I tested out the Doogee V Max Play - a monster rugged phone built for adventurers (and weight-lifters)

Date:
Sun, 07 Dec 2025 11:36:00 +0000

Description:
This rugged phone is half a house brick of Android power.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Doogee
V Max Play: 30-second review

Some rugged phone makers want to put every feature imaginable in their devices, irrespective of how large and heavy it makes them.

A classic example of this is the Doogee V Max Play, a monstrously large, rugged phone with an onboard LED projector.

It also comes with 16GB of RAM (not 36GB as advertised), 512GB of storage and enough battery to see you through a working week. The downside of an exceptional feature set and a talk time thats about a third of a month is
that this isnt the most practical phone to carry.

Its large, it's heavy, and it has a carry case that would be classed as carry-on luggage on an aircraft, if the airline wasnt funny about you
bringing a 20500 mAh battery onboard.

Ideally, this is a phone thats dropped by helicopter onto a mountain top with all your other equipment, or mounted on a vehicle, because it isnt anything you'd want to carry long distances.

However, those who bring it along will find that it rarely needs recharging and its features are comprehensive. While some aspects of this design are first-class, like the cameras, others, such as the projector, are more niche, and at this price, I was expecting something more practical for general use.

If you dont care that it's so unwieldy and not inexpensive, it might provide good service, but there are too many questionable choices for it to be included in our best rugged phone selection. (Image credit: Mark Pickavance) Doogee V Max Play: price and availability How much does it cost? $690/600/600 When is it out? Available now Where can you get it? You can get it in most regions directly from Doogee or from many online retailers.

Doogee sells its phones directly and through online retailers such as Amazon and AliExpress.

In the USA, the V Max Play sells for $689.99 directly, or you can get it on Amazon.com for $649.99. This is a reduction from its launch price of $700 on Amazon, but you can get it for only $549.99 via AliExpress for a Global
model.

In the UK, it's priced at 599.99 on Amazon.co.uk , and in Europe, it's 799.99 through the various EU Amazon sites.

Overall, those on the European side of the Atlantic are probably better using AliExpress, since the UK price from that outlet is only 532.99, or 601,39 for those in the EU.

As a side note: the review phone is a VIP edition, and as such it comes with
a special projection stand and a Bluetooth rechargeable speaker. And, the starting price from Doogee for that package is $744.99.

There arent many phones that have a comparable feature set to the V Max Play, but the asking price is close to that of the Ulefone Armor 34 Pro and the
8849 Tank 3 Pro, and both these have inbuilt projectors.

Given how relatively few phones have that one feature, it reveals how niche the V Max Play is and that rugged phone makers are willing to throw almost anything into their devices to differentiate them. This phone isnt cheap, but it's feature-rich. (Image credit: Mark Pickavance) Value score: 3.5/5 Doogee
V Max Play: Specs

Item

Spec

CPU:

MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Energy

GPU:

Arm Mali-G615 MC2

NPU:

MediaTek APU 655

RAM:

16GB

Storage:

512GB

Screen:

6.78 inchFHD+IPS Screen

Resolution:

1080 x 2460FHD+,120Hz

SIM:

2x Nano SIM + TF (all three can be used)

Weight:

686 grams alone, 771g with bumper

Dimensions:

183.5 x 85.4 x 30.5 mm

Rugged Spec:

IP68 IP69K dust/water resistant (up to 2m for 30 min), MIL-STD-810H Certification

Rear cameras:

200MP AI Main Camera + 20 MP Night Vision Camera + 8MP Ultra Wide Angle & Macro Camera

Front camera:

32MP Samsung

Projector:

100-lumen projector with Dynamic 854480 resolution

Networking:

WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.3

Audio:

130dB loudspeaker with Smart PA

OS:

Android 15

Battery:

20500 mAh (Max 45W wired, 10W reverse)

Colours:

Black Doogee V Max Play: design Heavy and thick Annoying bumper

Ill be brutally honest - the packaging for the Doogee V Max Play is so big, I did wonder if Id need both hands just to hold this behemoth. I can just about hold this in one hand, but at 771g with its pre-attached bumper, this is an excessively heavy phone that nobody would want to take on a hike. Even
without the bumper, it's 686g, making it easily one of the thickest and heaviest rugged phones this review has ever encountered.

