An affordable entry-level smartphone with excellent technical specifications is the Blackview A8. Owner reviews about this “smart” phone, its strengths and weaknesses, technical parameters and other important information about the gadget will be further considered in detail.
Device niche
It is on the segment of budget and most affordable devices that the Blackview A8 is oriented. Reviews of real users of this gadget only confirm this without fail. A modest processor, a minimum amount of RAM, relevant today, a weak degree of autonomy - these are characteristics that clearly indicate the budget level of the smartphone. But on the other hand, these values ​​are quite enough for the active daily use of the gadget. It is perfect for browsing websites, reading books, watching HD videos, listening to music (both regular mp3 recordings and radio), simple entry-level games. As experience shows, it is the earlier list of the most common tasks that is relevant for most potential owners of entry-level smartphones. Therefore, it is really an excellent entry-level device at a very, very attractive price.
Smart Phone Package
Like most other Chinese little-known smartphone manufacturers, Blackview has expanded all its devices. The same is fully true for the hero of this review. The Blackview A8 phone is completed as follows:
Mobile device with a removable battery installed inside. To prevent the battery from discharging and deteriorating before use, a plastic film is glued on it. Before you turn on your gadget for the first time, you must remove it. Also, a full protective film is already glued on the front panel of the device. It is not recommended to remove it for the reason that it protects the glass of the front panel from possible damage.
A protective cover - a book made of leatherette.
Entry-level branded stereo headset with control button and microphone.
Charger with 5 V / 750 mA output.
The user manual, supplemented at the end with a warranty card.
Universal interface cord. With it, this device can be synchronized with a PC or recharge the battery.
Many additional accessories are included in the original Blackview A8 package: case, protective film and stereo headset. The only thing missing in the above list is an external memory card. But now all manufacturers have left this practice, and it’s extremely rare and in a completely different price category to find such an accessory as a 2 GB or 4 GB MicroSD in the original configuration of a mobile device.
Design. Ergonomics
This mobile phone is already a familiar all-in-one candy bar with a touch screen for entering information. The diagonal of its screen is 5 inches. The entire front panel is protected by 2.5D glass. Under the screen is the control panel. It consists of 3 buttons, and they are indicated in the design of the “Android” version 5.1 as a square, circle and triangle. Above, above the screen, the earpiece, the front camera eye and the sensor windows are displayed. All side faces of the device are made of metal. On the right edge of the smartphone, the remaining control buttons are grouped , which include the gadget lock and its volume controls. At the bottom there is only a small hole in the earpiece microphone. On the opposite side of the device, there are immediately 2 wired ports: MicroUSB in the usual version 2.0 and a 3.5 mm external audio jack. The back cover is made of plastic. A loud speaker, a window of the main camera and its LED single backlight are displayed on it.
Immediately in three colors this smartphone is sold: white, gold and gray. The most affordable of them is the Blackview A8 Gray. Also, this design is the most practical - it practically does not show scratches or dirt. But the two remaining options are aimed at the most accurate users of mobile devices. And the cost in this case will be slightly higher on the Chinese trading floors on the Internet.
CPU
A modest processor with 4 cores of the A7 architecture of the MT6580 model from the company-developer of ARM-chips "MediaTek" is the basis of the Blackview A8. His characteristics are really modest: the maximum possible clock frequency of 1.3 GHz, the technological process for the production of a silicon crystal - 28 nm. The CPU itself was officially introduced in 2013. But for any budget device, its capabilities are more than enough. With all the main and most popular Blackview A8 does an excellent job. Reviews of the device in question on most forums and portals on this topic only confirm this.
The basis of the graphics subsystem
The Blackview A8 smartphone also has a separate graphics processor for processing on-screen images. His model is the Mali-400MP. It includes one pixel block and 4 shader processing blocks. The clock frequency of this component of the mobile device can reach 533 MHz. The graphic accelerator itself is located on the same semiconductor chip along with the CPU and is manufactured according to the standards of the 28-nm process. The computational capabilities of this video card are more than enough to display an image on a 720p display, with which it copes very successfully.
Mobile device screen
A very high quality screen is used in the Blackview A8. Overview Its technical specifications indicate that it is based on a matrix made using IPS technology. Its resolution is HD, that is, 1280 Ă— 720, and the diagonal, as noted earlier, is 5 inches. The result is a pixel density of 292ppi in this case. It is impossible to see an individual point on the screen in this situation with the ordinary eye without special tools. Otherwise, the color rendering of this device is excellent, and the viewing angle is almost 178Ëš.
