Can the recently released Doogee X6 Pro stand up to its hugely popular little brother the X5 Pro?

It’s unlikely that you will have heard of Doogee before but they are working hard to change that. Recently that hard work has paid off with the Doogee X5 making it into Amazon’s top 100 best-selling smartphones.

Doogee (a subsidiary of the KVD International Group in China) have been manufacturing budget smartphones since 2013 with a focus on creating affordable yet well spec’d mobile devices, so I’m excited to see 2 more phones in their ‘X’ range.

After the success of the X5 & the X5 Pro, Doogee’s latest offering is, you guessed it, the X6 & the X6 Pro. In this review, I take an in-depth look at how the X6 Pro performs when it comes to Design, Screen, Battery, Software, Hardware & Connectivity.

As the Doogee X6 (Non-Pro) is selling for around two-thirds the price of the X6 Pro I’ve put together a quick Doogee X6 Pro Vs Doogee X6 comparison so you can decide what features you need and which version is right for you.

Doogee X6 Pro starts at… UK : £71 | EU : €95 | US : $99

Has the Doogee X6 Pro got what it takes to rise above the crowd in the ever-growing Chinese smartphone market? We’re about to find out, but first, let’s take a look at the Pro’s & Con’s.

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Positives

Low Price

Full UK 4G Support

Solid build

Creative button design

Notification LED

Crisp 720p Screen

2GB RAM

Future upgrade to Android 6.0

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Negatives

Okay Camera performance

No good for high-end gaming

Slightly on the heavy side

Buttons not backlit

Micro-USB at the top

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Screen & Design

The design of the Doogee X6 Pro looks is slightly generic but don’t let this put you off. The phone feels well-built and the metal band that incorporates the buttons is a nice touch. The screen is bright & crisp with vibrant colours and features a 1280×720 pixel resolution screen which is pretty standard for a phone at this price point.

It’s slightly on the heavy side at around 190 grams but it does have a 5.5-inch screen. The thickness of the X6 Pro is around 10mm’s, so think more ‘smooth pebble’ than ‘razor thin’ when it comes to the dimensions. Doogee have also decided to place the USB port at the top which I find slightly odd having to dock the phone upside down.

One drawback is that the X6 Pro doesn’t feature backlit buttons but on a plus note, it does have a blue notification light for incoming alerts which is sometimes left off budget phones.

Colours Available: Black & White

Screen Tech Specs: 5.5 inch, IPS, 1280×720, 267PPI, Capacitive



Software & Hardware

Out of the box, the X6 Pro comes with Android 5.1 but Doogee have stated in a press release that the X6 Pro will receive an update to Android 6 Marshmallow. This will be one area where the Pro version with the newer chipset inside pulls away from the non-pro version.

I’ve listed the technical specs below for anyone who’s as into the geeky stuff as much as me. During my time testing the X6 Pro I found the Android 5.1 OS to be fast and responsive. Before testing, I always switch to the Google Now Launcher (available for free in the Google Play Store) when using a new phone and I found no problems with the Doogee X6 Pro.

The phone supports both a normal size SIM and a Micro SIM with a dedicated SD slot for expanding upon the 16GB of memory that comes as standard.

A nice surprise was the quality of the external speakers on the X6 Pro, the single speaker is loud with a good range through the mids and highs. You won’t be playing your favourite music at a party but for the odd trailer and gaming, it sounds okay. The internal speaker also sounded clear when call testing the phone.

Tech Specs: Android 5.1, MediaTek MT6735P Quad-core 1Ghz (64bit), Mali-T720 GPU, 2GB RAM, 16GB Storage, expandable SD card

Battery

The 3000mAh battery that you’ll find inside the X6 & X6 Pro is a respectable size for any smartphone and during testing the phone lasted a full day with heavy use. A light user will probably get around 2 days full use from the X6 Pro. The plastic back cover of the device is removable which is good news as this gives easy access to the battery when needed and opens up the option of carrying a spare.

Looking for a budget phone with insane battery life? Check out the Cubot H1.

Camera

I found photos on the Doogee X6 Pro to be a little washed and lacking in vibrancy. In good outdoor lighting you can get an okay shot but generally, you won’t be wowing anyone with this camera. Given the price-point, I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular from the X6 Pro so it’s fair to say it met my expectations. Both the front and back cameras use interpolation so I’ve added the real pixel values to the right.

Camera Features: Autofocus, Digital image stabilization, Digital zoom, Face detection, HDR, Panorama, Scene mode, Self-timer, Touch focus

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Back Camera:

8MP (IP 5)

f/2.0

CMOS

LED flash

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Selfie Camera:

5MP (IP 2)

Wide Angle

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Connectivity

For a budget phone, the X6 Pro shines in the connectivity department with full UK 4G coverage. It’s a little light on the sensors, only packing the most essential with notably the compass sensor missing. Bare this in mind if you are planning to use your phone as a navigation device.

Frequencies Supported: – 2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900MHz | 3G: WCDMA 900 / 2100MHz | 4G: FDD-LTE 800 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600MHz

3G: YES

4G: YES

Bluetooth: 4.0

GPS: GPS, A-GPS

Sensors: Accelerometer, Light sensor, Proximity Sensor

USB OTG: NO

USB Type: Micro-USB

SIM support: Micro SIM + Standard SIM

WiFi: 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n

Will the Doogee X6 Pro work in the UK?

3G – YES

4G – YES

The Doogee X6 Pro has 4G support for LTE Bands 1 (2100MHz), 3 (1800MHz), 7 (2600MHz) & 20 (800MHz). The active 4G LTE bands in the UK are 20 (800MHz), 3 (1800MHz) & 7 (2600MHz).

What’s in the box?

Inside the Doogee X6 Pro box, you get some basic accessories including: 1 Regional Wall Charger, USB Cable, Quick Start Guide, & Battery.

Final thoughts on the Doogee X6 Pro?

The Doogee X6 Pro performed all basic tasks easily for a low-end phone and the added 4G capability is nice to have. The extra battery capacity in the X6 range, when compared against the X5 range, is good and the 2GB RAM in the X6 Pro is worth paying a little extra for as this will keep the Android OS running smoothly. Another benefit of the Doogee X6 Pro over the X6 and X5 is the future upgrade to Android 6 Marshmallow.

If you’re looking for a budget phone that gets the job done then the Doogee X6 Pro is a good option. If you’ve got a little more to spend then definitely check out the Ulefone Paris full review.

Grab the Doogee X6 Pro now for… UK : £71 | EU : €95 | US : $99

Let me know your thoughts on the Doogee X6 Pro in the comment below. Feel free to share.