And some of the phone's special features have affected the button placement, which is unusual for a Doogee design.

The right side has the power button/fingerprint reader and volume rocker, but these are much further down the side than usual, because an air vent on the top right is required to stop the projector from overheating.

The left side has, going from the bottom up, the user-definable button, an activation button for the projector and the SIM tray. The SIM tray is worth mentioning because it supports two Nano SIMs and a TF card, and you can use all three simultaneously.

The top edge is entirely occupied with the projector and another vent, presumably to pull air into the phone, and the bottom edge has the USB-C port thats covered with a large rubber plug. That plus is held in place with a screw, so it might be replaceable, making it more likely that the V Max Play can be maintained as waterproof in the long term.

To make this hefty chunk of metal, glass, and glass-reinforced plastic easier to handle, the phone's entire underside is angled, almost like a boat.

On the lower section is a slot for a strap, and a flat area with two camping LED clusters, one of which Doogee helpfully covered with an important label. And, the upper section has a camera cluster, which sticks out at least 6mm.
As you can see from this topology, there is no suitable location for wireless recharging, and with a battery this big, it probably isnt much of a loss.

Overall, the phone's design is reasonable, but the hard plastic bumper Doogee includes with it is truly annoying in several critical ways. (Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

What this shell adds, other than additional corner protection, is a metal
ring that can be used to support the phone, and might be especially useful when the projector is being used.

It also includes a large rubberised strap that covers the whole left side of the phone, allowing it to be carried like a small handbag.

However, the person who designed the bumper was evidently not told about either the camping lights or the projector button, because the design ignores the existence of these things entirely. With the bumper in place, it's not easy to get on and off, and it entirely obscures the LEDs behind reinforced plastic.

Where the stap has the uncanny ability to transfer any finger press on the left-hand side to the projector button, resulting in the projector control always being on screen when you unlock the phone.

Thats a double fail on my scorecard, and it makes me wonder how, in the development of the bumper, nobody in the Doogee engineering team didnt notice these glaring mistakes. (Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Design score: 3/5 Doogee V Max Play: hardware Dimensity 7300 Energy Big battery capacity 480p Projector

Ive written at some length about the Dimensity 7300 Energy or other versions of this silicon, one of the new MediaTek 4nm SoCs that also appeared in the Ulefone Armour 30 Pro, 33 Pro and 34 Pro, and is in the upcoming AGM G3 Pro, among others.

It features an octa-core CPU (4x Cortex-A78 at 2.5 GHz and 4x Cortex-A55 at 2.0 GHz) and a Mali-G615 MP2 GPU. It supports LPDDR5 RAM, UFS 3.1 storage, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.4.

But in this context, the critical features of this SoC and the series it belongs to are power efficiency, AI processing (APU 655), and camera capabilities (up to 200MP, 4K HDR video). Its designed for smooth multitasking, gaming, and advanced imaging in modern smartphones, offering a strong balance of performance and battery life.

While it's not insanely powerful like the Snapdragon 8, its a jack-of-all-trades SoC, and offers sufficient performance for the majority of phone apps, including games.

With such an efficient chip, it might seem excessive how much battery this phone has, but the 20500 mAh here is actually less than I saw in the Ulefone Armor 34 Pro, a phone thats even heavier than the V Max Play.

The issue with having a battery this size, or the 25000 mAh in the Armor 34 Pro, is that it wont charge rapidly, purely based on the capacity and how
much heat the phone can dissipate.

The maximum charge rate is only 45W, which equates to at least five hours on the charger to go from empty to full charge. Therefore, this isnt a phone where you wake and realise that you didnt charge the phone, but you can top
up while having breakfast.

The upside is that Doogee claims it can run videos for 47 hours, play music for 370 hours, and has a talktime of 165.7 hours. Whatever the reality, the battery capacity here is sufficient to operate for days without a recharge, and if curated, it might last over a week. (Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

The final special feature of the V Max Play is the projector, which is a feature that has appeared in a few phones recently. What Ill say about this one is that dont get its capability confused with a home cinema projector, both in terms of brightness, image size and resolution.

