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

ZDNET’s key takeaways

The Oukitel WP58 Professional is accessible 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 hardly ever disillusioned. 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 choice… particularly for those who work in tough environments or are likely to desire the good 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-about a winner.

Did the WP58 Pro‘s efficiency impress me sufficient to achieve 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 will probably be heavy. Now, the WP58 Professional will not be practically as heavy as different Oukitel telephones, nevertheless it’s actually heavier than no matter you presently carry round.

I powered the machine on, walked by way of 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 price range telephones having appreciable lag on animations and app opening, however the WP58 Professional didn’t endure below the load of low system assets. 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… gradual. Someway, Oukitel has managed to eke out a bit extra pace from midrange specs.

In fact, there’s all the time the built-in RAM Growth, which makes use of cupboard space as further RAM. With this function, you possibly can double the quantity of efficient RAM on the system. Is it value dropping 8 GB of cupboard space? I enabled the RAM Growth function to see if I observed a distinction. My fast impression was that it really appeared to gradual the telephone down a bit. Unexpectedly, animations lagged a bit. Nevertheless, the RAM Growth did assist after I had a number of apps open.

I then disabled the RAM Growth 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 essentially take a look at the machine, I put in Diablo Immortal. The sport has to obtain a large file, which took far longer than it ought to. That may very well be attributed to Blizzard’s server, my ISP, and even the telephone itself.

A screenshot of Diablo: Immortal. — Taking part in Diablo Immortal was completely wonderful on the WP58 Professional.

Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET

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 dangerous in any respect. I did expertise some lag, nevertheless it wasn’t so dangerous that the sport wasn’t playable. Once more, this telephone wasn’t designed with gaming in thoughts (at the least not on the extent anticipated for such video games).

Loopy vibrant gentle

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

The WP58 Pro camping light. — You may get loads of gentle from the WP58 Professional.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

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 going through you as a result of it’s loopy vibrant. The ambient gentle produces 900 lumens, whereas the white gentle produces 1,000 lumens. To make use of the sunshine, it’s important 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 will not be practically as chunky as a few of the different telephones Oukitel has produced, nevertheless it’s actually heavier than no matter you presently 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 stage dropped to solely 65%. That is spectacular and one thing my Pixel 9 Professional might 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, for those who want one thing that may face up to the weather and carry out higher than a Pentium 75 operating Home windows Vista, this could be the one you need.

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