The Breakdown
Rugged smartphones have evolved. Every year, we see many characteristics coming from “normal” smartphones to this specific category. 2020 was the year marked by the arrival of 5G chipsets and – as expected, a well-known -to us China lovers- company took the brave step to include one in a rugged smartphone. This company is Oukitel, a Chinese firm that specializes in rugged smartphone sales globally. By bringing a 5G SoC to a rugged device (Oukitel WP10), the Chinese company practically opened a new category of outdoor smartphones, phones that have the ability to provide amazing speeds for streaming – hoping of course that there is support in their country.
Streaming means media consumption. 5G streaming is the reason why all the 2020 phones have a huge display and a big battery. Oukitel followed the same path and the result is a phone that combines two “worlds”. The first is to create the strongest (most durable) possible phone for your outdoor activities. The second is a phone that uses 5G to stream music, TV series and films or allow you to play your favourite online games.
Furthermore this smartphone is modular – it has pogo pins to attach Oukitel’s variety of modules like some other phones we’ve seen during the past couple of years. So, jet’s see how WP-10 managed to carry on its special characteristics from our two week long review of the device. 
Oukitel WP10 – Specifications
- Protection: IP68 & IP69K & MIL-STD-810G, Waterproof & Dust-proof & Shockproof
- Dimensions: 83.4 x 178 x 17.6 mm
- Weight: 380 g
- SoC: MediaTek Dimensity 800 (MT6873)
- CPU: 4x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A76, 4x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A55, Cores: 8
- GPU: ARM Mali-G57 MP4, Cores: 4
- RAM: 8 GB, 1866 MHz, LPDDR4x
- Storage: 128 GB, UFS 2.1
- Display: 6.67″ FHD+ Hole-Punch Display, IPS, 1080 x 2340 pixels, 24 bit, 386 pp
- Battery: 8000 mAh, Li-Polymer, 18W charging
- OS: Android 10
- Camera:
- 48MP Quad AI Camera Sony IMX582 Exmor RS, f/2.0, 0.80μm, 1/2.25’’
- 13MP Wide Angle Camera
- MP Depth,
- 2MP Macro
- 16MP Selfie Camera, f/2.2
- SIM card: Nano-SIM
- WiFi: a, b, g, n, n 5GHz, ac, Dual band, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display
- Connectivity: Dual 5G Modes, NSA&SA, Dual SIM Cards, 2.3Gbp/s Download, 2.5Gbp/s Upload, FDD: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/25/26/28A/28B/66, TDD: B34/B38/B39/B40/B41, 5G: N1/3/5/8/20/28/38/41/77/78/79
- USB: 2.0, USB Type-C
- Bluetooth: 5.0
- Positioning: GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
- Sensors: Proximity, Light, Accelerometer, Compass,Gyroscope, Barometer, Fingerprint
- Features – Polycarbonate Body Design, Loudspeaker, Computer Sync, OTA Sync, OTG Support, Host, NFC Support, Tethering, Face ID
First unboxing
Oukitel’s W10 comes with a big black retail box that has an impressive hard / mat texture. It’s weird how these smaller companies have superior boxes than the top companies in the industry. Perhaps this is a tactic to get more sales – and I surely like it. Opening the wide box we can see the smartphone on the left side and the extras on the right. The phone has a protective sticker that advertises the main characteristics of the smartphone – another sales tactic for shop presentation.
The price for Oukitel WP10 from 29th March to 2nd April will be $374.99. You can buy it in the link below:
The extras include a user guide, a guarantee leaflet, a wall charger, a USB-C to USB-A cable and a USB-C to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter. Since the iPhone 12 release, with it’s retail box lacking a charger, many companies have decided to remove their wall chargers. We are very happy to see a 3.5mm adapter in the offer. There is no SIM pin because the SIM card is removable manually using your finger nail. From what you can understand, the package comes fully stocked, like a weapon ready to go off 😉
Oukitel WP10 – Design
WP10 is not a device that chooses to hide. It’s a beast of a phone and has the looks to show it. The massive display has bezels from hard plastic, with the rim up a millimeter to protect the display. This is an excellent idea to protect the display panel when the phone is looking down. The top of the screen is protected by an extra plastic film – used in most of the phones these days – to protect from key scratches etc. The top of the display has a hole for the selfie camera. Over it, we find the microphone in an horizontal bar. On top there’s a yellow wide cosmetic line – a similar one exists under the display. When turning the phone sideways to play a game, they look really nice, a pleasant touch in the looks of the phone.
The 4 corners of the all around metal chassis are hardened with more plastic, as to protect the smartphone from falls. The right side of the chassis has the volume buttons (having + and – symbols on), the power button ( being textured, to feel it easily in the dark) and the fingerprint sensor. In the lower part, half hidden, is the SIM card tray. You can remove it by hand and add 2 SIM cards. The left side of the Oukitel WP10 has two buttons.
OUKITEL WP10 review
The first is a bit protruding and has the PTT engraving (push-to-talk services) typed on. The second is almost not protruding from the body, but is painted in bright orange and has the word SOS on. The top has a small hole, used for canceling external sound. A second small hole is placed in the lower part (another sound cancelling microphone), along with a wide plastic tap that hides the USB-C port. Small details like silver screws in the chassis add pleasantly to the whole “manly” design.