For starters, it's only rated at 100 lumens, making it unsuitable for any
area thats fully lit. At a minimum, it needs a dimly lit room, and ideally, complete darkness. In those conditions, it can project a 120-inch display,
but thats highly dependent on the projection surface and any ambient light.

Its impressive that this projector includes intelligent autofocus and
keystone correction, but you can also override them if you wish to manually configure it via the built-in app. The resolution of the projection is a curious resolution of 854 480, which is apparently designated as FWVGA.
While 480p doesnt sound great, it's good enough for watching standard-definition TV shows and for gaming.

The V Max Play has enough battery to show full movies on the projector, but when it's finished, you might want to let the phone cool down before putting it in a pocket.

Doogee makes a projection stand accessory that didnt come with my review can hold the phone up higher than the bumper kick-stand, and provide some stability. (Image credit: Mark Pickavance) Hardware score: 4/5 Doogee V Max Play: cameras Rear camera: 200MP Samsung S5KHP2 primary camera, 20 MP Sony IMX350 Night Vision Camera, 8MP Ultra Wide Angle & Macro Camera Front camera: 32MP Samsung S5GD1 (Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Where Doogee didnt spare some expense is in the camera department, with at least four sensors spread around this phone. Well, maybe four. These days, phone makers typically hide the actual sensors they use from complete interrogation, so they can swap them out in mid-production for a cheaper option if they wish.

What Im reasonably certain of is that Samsung provided the 200MP primary camera with an HP2 option that is an excellent choice. Its backed up with the older, but equally useful, Sony 20MP IMX350 Night Camera. On the back is also another 8MP sensor that does dual duty for ultra-wide angle and Macro. This
is either a GalaxyCore GC08A3 or a Samsung S5K48, as the version of Android
15 assembled for the phone had both these 8MP sensors compiled.

On the basis that the 32MP front camera is also a Samsung S5GD1, that manufacturer may have contributed three sensors to this device.

But, and this may be an aberration, some of my investigation software indicated that the 32MP on the front isnt alone. It might have a 2MP partner sensor, presumably for creating depth effects. If true, then this phone has five sensors, which is remarkable for a rugged smartphone. (Image credit:
Mark Pickavance)

For those unfamiliar with the Samsung ISOCELL sensor series, the ISOCELL HP2 is a newer, more advanced sensor than the HP3, offering better low-light performance, faster image capture, and improved colour reproduction.

And here it can take incredibly crisp 12MB images with excellent dynamic
range and deliver good results even when there isnt much light. And, if you want to see the full sensor capture, it will snap 200MP pictures.

It can also capture 4K video on this phone, which isnt always available when some phone makers use such good sensors.

This camera app is packed with all manner of modes that include panorama, group photos, PRO (still and video), dual video (front and back in one shot), slow-motion and time-lapse. It also includes the seemingly inevitable AI
mode, where it puts ears on people. Because thats hilarious, isnt it?

Despite the abuse of technology, the cameras are a strong point of this
phone, and it's good to see the camera app deliver so many sensor
capabilities without ignoring them as usual. Doogee V Max Play Camera samples Image 1 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 2 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 3 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 4 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 5 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee
V Max Play ) Image 6 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 7 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 8 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 9 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 10 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 11 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 12 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 13 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 14 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Image 15 of 15 (Image credit: Doogee V Max Play ) Camera score: 4.5/5 Doogee
V Max Play: performance Decent SoC GPU is game-friendly Big battery

Phone

Doogee V Max Play

Ulefone Armor 34 Pro

SoC

Mediatek Dimensity 7300 Energy

Dimensity 7300

GPU

Mali-G615 MC2

Mali-G615 MC3

Mem

MediaTek NPU 655

MediaTek NPU 655

NPU

16GB/512GB

16GB/512GB

Weight

686g

825g

Battery

20500

25500

Geekbench

Single

1009

1029

Multi

3176

3111

OpenCL

2478

2494

Vulkan

2501

2500

GFX

Aztec Open Normal

40

40

Aztec Vulkan Norm.

