[Android General] KloNom:
Like usual, you can also read this review with all pictures in high quality and nicer format on my blog ;):

http://klonom.com/doogee-dg280-leo-review/

The DG280 from Doogee is a very low-budget Android smartphone. It has an MT6582 Quadcore SoC with 1 GB RAM, 8 GB ROM, Android 4.4.2 KitKat and a 4.5″ display with an FWVGA resolution. We kindly received this device from the DealeXtreme Online Shop. The DG280 is available for about 73€ →here from DX.com.

Specifications:

-MT6582 Quadcore Processor (each up to 1.3 GHz)

-Android 4.4.2 KitKat

-1 GB RAM

-8 GB ROM

-4.5″ FWVGA IPS Display (854×480)

-Dual SIM (3G/2G) (1xMicro, 1xMini (Normal))

-MicroSD Slot

-5.0 MP + 1.3 MP (according to Doogee)

-1500 mAh battery (officially 1800 mAh)

-Sensors: Acceleration, light and proximity

-USB OTG

Items delivered:

The Leo comes in quite compact, mainly white box. At the print quality on the box you notice at first, that the DG280 is really a low-cost budget device: The colors seem a bit faint and you can notice slight white lines in the print image. It seems here was some money saved. But hey, rather here than in the device :D . On the box you can find an image of the device itself and a small summary of the specifications. Beside the phone, Doogee delivers the following accessoires: An USB data/charging cable, an USB wall charger, a black headset and a small quick start guide on English. On the following picture you can see a summary.

Unboxing Video:

[YOUTUBE]j0KTe46uGIQ[/YOUTUBE]

First Impressions:

At first sight we noticed the brash color: The complete backshell is covered in a turquoise color with a rubber-like texture. Backshells are also in the colors black, yellow, green and pink available. The rubber-like backshells wraps also parts of the top corners which makes the phone a bit more resistant against shocks.

On the front you can find the three Android buttons: Menu, Home and Back (from left to right). The buttons do not have a backlight. Above the screen the front camera as well as the proximity and light sensor are placed.

On the right side the volume rocker and a Doogee logo can be found. At the transitions of different plastic materials the price cuts can be noticed: The processing is not completely neat. Also some small stains can be seen in the brighter plastic.

The power-button can be found on the left side of the DG 280 beside the Doogee logo. Both hardware buttons (volume rocker and power button) have a nice pressure point.

On the downside you can find the MicroUSB port and a small hole for the microphone. Personally we favor the MicroUSB port over the top placing since it makes the using while charging much more handy.

On the top side just the 3.5 mm headphone jack can be found.

The camera with its flash and the loudspeaker are placed on the back. Here you can nicely see the surface structure of the backshell.

Underneath the backshell the two SIM card slots (1xMicro, 1xMini (“Normal”)) and the MicroSD card slot. There is no dedicated 3G SIM slot, but you can switch via Android which SIM slot should communicate via 3G and which via 2G.

UI/Android:

The DG280 is delivered with Android 4.4.2 KitKat. Officially it also supports FOTA (Firmware over the Air). Anyhow, the newest updates (which can be found on the Doogee page) can be not found via this feature.

The Android comes with a launcher preinstalled by Doogee, which is pretty close to the stock android. Since this can be changed anyway simply by installing alternative launchers, I won’t go too much in detail here and just put some impressions below.

Performance:

The Doogee DG280 runs on the already a bit dusty (although still powerful enough for the “average-user”) MT6582 with 1 GB RAM. To determine the performance of the device most possibly objective the Antutu (V5.6.1), Geekbench 3 and the 3DMark Benchmark were run. The results you can see in the next pictures:

The results show the typical performance of a device with the MT6582 and 1 GB of RAM. For a very intensive user this performance will be most likely too low, but for the daily surfing, listening to music and messaging this should be totally enough. All in all the device runs quite smooth, although it lags at some places from time to time (especially while scrolling). We would guess that this is cause by the budget touchscreen used (supports “only” 2 point touch) rather than the performance of the device.

