Smartphones

Oukitel WP18: test and review

Published on: 27-04-2022 / Modified: 07-10-2022
I sometimes test phones from less well-known brands and this allows me to assess whether these brands are far behind the well-known brands or if, on the contrary, they represent a credible alternative. I tested two Oukitel phones before this one and it allowed me to discover an unpretentious brand that manages to produce phones at a very competitive price level without major sacrifices on the quality of the phone.

I also test rugged phones and this time I will combine Oukitel and this category of phone by testing Oukitel WP18.

The Oukitel WP18 is available for around 100€ at Banggood, there aren't many phones in this price range anymore:
Oukitel WP18 on Banggood

Manufacturer web site:

https://oukitel.com/

Site where I have bought the Oukitel WP18:
https://www.banggood...

Structure of my tests

I test the phones according to a pre-established structure (see below) to provide you with as much information as possible. Unfortunately, this takes a long time. Some tests like network performance tests take several days and for photo tests I sometimes have to wait until the weather is suitable to take pictures in good conditions. I am therefore obliged to publish the tests step by step, so I invite you to come back if the test is not complete at the time of your visit.

Price Oukitel WP18

The list below shows the prices for the Oukitel WP18 from more than 50 sites around the world. If you are not satisfied with any price, you can subscribe to a price alert to be the first to be notified when the price drops.
[pricelist keyword="Not yet available / tested
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The above links are affiliate links from companies such as Amazon, Gearbest, Aliexpress,... If you appreciate my work, I would be grateful if you could purchase these products through these links. It costs you absolutely nothing but I get a small commission that allows me to buy the material I test. Thank you very much!

Timeline

April 22, 2022: order the Oukitel WP18 on Banggood
May 4, 2022: I received the Oukitel WP18, the test can begin

Why this phone?

Rugged type phones are not fashionable objects, they are not designed for that, they should rather be seen as a working tool. This type of phone often offers a degraded experience compared to a traditional smartphone, but some brands manage to produce reinforced phones without too much constraint on the functionality of the phone.

The great strength of this Oukitel WP18 is its 12500 mAh battery, it is the largest battery I have tested so far. Besides that, the Oukitel WP18 offers IP69 dustproof and IP68 waterproof protection and can withstand a drop of 1.5m. These are arguments that other brands have also used but what may make the difference is the price because this Oukitel is available for just over 100€. At this price, you shouldn't expect a performance machine, but it makes the world of rugged smartphones more accessible.

Unpacking

The Oukitel is delivered in a fairly simple rectangular box which gives no indication of the product, which is often the case for telephones of this type. The box obviously contains the phone, a manual, a usb-c cable, a charger and a needle for the sim drawer which is difficult to remove from its location. This needle is also larger than average because the sim drawer is first protected by a layer of silicone, then you have to dislodge the drawer which is further in the phone, I also have access to the sim drawer quite difficult.

First configuration

The Oukitel WP18 runs on a basic version of Android 11, so you will not see any advertising or attempts to register in a cloud or this kind of service. The initial setup follows the same path as all phones running Android 11, Oukitel didn't add anything. There is no fingerprint reader configuration because there simply isn't one.

Finish

Phones like the Oukitel WP18 are not made to win a beauty contest or shine in society, they are phones that should be considered as a work tool, so they have a rough appearance and often little aesthetic.

The back of the phone is completely wrapped in its protective armor, it gives an almost military look with its very angular shapes. The sound from the speaker comes out the back and as it is a waterproof construction it is very likely that this sound will not be of a very good quality but I will test the sound later in this article. The photo block is perfectly integrated into the phone, it does not protrude to avoid any collision with something that could damage it. The photo block is also protected by an additional glass/plastic layer to resist shocks. At the bottom there is a notch to attach a strap.

The 4 corners of the phone are reinforced to resist drops, so the phone does not have a perfectly rectangular shape, it has a small protrusion at the four corners.

The USB-C port is protected by a silicone/rubber strip which protects the USB post from dust and dirt but also prevents the port does not come into contact with water. I'm not sure that this protection is enough to prevent water from entering but it is also likely that the USB port itself is waterproof.

For the sim drawer, it's the same, it's protected by the same rubber layer as the usb port. The protection is firmly anchored in the side of the phone but it makes the sim drawer more difficult to access. There is a hole to push the needle in to open the drawer but I couldn't open the sim drawer that way, I opened it using the needle as a lever. The sim drawer is quite small it can hold a sim card and a memory card.