42

41

Car Chase

36

36

Manhattan 3.1

60

61

PCMark

3.0 Score

11709

11471

Battery

43h 28m

45h 43m

Charge 30

%

11

21

Passmark

Score

13901

14258

CPU

6973

7204

3DMark

Slingshot OGL

6977

7000

Slingshot Ex. OGL

5275

5343

Slingshot Ex. Vulkan

4862

2457

Wildlife

3269

3249

Nomad Lite

360

353

As both the Doogee V Max Play and the Ulefone Armor 34 Pro I included for perspective use a similar SoC, GPU, NPU and memory model, the majority of these results are a coin-toss as to who will win. These are both decent phone platforms, and for a rugged phone, the chips in these are modern and efficient.

Where these results diverge is that the Ulefone Armor 34 Pro has another 25% more battery capacity, but the running time is only marginally longer, and certainly not 25% longer. That said, the Ulefone device recharged more quickly, and thats definitely a weakness of the Doogee V May Play.

The running time of more than 43 hours is great, and if you used it
constantly for eight hours per day, it would take you from Monday to Friday easily. Those who can resist the urge to look at their phone all day could clock up a week or more before a recharge is necessary.

There are more powerful phones with faster CPUs and GPUs, but for the average user, the platform in this one is decent.

Where it excels is making the most of the battery capacity, and this is demonstrated well by the PCMark battery test results. It might have a 4500
mAh battery capacity less than the Ulefone, but it manages to go nearly as long. The tweaking of the Dimensity 7300 to make it the 7300 Energy certainly works, and a running time of more than five eight-hour days is useful to
those away from daily recharges.

Therefore, in most respects, the Doogee V Max Play performs well, but at this asking price, it should. Performance score: 4/5 (Image credit: Doogee) Doogee V Max Play: Final verdict

I think this phone has probably crossed the Rubicon, where on one side is an entirely practical device and on the other is something less useful. Its like someone made a giant Swiss Army knife with a broadsword as one of its tools.

Im a large person, but I couldnt imagine carrying one of these around all
day, and certainly not if Im hiking across a forest or a desert.

This is only practical if it's mounted on a vehicle, and then it's less about its size than how long it can operate on its battery.

The projector works best in complete darkness if you bought a highly reflective surface to project onto, and it doesnt flatten the battery so quickly that you wont see the extra scene after the credits.

What it badly needs is a new bumper, one that considers where the camping
LEDs are on the phone, and doesnt have a strap that conflicts with the projector button.

But based solely on the price and the ergonomic compromises made with the V Max Play, be certain you are willing to live with its idiosyncrasies before investing in this option. Should I buy a Doogee V Max Play? Doogee V Max Play Score Card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

Maker price is too high, but online its more affordable

3.5/5

Design

Terrible bumper and a massive device

3/5

Hardware

Decent SoC, 480p projector and a 20500 mAH battery

4/5

Camera

200MP Samsung sensor takes great pictures and video

4.5/5

Performance

Decent performance and enhanced battery life

4/5

Overall

Not the most practical phone, even if its feature-rich

4/5 Buy it if...

You need a phone for outdoors
The water- and dust-resistant Doogee V Max Play is suitable for working in
the rain and can withstand being dropped. But it is exceptionally heavy and unsuitable for small hands.

You need battery capacity
One of the redeeming features of this design is the battery capacity and how this translates into running time. If all you want is a long-running time, then this is a design that offers that feature, but it also makes it heavy. Don't buy it if...

You are travelling light
At over 771g with bumper, this is a heavy phone, and it's too big to fit in a trouser pocket. Maybe for a long trek, this isn't the best choice, even if
the camera is perfect for scenic shots. Also Consider

Ulefone Armor Mini 20 Pro
Another practical, rugged design with an inbuilt camping light, night vision camera and about 60% of the battery capacity than the WP60. Its cheap, but conversely, the cameras arent as good, and the SoC isnt as powerful. For
those needing a cheap, tough phone, the Ulefone Armour Mini 20 Pro might be a good choice as it's easily pocketable.

Read our full Ulefone Armor Mini 20 Pro review

ThinkPhone 25 by Motorola
The ThinkPhone 25 offers a powerful SoC, robust package, practical form factor, high-quality camera sensors and decent battery life at a mid-range price point. But, its not available in the USA, sadly.

Read our ThinkPhone 25 by Motorola review

For more durable devices, we've reviewed the best rugged tablets , the best rugged laptops , and the best rugged hard drives



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