The memory subsystem and its capabilities
The Blackview A8 is equipped with only 1 GB of DDR3 standard RAM. A couple of years ago, with such a parameter, he would already belong to mid-range devices. But now this is a budget segment of the smartphone market. To solve the simplest tasks and stable operation of system software, this is enough. The capacity of the internal drive is 8 GB. Of these, about 4.5 GB are occupied by system software. As a result, only 3.5 GB are available to the user, on which he can install his applications or store personal files (videos, photos, documents).
There is also a slot for installing an additional memory card in the Blackview A8. The characteristics of this gadget indicate that the maximum volume of such a drive in this case can reach 32 GB. In order to exclude the possible loss of the most valuable information, it is recommended to make copies of it on various cloud services. The most optimal in this regard is the “Google Drive”, which immediately provides 15 GB for data storage.
Cameras and their features
High-quality captured photos and recorded videos boasts Blackview A8. The main camera is based on the 8MP IMX149 sensor element. There is also such an important feature as autofocus. This is enough to get high-quality photographs at a normal level of illumination. Although there is a flash for shooting behavior in the dark or in low light levels, it is clearly not enough for high-quality photos in such a situation.
This smart phone can record video in 1080 p format. Against the background of medium and flagship gadgets, this value looks very modest. But for budget smartphones this is normal. And the quality of the video is not satisfactory, again, at a normal level of lighting.
The front camera has a 2 megapixel sensor. For making video calls this is more than enough. The second important function that the front camera performs is selfies, and the device also has complete order with this. With good lighting, “selfies” are simply phenomenal for an economy class device.
The autonomy of the gadget. Battery capacity
The Blackview A8 smartphone, as noted earlier, comes with a removable 2050 mAh battery. If we take into account the model of the central processor, the diagonal of the display is 5 inches and its HD resolution, it turns out that one maximum charge of the battery with active use is enough for 10-14 hours of use. That is, the owner will be forced to charge this smartphone almost every evening. To solve the problem with the autonomy of this gadget, the owner will be forced to additionally purchase an external battery, that is, PowerBank. Now on Chinese trading floors, such products can be purchased for 800-1000 rubles. Moreover, the capacity of such a battery will be 10,000 mAh, and this is enough for 5-6 days of active use of the phone.
Software
"Android" acts as a system software for the Blackview A8. The firmware is based on its version 5.1. Only here the interface in this case has been substantially redesigned. There is no separate menu for installed applications. All of them are taken directly to the desktop. In the future, if necessary, they can be grouped in separate folders. There are also 2 separate desktops with the launch of music playback and activation of the main camera. These are very controversial decisions that cause a lot of complaints. Therefore, it will be most correct to use third-party launchers for the Blackview A8. The firmware in this case will definitely be deprived of the two main previously indicated disadvantages. And the performance of the interface, as practice shows, will be much better. A set of pre-installed software in this case is typical:
Internal programs of the operating system (calculator, browser, calendar, e-mail client.
Pre-installed software from Google (maps, g-mail client).
The rest of the application software, the newly made owner of such a gadget will be forced to install from the company’s application store. In this case, it is not recommended to use third-party sources for the reason that often it is precisely because of such program code that viruses get onto the smartphone and the personal information of the owner of the mobile device is stolen.
Owner reviews. Pros and Cons of a Mobile Device
A lot of reviews are devoted to the Blackview A8, an overview of which is presented in the article. They indicate the following disadvantages of this model of mobile phone:
A small amount of RAM in 1 GB. This, of course, is enough to solve the most simple tasks today. But still, to ensure stable and smooth operation of the device, it is recommended to install optimization software, which, if necessary, will unload unused code from RAM. An example of such software is the Clean Master.
A weak degree of autonomy in 10-14 hours of operation. But now PowerBank for 10,000 mAh is not so expensive, and this will solve the problem of autonomy once and for all for such a device.
Low internal storage capacity of 8 GB. In this case, it is recommended, as noted earlier, to use cloud services to store the most valuable information, and due to this it will be possible to constantly maintain the required amount of free space on the built-in drive.
But the advantages of this gadget are as follows:
High-quality screen with excellent resolution.
All side faces are made of metal.
Rich equipment.
The smartphone supports all the most current wired and wireless methods of transmitting information.
Low cost.
Device price
Fairly high cost for an entry-level gadget in domestic online stores at Blackview A8. The price for it is in the range of 6000-6500 rubles. And in any color scheme. But if you pay attention to the Chinese trading Internet sites, then you can even get the Blackview A8 cheaper. Price in this case, there will be about 5,000 rubles for the gray version. The remaining two color variants of the case will be 200-300 rubles more expensive. This is a fair price for a budget smartphone.
Summary
Everything necessary to become a bestseller at the moment in the segment of entry-level devices is in the Blackview A8. The reviews, in turn, indicate that it is already in fact such. This is an excellent entry-level smartphone at a very modest price.