Memory:

Officially the DG280 is delivered with 8 GB ROM. As most of the Android phones, also this one has the memory partitioned into the partitions Phone and Internal Storage. The exact division and size of the both partitions can be seen in the next pictures:

Therefore the divison is the following:

-Internal Storage: 1.44 GB (1.33 GB free)

-Phone Storage: 4.17 GB (completely free)

-Total: 5,61 GB (5,5 GB free)

Beside that the DG280 has a MicroSD slot. It also supports external memory expansion via USB OTG (tested).

Camera:

...check the blog post for sample pictures of the camera ;):

http://klonom.com/doogee-dg280-leo-review/

Sensors:

The Leo has 3 different sensors: acceleration, light and proximity. All sensors work and are actually existent in the phone. At the proximity sensor and the light sensor the price cuts can be noticed: They work reliably (the light sensor seems to have a small offset in our device) but have a very limited resolution (the proximity sensor has two possible values, covered and not-covered). Below you can see a screenshot of the App Sensor Tool Box.

GPS:

The GPS surprised us in a positive way – After the several cost-cutting measures we did not have great expectations for the GPS. The first fix in a “cold state” was done after just a few seconds, after just a few more seconds the accuracy improved up to 3 m. Also the navigation worked flawlessly: The GPS receiption was constant, there were no connection losses and for chinaphone standards a very small after drift. All in all definitely thumbs up here for the GPS performance in such a budget device. Attached you can find a screenshot about the GPS receiption and the used satellites.

Battery:

According to Doogee the battery should have a capacity of 1800 mAh. Own measuring of the capacity revealed a value of 1500 mAh. At first sight this sounds very small, but thanks to the combination of the small resolution, small display and quadcore processor the device runs at (our) average usage around 1.5 days with one battery charge. With the old FW revision R02 there were sudden drops in the battery percentage (more like sudden power-off than drop). But the update on the newest revision R10 removed this bug most widely. Doogee improved here well. Below you can see the charging process of the battery.

Charging Process of the Doogee DG280

Supported Bands:

Below you can see the supported bands. The 3G bands can be switched via the Android menu to one of the both SIM-slots.

WiFi Reception:

The WiFi receiption is consistently good. In a comparision with the Cubot Zorro and the NO.1 Mi4 are even better than average as you can see in the next picture (all the measurements were taken at the same spot, 2 walls in direct sight to the router).

From left to right: The WiFi receiption of the DG280, Cubot Zorro and NO.1 Mi4

Display:

The display has a resolution of 854×480. It is not an OGS. Some shops list the DG280 with a TFT display, but due to the very good viewing angle stability of the diplay this can be precluded. The phone has an IPS display. The resolution sounds quite low, but in our opinion still acceptable thanks to its relatively small display. You notice it does not have an HD display, but also no pixel mess.

Virus-Scans:

According to G-Data scan the phone is completely malware-free.

More Infos:

-Maximal SAR-values: 0.30 W/kg, 0.53 W/kg, 0.78 W/kg (Head, Body, Hotspot)

-Weight: 136 g

-2 point touch touchscreen

-Supports guest-mode from Android KitKat

Misc:

The Doogee DG280 does not have a notification LED. It supports smart wake (douple tap to wake up, gestures to wake up the phone and start several apps). This was still kind of buggy in the R02 (was partly always on), but in the new R10 revision works without problems. Google Apps are preinstalled. The phone comes not rooted. The R10 revision can not be rooted with 1-click-tools after several tries. According to a user on xda-developers the old R04 revision (can be found on the Doogee page) can be rooted via Root Genious.

Review Video:

[YOUTUBE]5_67ofyg_GQ[/YOUTUBE]

Conclusion:

All in all the Doogee D280 is a reliable low budget Android beginner’s smartphone. You notice the price cuts at several points on the phone (for example the display), but it offers a good basic equipment for its price (e.g. well working GPS, Android KitKat). We can not fully recommend the phone as a primary phone, but totally as a second device to use it for outdoor activities, partys or for users with “low demands”. Especially the rubber-like backshell takes small shocks quite well (already tested more or less voluntary :D ).