A genuine review of a phone I bought. Not sponsored in any way.
This is the Doogee S98 Pro (the Pro version has thermal imaging.)
If you have had good or bad experiences with this phone then you can leave a comment below.
Having now tested this for a month and a half I regard it as a true engineer's flagship phone. It has functional technical features well suited to the maintenance and engineering industries, of which the most important is the stunning Infiray thermal imaging camera with its 256 by 192 thermal resolution and 25Hz refresh. (Infiray are currently challenging Flir in the thermal imaging market.)
For some reason, many of the USA networks do not always support world-standards. To quote from an Amazon listing:-
“DOOGEE S98 Pro Does NOT work with AT&T OR Cricket OR CDMA Carriers such as Verizon, Sprint, Boost Mobile, Straight Talk or U.S.Cellular, Xfinity and TracFone!
It CAN work with GSM Carriers like T-Mobile,Metro PCS, MVNO and Others!”
If you find it's incompatible with your current provider the phone can still be used as a handy workshop tool on WiFi only. I use a couple of phones like that.
This phone cost me £300, but popularity and duty charges may increase that. If purchased from Amazon it will probably be more expensive, but will come with some level of purchase security.
I got this one from this AliExpress outlet:-
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005007646231.html
Doogee aren't new to the market. They've been making rugged outdoor phones for ten years. So it does have a pedigree. It certainly seems to be well built.
One thing I didn't mention is that I did test the compass/gyro type functionality with SkyMap and it performed well. It's also worth mentioning that it doesn't have a 3.5mm headphone jack, but that's common with rugged phones for waterproofing reasons. This phone is supposed to be submersible in water, but I didn't tempt fate by testing that. Suffice to say I wouldn't worry about using it in the rain.
Because of its chunkiness it's definitely best suited to cargo or chest pockets on overalls, or a suitable belt holster. It may not be suitable for fashionistas with skinny jeans.
It will be interesting to see if there are security updates to this phone on a regular basis. I do recommend plugging your phone in for any updates, and ignore the "may take a few minutes" bit. Just let it do its thing even if it seems to be taking a while.
So far I love this phone. It's perfect for work where you can look at electrical equipment and bearings for signs of overheating. It also makes fast work of finding rogue components on PCBs.
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