Blackview P2

7.00 / 10

While most modern smartphones have batteries ranging from 2,000mAh to 3,000mAh in size, the Blackview P2 has a massive 6,000mAh battery. If you're looking for a device that can last for days on a single charge, look no further.

At under $200 unlocked, it's also not an expensive device -- though there are some caveats you need to be aware of.

Specifications

  • Price: $200 from GearBest / $240 from Amazon
  • Color: Blue (as reviewed), Black, Grey, or Gold
  • Chipset: 1.5 GHz Octa-Core MediaTek MTK6750
  • RAM: 4 GB
  • Storage: 64 GB
  • Cameras: 13 MP rear-facing, 8 MP front-facing
  • Size: 154mm x 77mm x 10.4mm (6.06in x 3.03in x 0.41in)
  • Weight: 230g (8.11oz)
  • Screen: 5.5" 1080p LCD
  • Expansion: microSD card slot up to 128 GB
  • Battery: 6,000 mAh
  • Operating System: Skinned version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow
  • Extra Features: Fingerprint scanner, dual SIM support, FM Radio

Hardware

The Blackview P2 is definitely a beefy phone. Weighing in at 230g, it's noticeably heavier than other popular Android phones, like the 157g Samsung Galaxy S7. It's also 10.4mm thick, which isn't thin by any means, but it is thinner than other budget phones, like the 12mm UHANS H5000.

Aside from the noticeable heft, it otherwise looks like your average smartphone. The 5.5" 1080p screen is nice, and the 2.5D glass gives it a nice smooth feeling around the edges.

The metallic body is well-crafted and sturdy -- this is nothing like the cheap plasticky budget devices of yesteryear.

The headphone jack is on top, the microSD/SIM card tray is on the left, the USB Type-C port and speaker are along the bottom, and the power button and volume rocker are on the right. While the power button has a nice feel to it, the volume rocker doesn't give off a noticeable click when pressed.

Though it looks like it has two speakers along the bottom, sound only comes out of the left one (which means the right grill is probably for a microphone). The sound that it does give off isn't the loudest and it's severely lacking in any bass.

On the back is the 13 MP camera and fingerprint scanner. The fingerprint scanner is quick, but just a touch slower than other Android devices I've tested. There's a noticeable -- if miniscule -- pause between pressing your finger against it and seeing the phone unlock.

The rear-facing camera doesn't take the best photos in the world, but again, they're better than your average budget devices. I'd place it comfortably in the mid-range of smartphone cameras. It's not great, but it's probably better than you'd expect for a $200 smartphone.

There are also three capacitive keys along the bottom, though they don't light up at all. And weirdly, one of them is an Options key rather than a Recents key -- which means it's mostly useless in modern apps. To reach the Recents menu, you'll have to press and hold the home button (which means there's no way to quickly access Google search).

Overall, the Blackview P2 is a well-built device, especially for its price range -- even though it's quite heavy.

Software

Though the P2 runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow, Blackview have added their own skin on top of that. The experience is mostly stock, aside from the gold theme throughout the home screen, settings app, and notification shade.

All the icons are a brownish gold, which is just... ugly. Maybe this is your thing, but I have to imagine that for most people, it's not. You could use a custom launcher to hide the hideous home screen, but the settings app and notification shade are unavoidable.

Aside from that, Blackview's version of Android isn't that unique. There's a feature called MiraVision for changing the tint of the screen, an app auto-start feature to control which apps are allowed to run in the background, and a "touch & take screenshot" feature (though, for the life of me, I could not figure out what that one does).

On the home screen there's no app drawer, which makes it feel more like iOS. Some of the apps are also themed, like the dialer (might want to replace that too), and some apps that don't normally come in stock Android are included, like Gallery, File Manager, and Xender.

The Blackview P2 is just as functional as any other device running Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but it's noticeably less pretty to look at due to the bizarre gold theme. If you can get past that, though, it still gets the job done.

Performance and Connectivity

Powered by an octa-core MediaTek processor (the MTK6750) and 4GB of RAM, the P2 chugs along quite nicely. There was no lag at all moving between menus or apps, and it was able to handle most smartphone games without a problem. With 64GB of storage, you shouldn't be running out of space any time soon.

Unfortunately, this phone is plagued by the same problem that seems to affect many budget Chinese phones -- a lack of the proper LTE bands for use in the United States. The P2 has LTE bands for wavelengths 800, 900, 1800, 2100, and 2600 MHz. Unfortunately, the two largest GSM carriers in the US don't use these bands. AT&T and T-Mobile both mainly operate with 700 MHz and 1900 MHz bands.

The Blackview P2 should still work outside of the US with most GSM carriers, but Americans are stuck without 4G LTE data speeds.

Battery Life

Thanks to the giant 6,000mAh battery, the Blackview P2 has phenomenal battery life. You can easily get more than 7 hours of screen on time, and depending on your usage, it could last anywhere from two to five days.

In a world where most people have to charge their phones everyday, and in some cases multiple times a day, that's rather amazing.

Thank to the USB Type-C port, it manages to charge fully in about two hours.

Extras

The Blackview P2 also comes with quite a bit of extra goodies in the box. There's the normal charging cable, of course, but there's also a USB OTG cable, a pair of headphones, a screen protector, and a case. That's not bad for how cheap the device is.

Should You Buy It?

The Blackview P2 stands out with incredible battery life but is held back by an ugly software skin. It's a solid piece of a hardware that's a pretty good value at $200, but the unchangeable gold theme is just a major disappointment.

[recommend]If you can tolerate the gold theme, the Blackview P2 offers great specs (especially battery life) at a cheap price. However, American users wanting LTE support should look elsewhere.[/recommend]