There is no doubt that the smartphone and tablet device markets are hotting up. not only are South Africa’s mobile operators wanting to get in on the action, but there are plenty of new manufacturers, mainly from the Far East, entering the smart devices space. One such brand is Doogee, which was launched in South Africa in May.
Doogee is a brand created by the Hong Kong-based manufacturer KVD International Group. The company started as a contract device manufacturer for other electronics companies for markets in South Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, among others. KVD International Group was founded in 2002, but it was not until 2013 that the Doogee brand was launched.
The oddly named Turbo DG2014 is Doogee’s flagship model. Just 5,5mm thick, it feels solid to hold and weighs about the same as an iPhone 5.
Although most of the device is constructed from plastic, there is a brushed aluminium strip that runs down either side of the phone.
Overall, this is not a bad looking device, but there is one caveat: the camera protrudes from the rear by about 2mm and, although there is an aluminium frame around the camera housing, people who don’t want their camera lens scratched may want to exercise extra caution when putting the DG2014 down on a table.
The reason why this camera is so bulky is due to phone’s thinness. In order for the manufacturer to cram in the camera, it had to put the components somewhere and clearly there wasn’t any space inside the phone’s chassis.
There is an LED flash positioned just below the camera lens and there is also a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, which takes reasonable selfies.
One of the first things one notices when booting the phone is its crisp, 5-inch screen. The display resolution is 1 280×720 pixels for a pixel density of 293ppi — not the highest, but it looks good regardless. High-definition YouTube videos look great, and that is more than sufficient for many users.
The Turbo DG2014 also features a reasonably loud set of speakers, but the audio quality is not the best, lacking the deeper frequencies and sounding tinny at times.
As the flagship phone in its range, the Doogee Turbo DG2014 performs well, but it’s certainly no match for most of today’s high-end smartphones. In all fairness, this one is priced at a fraction of the cost of those devices. It simply would not be fair to compare them directly, but for under R3 000, this one is a great performer. Even running processor-intensive games like the action fighter, Blood and Glory, was no hassle for this smartphone. The screen graphics rendered smoothly and there was no discernible lag during gameplay. We were suitably impressed.
The Doogee has a 1,3GHz quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of built in storage capacity — for more storage, there is a microSD slot that can accommodate cards up to 32GB.
The DG2014 runs Android 4.4.2. Hopefully an update to 5.0 is on the cards, but don’t count on it if you do decide to buy this phone.
In terms of connectivity, the usual array of technologies are supported: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 (one version behind) and GPS.
Heavy smartphone users will appreciate the removable 1 750mAh battery and the fact that there are two Sim slots. This is particularly handy if using one Sim card for data, or splitting your private and company numbers.
At first glance, the Turbo DG2014 seems rather average, but during the time we used it, it proved itself to be a true value-for-money smartphone. Retailing for about R2 599, the Doogee will find favour among budget-conscious users who wants a very capable smartphone and don’t mind that it’s not a brand most consumers will recognise. — © 2014 NewsCentral Media