The back part of the Oukitel WP10 is made from hardened plastic, with a lot of details adding to the rugged looks. On top there is another orange cosmetic horizontal line. There is no wide line in the lower part, a plastic holder exists there as a rope / cord holder. You can tie the smartphone on your uniform or bag. You can hang the phone from your neck, but we don’t advise it, because the smartphone is rather heavy and you’ll get tired.
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Camera specifics
The top left has a quad camera installation, in a modern design that does not fit the phone’s whole design. Surely it adds a bit of elegance, but looks rather strange at this beast of a phone. We can see the big lenses, two smaller and a LED flash. The words “48MP AI Camera” advertise the camera’s abilities. The center of the panel has vertical deep lines and NFC written in the center of the. The lines remind me… of a car tire, and surely are there to increase friction in case of muddy or wet hands. The lower part has the logo of the OEM in silver, an IP-68 reminder and an area with pogo pins. On the left of them we can see a huge speaker. Minor details like orange lines and silver screws complete the design.
The smartphone looks good with all the minor details and the weird “premium” camera installation. We said the word “beast” in the beginning of the WP10 description and we mean it. At 178 x 83.4 x 17.6 mm it’s simply huge. The weight is almost three times heavier than my backup iPhone 7, at 380g! It is the heaviest smartphone we’ve reviewed by far with a battery and display found usually in small tablets. I like the phone – the handling is good but i would prefer the weight to be lesser.
Oukitel WP10 – Hardware and Software
WP10 has certificates to ensure maximum durability (IP68, IP69K, MIL-STD-810G). It packs an IPS panel with FHD+ resolution. Brightness is its main disadvantage as I had to create a shadow with my hand under mid-day bright sun in order to view the display. Colors are ok, viewing angles too – nothing out of the normal. The panel has a Corning Gorilla glass protection (unknown model). If you are the type that carries around a smartphone along with keys in the same pocket, buy an extra tempered glass.
The driver behind this smartphone is the MediaTek Dimensity 800. This is a SoC designed on minimizing power consumption. You can play games and run some intensive applications, but this is not a power house. There is 8GB of RAM to help with and 128GB of storage, out of which 110GB available to the user. Performance is not great considering the SoC. I don’t have any clear results on the CPU performance because Geekbench fails to run on all Dimensity 800 chipsets to this date. I had no issues playing some non intensive games in my spare time and I saw videos etc. Based in power conservation, Dimensity 800 is a good daily driver but it is not for games or multitasking.
OUKITEL WP10 review
Sound is good but not very loud. There are some distortions when in maximum volume. Calls and video calls are clear to hear. An important factor for people that spend time outside is the connectivity. Call quality is excellent and the signal is strong at all times. There is support for multiple band support around the world.GPS is perfect at all times.
On the right side of the phone, is where the biometric fingerprint sensor is placed. It takes a while to set your fingerprints and it is not working as fast as i would want. Face unlock works perfectly and is faster but it’s not as safe as the fingerprint sensor so use it carefully. Vibration is mediocre. 
The massive 8000 mAh battery is more than enough to keep the smartphone open for 3-4 days with heavy usage (maps etc). Battery is charging slowly though at 18W and needs 3 hours to return to 100%.
The WP10 runs on Android 10. I was surprised when the smartphone updated with OTA to a new build, something I have never seen in another rugged phone. I always press on this. Rugged smartphone users are not second category clients and they have all rights to get the nominal of two major updates and three years of security updates.
The version of Android is almost stock without any advertisements, along with a few extras, like the SOS button setup, a game mode, tools app for outdoor usage, a system manager, a child app (that is a new in the rugged phones category) along with an “Easy Launcher“. Navigation in the UI is fast. No issues were found. I used the smartphone with the stock Android gestures with ease.
Camera features
As usual with rugged smartphones, photography and video are not the areas to look for. While the main quad camera looks amazing the results are not different from any smartphone in the category we reviewed during the last six months.
The main sensor is Sony IMX582. It’s a 48MP sensor that can be found in Redmi Note 10 5G, Redmi K40, Galaxy A51 etc. Added is a 13MP sensor for ultra wide angle shots and 2 small sensors for depth and macro shots. The main sensor has x2 optical zoom. In the display panel – inside the hole – we can find a 16-megapixel selfie camera.
Main sensor can achieve good quality daily pictures, but still they could be better with some software updates. Details and colors are ok. Ultra wide camera is good and so is 2X zoom. Macro shots are nice and so is portrait mode.. Selfies are not bad either!
Low light shots are ok, Night Shot saves the game with a really nice outcome considering we’re talking about a rugged phone like the Oukitel WP10. Video is good but there is no EIS or OIS, so a good result is achieved only with a tripod.
This is a nice outcome for the Oukitel WP10 and I must say that adding 48MP sensors and proper software has increased the overall quality of phones in the middle price range and we are happy to see this trend coming to the outdoor smartphone category. However, if you’re in the market for some of the best camera phones around, have a look here.
Conclusion
Oukitel WP10 is a true monster, providing 5G connectivity to your outdoor activities for as much as possible! No other rugged device performs as a media streamer and this is something that has its significance. 5G and the huge display and battery, provide the means to spend your off time enjoyably. In any case, the only negative is the weight but, still, this is what you get for a smartphone with a 8000mAh battery and full military standards protection.
The price for Oukitel WP10 from 29th March to 2nd April will be $374.99. You can buy it in the link below:
"128GB of storage, out of which 110MB available to the user"
not sure if this is a typo or there's a ton of pre-installed apps on the phone