The power and volume buttons are present in the usual places, these buttons have also been reinforced to resist shocks. Contrary to their appearance, I found these buttons a little soft. To take screenshots (volume + ignition combination), I therefore pushed the buttons deep enough to be able to take my screenshots.

The screen looks huge but it's not that big in reality because it's framed by big edges, it often is for phones of this type. The screen is protected by a plastic film to protect it from scratches but it is also protected by an additional layer of plastic for more effective protection. The screen is therefore well protected but I think that a fall on a sharp object could still damage the screen, I received feedback from users on other brands who told me that they had broken their screen after a fall on a sharp object. I don't know if this is the case for this phone but these phones should not be considered as invulnerable objects, this is not the case.

The listening speaker is in the usual place, it's waterproof so I guess the sound will therefore be a bit distorted, I'm testing this more away in this article. Here we can clearly see the presence of the screen protection film.

So as I wrote at the beginning of the paragraph, this phone is not going to win a beauty contest but that's not the goal anyway. This phone is very massive, it weighs 380 grams, it is one of the heaviest phones I have tested so far but it is protected on all sides. It doesn't really stand out from other phones of this type, but at this price point, that's not a problem.

Specifications

The information below comes from the Device Info HW application. The application provides detailed technical information about the tested phone. The Oukitel WP18 is an entry-level phone, so I didn't expect to find extraordinary things on the technical side, I tested the 4 Gb / 32 Gb version and 32 Gb is very little. After transferring my profile from the Google cloud to test the phone with all my usual applications, I was left with only 18 Gb of storage memory.

The screen is a 1440x720p resolution screen, so the pixel density is lower than average and when I tilt the phone I see variations in the intensity of the White. This variation could, in my opinion, come from the protection that covers the screen. The battery is clearly the strong point of this phone because with a 12500 mAh battery, it is the largest battery I have tested so far.

The phone supports the Widevine L3 codec, that means you won't be able to watch Netflix in HD but it doesn't matter much because the screen of this phone doesn't is not HD.

CPU / GPU Performance

The Oukitel WP18 runs under a Mediatek architecture and this therefore includes the CPU, GPU, wifi, GPS, bluetooth. The CPU is a Mediatek MT6761V/WBB, it's an entry-level CPU which is therefore not going to deliver a very high performance, this phone is clearly not designed to deal with complex operations. It will therefore be slow in heavy applications even if the use of basic functions will not be really affected.

For the GPU it's a bit the same thing, I have here a PowerVR Rogue GE8300, it's an entry level GPU which is not designed for gaming. You will be able to play simple Android games without problems, but more advanced games will be degraded in terms of graphics and fluidity.

Benchmark Antutu/3DMark

With an entry-level CPU and GPU, I didn't expect a big score on Antutu. I got a score of 83574 points, so it's very low but you have to go a little further than the score by looking at what it is made up of. I see for example that I get a score of 30349 points for the CPU, it's low it corresponds more or less to half of a Redmi 10. For the GPU I get a score of 8958 points, it's by far the lowest score I've gotten so far, the Redmi 10 does 5 times better. This gives a very clear indication of what to expect from this phone in terms of performance, so the gaming experience is not going to be good at all but that is not what this phone is about, I write just this to manage the expectations of those who would like to play with this phone.

Gaming

To test the performance in game, I download the mobile PUBG game and evaluate the in-game experience, graphics level and depth of vision. This game is quite demanding and should help you evaluating the performance of a phone.

If you have read the previous paragraphs, you will not be surprised to find that the in-game performance with PUBG Mobile is poor. Textures are scaled down to minimal quality, depth of view is minimal, frame rate is very low, and gameplay is jerky to the point of occasionally skipping from place to place. So all this is obviously not very serious for a phone of this type, I just apply my test protocol in the same way for all phones even if it does not make much sense for some phones.

Network performance

The Oukitel WP18 offers wide enough coverage of 4G frequencies to be used everywhere. No 5G at this price and for 3G the coverage isn't huge so check the frequencies for your country.

Signal 4G (from December 2020)

I decided to change the methodology for measuring the network because I noticed that the configuration of the mobile network changes over time. This makes it more difficult to compare phones because the conditions are no longer exactly the same.

To overcome this problem, I set up a device that captures 24 hours a day about ten parameters from the mobile network (ex: cell id, rssi, rsrq, snr, frequency,...). I then place the phone next to the device for 24 to 48 hours taking the same measurements so that I can compare them.

