We published our review of the Doogee V Max last week and this smartphone matches the Unihertz Tank for the smartphone with the world’s biggest battery. At 22Ah (22,000mAh), you won’t find anything bigger in the market right now (our review of the Unihertz Tank is incoming). It’s not for the faint of heart though but will almost certainly end somewhere in our best rugged smartphone guide.
“Everything is set to 11 on the dial: Big screen, powerful SoC, lots of RAM and storage, an impressive camera selection, 5G, and the biggest battery we’ve seen in a phone so far.” reads our review although the V Max remains hardly pocketable given its size and weight (at 543g, 1.2 lbs).
At just under $350 from popular Chinese retailer Aliexpress, it is also far more expensive than buying a rugged smartphone with similar features and a 22Ah portable power station but the convenience of having a single unit is something that’s worth paying extra for.
Geared for the outdoors
At the heart of the V Max is the MediaTek Dimensity 1080, a 5G chipset that’s paired with 8GB of RAM (expandable to 20GB using what Mediatek calls Dynamic RAM) and 256GB ROM. The rest of the specification is on part with what one would expect from a solid mid-range smartphone: four camera sensors (including a 108-megapixel one from Samsung), a large display, a microSD card slot and that massive 22Ah battery. Shame it doesn’t do wireless charging although it does OTG which should allow for some very interesting use cases like being able to trickle charge a laptop (or even power one).
Compared to the Unihertz Tank, the V Max lacks the former’s 1200-lumen flashlight but offers 5G connectivity and a slightly lower price tag, enough to wow us. Both run on Android 12 and promise an extra dollop of ruggedness thanks to IP68/IP69K and MIL-STD-810H ratings. Shame that neither do Wi-Fi 6E, which is a bit of a disappointment. The latest mainstream wireless connectivity technology would have given a welcomed boost to wireless speeds, especially when connected to compatible routers.
With some tweaks, you should be able to use it as a dual-SIM mobile hotspot, a wireless Wi-Fi extender or a true wireless security camera with night vision capabilities. Smartphones with big batteries have become more widely available since the buzz generated by the ill-fated Energizer Power Max P18K Pop back in February 2019. Since then two 13Ah smartphones (Ulefone Power Armor 13 and Blackview BV9100), a 15Ah smartphone (the Oukitel WP15) and a 21Ah one (Oukitel WP19) have been launched.
Just bear in mind that big batteries do not always mean long(er) battery life; Some smartphones have enhanced capabilities that allow them to turn off resource hungry features, independently of what Google offers on Android. To find what you need to do to keep your smartphone alive for longer, check out these quick tips on how to improve battery life on Android and iPhone.
