A rock-solid budget phone with a case in the box

Blackview may not be one of the better-known smartphone manufacturers, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have plenty to offer. The Hong Kong-based company typically focuses on producing some of the best rugged phones on the market. Still, the Shark 8 shows that Blackview is capable of some serious versatility in the smartphone world. Between the low price, the beautiful display, and the big battery, there’s plenty of reason to wander off the beaten path if the Blackview Shark 8 is an indicator of what you can find in the brush.

Price and availability

Not in the US? No problem!

The Blackview Shark 8 isn’t widely available in the US, but you can still get your hands on it if you’re interested. Naturally, you can get it from the Blackview store online, but it can also be found on Amazon and at Walmart for those looking for third-party retailers.

The Blackview Shark 8 is available in Moonlight Gray, Scorching Gold, or Galaxy Blue. You can also choose between two storage options: a 128 GB storage version and a 256 GB version. The price is typically $199, but we’ve recently seen it on sale for as little as $159, so keep an eye out for deals before you buy.

Unfortunately, Blackview has some complications regarding carriers, and the Shark 8 is not exempt. We tested it with T-Mobile without issues, but other carriers are not so lucky. Blackview and its users have noted that CDMA carriers like Verizon, Sprint, and Cricket Wireless have made it difficult to activate the phone. The company recommends AT&T, T-Mobile, Mint, MetroPCS, and other GMS carriers to ensure you don’t have any issues.

What’s good about the Blackview Shark 8?

Mid-range and premium features at a budget price

The Blackview Shark 8 comes with a charging brick in the box, which is quite a refreshing change in 2024, particularly given how affordable the device is. On top of that, true to the company’s rugged phone reputation, the device comes with a case in the box. The device doesn’t feel particularly sturdy, so this is a pleasant benefit, even if you only use it to fend off dents and scratches until you can find a less flimsy case for your new phone.

As for actually using the device, the Blackview Shark 8 impresses almost immediately with the display. Yes, it’s sporting a mere LCD, which is again indicative of the price tag more than anything, but with the 120Hz refresh rate, you won’t find me complaining. The interface experience is smooth and honestly looks great at first glance. Simply put, if the OLED is that much better on Pixel 8a in terms of image quality, I’m not sure I’m seeing a big enough difference.

Battery life is another big boon for the Blackview Shark 8. At 5000 mAh, its size matches that of more expensive devices like the Moto G Stylus. Perhaps more valuable is how long that battery can actually last, with the company claiming 437 hours on standby. While I didn’t have two and a half weeks to test this, I left for an out-of-town wedding early Friday with the device at 35% and returned early Monday to a 25% battery, so it feels plausible. The charging is fast at 33 wired, and the claims that it could charge 20% in 15 minutes were right on the nose.

At 64 MP, the main camera is also surprisingly good for a phone at this price. Granted, megapixels don’t always tell the full story, but the pictures came out great either way, showing crisp detail and good colors, albeit a bit on the bright side. The 13 MP selfie camera isn’t too shabby, with the same attention to detail.

It’s hard to ignore how good the price is for the Blackview Shark 8 here. At only $199 and regularly on sale for even less, you’re getting a lot of mid-range features, like the 120 hZ display, the 64 MP camera, and the 5000 mAh battery with fast charging. Yes, you’ll have some downsides, but depending on what’s important to you in a phone, the deal is hard to pass up.

What’s bad about the Blackview Shark 8?

Performance and brightness disappoint

As is consistently the case with budget phones, the processor and performance often take a big hit. The Blackview Shark 8 sports the Mediatek Helio G99, which had some trouble keeping up with more demanding tasks. Swapping between video platforms and gaming, for example, saw a noticeable lag, even freezing the device on two occasions. I also ran into an odd problem with a mobile game in which the performance was unusably lagging, but only during mobile game ads that let you try the game before you buy. It’s certainly not a dealbreaker, but it speaks to the fact that budget devices all have their cracks.

The quality was something I liked when it came to taking pictures, but the camera was definitely lacking in some other major ways.

The software takes the same hit, only running its own DokeOS 4.0, based in Android 13 rather than the most recent Android 14. Even worse, Blackview is known for providing limited, if any, updates beyond mandatory security patches, so it’s not nearly as future-proof as some users would like. Compared to other budget phones, like the Samsung Galaxy A15, which gets four Android updates alone, that is obviously quite low. Beyond that, the interface is nothing special, replicating the basics of Android 13 with fewer customization options.

The quality was something we liked when taking pictures, but the camera was definitely lacking in some other major ways. The 4x zoom was undeniably a bummer, particularly when the images that come back are so much blurrier than the high quality of the standard zoom. I’m not asking for the 100x zoom you can find on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, but 4x seems too low in 2024. On top of that, the “Beauty” features of the selfie camera are borderline silly, enlarging eyes, and polishing skin to a cartoonish degree.

While the Blackview Shark 8’s display is a bright spot, there was one problem: the actual brightness. At only 500 nits, it’s clearly below the industry standard, even for a budget device, and unlike the OLED vs. LCD situation, you’ll definitely notice it. Using it on a bright day in direct sunlight isn’t necessarily challenging, but it’s decidedly more difficult than your average smartphone.

Another small but frustrating aspect of the Blackview Shark 8 is the singular external speaker on the bottom of the device. Despite the Smart-K Box speaker, it still sounds one-dimensional for music and other audio content. As an avid TikTok scroller, holding the device with one hand almost entirely blocks the audio, forcing me to adjust my hand to get the full experience. It’s trivial, but if you can relate, this kind of thing is enough to make you hate the phone over time.

Should you buy it?

If you’re in the market for a top budget phone that sports mid-range/premium features like big batteries, high refresh rates, and cameras with lots of megapixels, the Blackview Shark 8 is a solid choice. Yes, limited camera features and poor brightness can be frustrating, and laggy performance is an absolute non-starter if you need your smartphone for anything too demanding, like gaming or content editing.

However, anything we didn’t like about the Blackview Shark 8 can be explained away by the fact that the device is only $199. There will always be caveats and potential deal breakers at this price point, depending on what you need your phone for. As is often the case, you get what you pay for with the Blackview Shark 8, and when it comes to value, this seems like a deal that’s harder to beat than most.