Overview of the phones tested with this methodology

To test the sensitivity of the 4G network, I took 1351 measurements with this phone and compared them to the measurements of my probe at the same time. I got an average signal of -95.94 dBm with the phone and an average signal of -92.92 dBm for the probe. So I have a difference of about 3 dBm between the two in favor of the probe. This puts the Oukitel WP18 in the lower middle of the ranking and it is not very surprising because phones of this type often have a lower network sensitivity. I imagine their protective layer must play a role. The only exception among the rugged phones I tested was the Doogee S96 Pro.

Download/Upload speed

To test the download speed, I have identified some 4G cells offering good performance where I test all my devices several times to see what download and upload speed they can achieve.

Wifi performance

To test a phone's ability to receive the network properly, I take measurements near my router and then remotely (and always at the same place). This gives me an average in dBm where a value of -90 dBm indicates poorer performance than a value at -30 dBm.

Wifi signal

I measured a signal of -27 dBm near the router and -72 dBm at a distance, these are values below average, so the wifi sensitivity is not excellent.

Download/Upload speed

To test the speed in Wifi, I connect to my router in 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz (if available) and use the Ookla application to measure the speed.

GPS performance

To test the accuracy of the GPS signal, I use two positioning applications to evaluate the difference between the actual position and the position indicated by the phone. This test is done outdoors with nothing to obstruct the signal. An accuracy level of up to 3 meters can easily be corrected by an application (e.g. Google Maps).

I measured an accuracy level of 3m for this phone, this is a bit more than what I usually measure for phones using a Mediatek chip but this level of accuracy can be corrected by your GPS application .

Battery range

To test battery life I developed an application that measures the battery level minute by minute until the battery is empty. This application consumes about ten percent of the phone's resources and I do a test with 100 brightness. This test aims to reproduce a contemplative use of a phone (e.g. surfing the internet, reading articles, spending time on social networks). These results are not valid for intensive gaming/streaming use.

The strong point of this phone is the battery because with a capacity of 12500 mAh, you can expect to reach an exceptional autonomy. This is indeed the case because I got a battery life of 2859 minutes (47 hours!) with the screen on at 50%. I obtained a very similar score with the screen at 100% but I suspect that the automatic brightness was engaged and given the time that this kind of test takes, I did not realize it right away.

This phone's huge battery capacity and low power consumption result in an exceptionally long battery life, and it takes first place in the energy efficiency rankings. If you need to get away from civilization for a few days, this is the kind of phone for you.

The other side of the coin is the charging time because with a "fast" charge at 18W, it took me 6 hours to charge this phone using my UGREEN 100W charger. It's typically the kind of phone that should be left to charge overnight before going on an expedition.

Battery charging speed decreases above 80%, the last 20 percent alone is more than 2 hours.

Photo camera test

To test the quality of photos produced by a phone, I do a technical test (resolution, sharpness, chromatic aberration,...) in studio (identical conditions) to evaluate the technical part objectively. From the second half of 2020, I built my own laboratory to take completely objective technical measurements. I then take pictures in real conditions to see how the camera performs. I then evaluate these photos according to my criteria but I publish the photos so that you can evaluate the result according to your criteria.

Hardware

Photography is not the domain of choice for entry-level phones and even less for rugged type smartphones. The main sensor is a Sony IMX 376, it's a fairly old sensor that I haven't had the opportunity to test yet, it produces photos in 12 million pixels. The selfie sensor is an unknown 5 million pixel sensor.

Photo quality

Photo quality (indoor/studio)

The studio test is carried out under the same conditions so that the results can be compared on an equal basis. I calibrate my lighting for each test to obtain the same brightness and colour temperature. This test is a preliminary analysis of the technical qualities of a camera. Most phones fail this test, so you should also read the results of the other tests in the following paragraphs.

I usually use a photo taken in pro mode to illustrate the capability of a camera and before showing the result with auto mode. I didn't have to with this phone because the photo in auto mode was much better than what I usually get with this weather. I was very surprised by the photos taken in the studio with this phone, the shutter speed was much better than usual without noticeable sacrifice on the other points of my evaluation. The colors are good, the sharpness is good, there is a little graininess beyond 100% and a little distortion on the sides but for a phone of this type and especially a phone in this price range, I am really impressed.

For this second test to assess sharpness, I find the same positive elements as for the first photo. The sharpness in the center is really good, the text at the bottom of the Canadian note is perfectly legible, the photo is very bright.

I didn't expect this kind of result at all for a phone of this type, remains to be seen if the performance will be as good for outdoor photos.

Photo: technical test

I was inspired by industrial technical tests to create my own technical test to evaluate the technical quality of a camera. This test is an objective assessment of a camera's ability to render a scene correctly.

