weighs a shadiness complete 2 pounds!

And really tin I hide that elephantine copy COB (Chip-on-Board) flashlight connected nan backmost pinch a mixed 800 LED modules? One sheet is simply a lukewarm light, nan different cold, and they tin beryllium turned connected independently aliases together to connection a maximum of 800 lumens for up to 5.8 hours connected a afloat charge.

The ray is rather impressive!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

The contents are housed successful a rugged, water- and dust-resistant polymer-armored package rated IP68/IP69K and MIL-STD-810H. This is simply a reliable portion that tin grip astir drops, tumbles, and unexpected encounters.

The BV7300 boasts an awesome array of cameras, including a 50-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL JN1 Quad Bayer main camera, a 20MP SONY IMX376 nighttime vision, and a 32-megapixel front-facing camera. The nighttime imagination camera uses built-in infrared illuminators to flood nan area pinch ray that's invisible to nan oculus but picked up by nan camera.

Also: This $400 Motorola has nary business being this bully (and it comes pinch a stylus)

From nan shots I gathered, don't expect this telephone to rustle your mind. Notably, nan 2 sensors grounds a noticeable deficiency of item and colour inaccuracy, but not to nan grade that portrays your taxable successful a wholly different manner.

Night imagination successful action ... backmost to nan creepy Santa!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

The SIM paper tray supports dual SIM cards aliases a operation of a SIM paper and a microSD/TF paper for expanded storage. In position of security, nan instrumentality features some a fingerprint sensor and facial recognition, minimizing nan clip spent entering your passcode.

ZDNET's buying advice

All successful all, nan Blackview BV7300 is an awesome package, each nan much truthful erstwhile you cheque retired nan value and find that you tin prime 1 up for $230. The size, weight, and crazy flashlight mean it's not for everyone, but for campers, explorers, and group who activity outside, for illustration mechanics and engineers, that ray is simply a beautiful neat feature.

Looking for nan adjacent champion product? Get master reviews and editor favorites with ZDNET Recommends.