These $300 rugged Android phones have no business being this good for the money

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The Oukitel WP58 Professional is obtainable on the official web site for simply $289
• This telephone is rugged and performs extra like a midrange telephone than a low-end machine
• Like most Oukitel telephones, the WP58 Professional is heavy.

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I have been reviewing Oukitel telephones for fairly a while, and I am not often disenchanted. Positive, they’re as heavy as bricks and do not carry out in addition to a flagship machine corresponding to my Pixel 9 Pro;, however these telephones are a viable possibility… particularly should you work in tough environments or are inclined to choose the nice outdoor, the place rivers run, rocks fall, and darkness prevails.

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When Oukitel manages to merge a telephone that is powerful as nails with better-than-expected efficiency, that machine could be thought of a winner.  

Did the WP58 Pro‘s efficiency impress me sufficient to succeed in that uncommon class the place ruggedness meets efficiency? Learn on.

My expertise

As with each Oukitel phone I’ve reviewed, I do know what to anticipate as quickly because the lid is lifted from the field. The telephone might be heavy. Now, the WP58 Professional just isn’t almost as heavy as different Oukitel telephones, nevertheless it’s definitely heavier than no matter you at the moment carry round.

I powered the machine on, walked via the onboarding course of, after which set about utilizing the telephone.

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The very first thing that struck me was the smoothness of the animations. I am used to funds telephones having appreciable lag on animations and app opening, however the WP58 Professional didn’t undergo below the burden of low system sources. The telephone runs Android 15, which helps with the zippiness (the performance improvement from Android 14 to fifteen was marked). 

I used to be stunned to seek out that the telephone I used to be given solely had 8GB of RAM. The final telephone I used with 8GB of RAM carried out precisely as anticipated… sluggish. By some means, Oukitel has managed to eke out a bit extra velocity from midrange specs. 

In fact, there’s at all times the built-in RAM Enlargement, which makes use of space for storing as additional RAM. With this function, you may double the quantity of efficient RAM on the system. Is it value shedding 8 GB of space for storing? I enabled the RAM Enlargement function to see if I seen a distinction. My fast impression was that it really appeared to sluggish the telephone down a bit. Unexpectedly, animations lagged a bit. Nevertheless, the RAM Enlargement did assist after I had a number of apps open. 

I then disabled the RAM Enlargement to see if I used to be imagining the slowdown. To my shock, the WP58 Professional appeared to carry out barely higher with the enlargement on (particularly with a number of apps open).

To actually check the machine, I put in Diablo Immortal. The sport has to obtain a large file, which took far longer than it ought to. That could possibly be attributed to Blizzard’s server, my ISP, and even the telephone itself. 

Whereas downloading the mandatory file, the sport performed numerous lower scenes that had been (for probably the most half) clean. What actually impressed me was the sound. The WP58 Professional is loud. I needed to flip it all the way down to quarter quantity as a result of it grew to become uncomfortable.

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Taking part in Diablo Immortal on the WP58 Professional wasn’t unhealthy in any respect. I did expertise some lag, nevertheless it wasn’t so unhealthy that the sport wasn’t playable. Once more, this telephone wasn’t designed with gaming in thoughts (a minimum of not on the extent anticipated for such video games).

Loopy shiny gentle

One other factor I’ve grow to be accustomed to with Oukitel telephones is the gimmicks they usually embody, corresponding to detachable good watches, remotes, small secondary screens, and tenting lights. 

In case you have by no means skilled the Oukitel tenting gentle, I am warning you now: Don’t flip it on with the sunshine dealing with you as a result of it’s loopy shiny. The ambient gentle produces 900 lumens, whereas the white gentle produces 1,000 lumens. To make use of the sunshine, you need to open the Tenting Gentle app and choose the kind of gentle you need to use. You’ll be able to choose from SOS, Tremendous, Full, Half, Quarter, in addition to from three totally different colours (white, collectively, heat).

The load and the battery

The WP58 Professional just isn’t almost as chunky as a number of the different telephones Oukitel has produced, nevertheless it’s definitely heavier than no matter you at the moment carry round. The WP58 Professional weighs 370 grams, versus 199 grams for the Pixel 9 Professional. 

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The explanation for that weight is the protecting case and the large battery. The WP58 Professional has a ten,000mAh battery with 33W quick charging and 10W reverse charging. For reference, my Pixel 9 Professional has a 5,060mAh battery, which I could make final for a day and a half (if I am cautious). 

The WP58 Professional battery barely budged from its 79% cost when it arrived. After 24 hours of testing, the telephone’s battery degree dropped to solely 65%. That is spectacular and one thing my Pixel 9 Professional may solely dream of pulling off.

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

It is good to see an Oukitel Cellphone that takes efficiency as significantly because it does ruggedness. Though the WP58 Pro is not probably the most highly effective telephone available on the market, should you want one thing that may face up to the weather and carry out higher than a Pentium 75 working Home windows Vista, this could be the one you need.

The WP58 makes no bones about being heavy, however when you may get midrange efficiency at a low-end worth of $290 (and also you want one thing far harder than a Pixel Fold), this can be a nice possibility.

The specs

• 6.7″ show, clean 120Hz refresh price
• 10,000mAh battery with 33W quick charging and 10W reverse charging
• As much as 24GB RAM + 512GB storage.
• Octa-Core Processor (UMS9621S) for environment friendly efficiency.
• 64MP triple digicam system for crystal-clear images
• Twin tenting lights with unbiased management
• 5G connectivity for lightning-fast community velocity
• Android 15 working system
• Weight – 370 grams
• Camp gentle – 900-lumen ambient gentle and 1,000-lumen white gentle