First impression: Durable Doogee S98 with dual screens

The small screen on the back is of course one of the clearest features of the phone. It is a small extra touch screen, round in shape and looks suspiciously like a smartwatch. The idea with the extra display is that you should be able to see, for example, incoming calls and messages, so notifications are displayed here, but it can also be used to control the music being played. It is thus a real touch screen and I can both press to confirm functions and swipe to switch positions between, for example, clock and music buttons.

Not just extra screen

More important than the small extra screen, however, is what the phone is basically and it is then in plain text about a surprisingly cheap, durable phone. Today it is not yet available at Swedish distributors, but it can be purchased from Doogees site and we have borrowed our test copy directly from the manufacturer.

My first impressions of the phone are that the interface flows well and that the performance is sufficient, but still the performance is something that Doogee can be said to have saved on. This is not a real flagship phone, but it is powered by a Mediatek circuit that delivers performance in cheaper mid-price range. We should also add that it lacks 5G support.

In any case, the Doogee S98 comes with the latest Android 12. It is a stripped-down interface and the only adjustments that Doogee actually makes is that they have added some of their own apps, partly for security and system maintenance, then for game functions and then a third with various tools for outdoor activities. . When I choose Swedish as the language in the system, most of it is displayed in Swedish, but sometimes in the settings menus, English expressions creep in.

The screens have limitations

The big screen can further, in addition to performance, be said to be another area Doogee saved in. It is a fully functional screen, but it is not an oled but an LCD and increased update rate we must be without so it is 60 hertz that applies here. This makes the phone never feel like a giant app in the reactions, but, as I said, the interface flows on acceptable in any case.

The small screen on the back I have a hard time getting proper use for. It shows, for example, incoming messages, calls and can even if I swipe on it show music buttons and let me change song. But so can the large, front screen and it does all that much better. Unfortunately, the functions of the small screen are limited so it can not be used as a camera viewfinder and when I receive a message, it only shows that I have received a message, not what it says.

In any case, I come to the conclusion that the rear small screen is useful primarily to see what time it is. It lights up when you tap it twice and this is especially good because the large screen lacks the function for active lock screen, which is also called Always on Display. It is a pity, however, that it is poorly seen outdoors in sunlight, so the benefit in that area is also limited.

Night camera

The cameras in the S98 also offer some surprises, because in many areas it is clear that this is not a phone like everyone else. The three cameras that flank the rear screen are a 64-megapixel main lens, an 8-inch wide-angle lens and a night camera. The latter thus differs from other mobile cameras’ night modes. The night camera in the S98 only produces completely black and white images, but works well even in complete pitch darkness because it does not work with a long shutter speed but instead uses infrared light. The other two cameras do not have to be ashamed of themselves but can sometimes give questionable white balance and we are thus without optical zoom. The camera app allows you to zoom, digitally then, to a maximum of 4x and then the image quality and especially then the sharpness suffers noticeably.