I test the following elements:
- centre sharpness, peripheral sharpness
- colour fidelity based on 24 reference colours
- level of chromatic aberration
- dynamic range (ability to capture dark and light areas without loss)
- distortion

The technical evaluation may differ from the subjective evaluation as the feeling of a photo will be influenced by the processing provided by each manufacturer.

Outdoor photo quality

Sony IMX 376

I was enthusiastic after my first photos in the studio but I'm a little less so after taking photos outside, for several reasons. The first is that the phone cannot focus correctly, you will see in the following photos that some of the photos are blurred. I had to indicate where the phone had to focus so that the photo wasn't blurry, it's quite annoying. The colors are beautiful and correctly saturated, the sharpness is also good but the dynamic range is not very good. The sky quickly turns white when the differences in brightness are significant. If it weren't for the focusing problem, I could have considered this camera to be one of the best in this price range, let's hope that Oukitel will be able to correct this problem with an update.

Test photo / night

Not yet available / tested

Video quality

Stabilisation

In the previous paragraph, I showed that the quality of the video was low and without much surprise it is the same for stabilization, there is no stabilization, the image therefore jumps in all directions.

Video normale conditions

The Oukitel WP18 is an entry-level phone, so there is no question of 4k or even 1080p, the videos are in 720p and 30 frames per second. The focus is not stable, it's the same problem as on the photo part. Exposure jumps are clearly visible and the dynamic range is not very important, the sky quickly turns white. These are inherent weaknesses of this type of phone, I didn't expect better anyway.

Video low light

Not yet available / tested

External audio quality

This test is intended to give you an overview of the volume and sound quality during calls and when listening to music through the external speakers.

Rugged smartphones have never been benchmarks in terms of sound quality and this is confirmed once again with this Oukitel WP18. The sound for music is powerful but not very good, the treble lacks finesse and the bass lacks depth. This is completely normal for this kind of phone, the armor of the phone and its waterproofness do not allow the phone to output more faithful sound.

For calls, the sound quality with the listening speaker is good, the sound is relatively cold and high-pitched but is perfectly understandable. If I pass the sound on the loudspeaker used for the music, I find the same faults as for the music, the volume is high and will undoubtedly make it possible to have a conversation in a somewhat noisy environment, but this sound is not more than excellent quality.

Audio quality (headphones)

To test the quality of the phone's audio output, I connect the device's audio output to a measuring tool, then play sounds on all frequencies and measure the differences between the original sound and the sound produced by the phone. In this way I measure the phone's ability to correctly reproduce all sounds.

The Oukitel WP18 does not have a jack output and this always complicates my tests because I need a wired connection to record the sound produced by the telephone. So I went through a usb to jack adapter but with this kind of adapter I almost always have a loss. I got a sound volume below average with a fairly average frequency reproduction, I did not expect a miracle because in this price range and for this type of phone, the sound quality for music is not a priority. I would therefore summarize my opinion by saying that the sound quality is average.

Screen quality

To test the screen, I use a colorimetric probe that measures the color accuracy of a screen, as well as other parameters to see if a screen is able to correctly reproduce an image. I also test the brightness level to determine if the screen will be able to display an image in full sunlight.

Colorimetry

I didn't expect the colorimetry of the Oukitel WP18 screen to be good and that for 2 reasons. The first is the price, in this price zone there is no screen with excellent colorimetry and the second is the type of device. Color accuracy is not the priority of a phone like this. Does this hold true in reality? Yes, I got a dE of 6.32 and the color differences are visible. I couldn't find any settings to fix them. The color space is also narrower than average, so it's not a phone you'll be using to admire your vacation photos but again, that's not the point I think.

Brightness / Contrast

I measured a brightness of 520 cd/m², it's a very good brightness that will allow you to use this phone outdoors and in the sun with sometimes a small loss of readability that will force you to tilt the phone but overall the brightness is good. However, I noticed that the screen protector does not absorb enough light and therefore makes it more difficult to read when the decoration is reflected on the screen.

The Oukitel WP18 uses an IPS LCD screen, this means that the contrasts are not very high but that is normal for this price level. I measured a contrast ratio of 1480:1 which puts this phone in the middle of this kind of screen.

Biometry

The Oukitel WP18 is a very basic phone for unlocking. You can unlock the phone from your face, but there's no fingerprint sensor. There is an option of Smartlock which allows you to configure the state of the lock, for example you can define that the phone should not be locked when you are at home.

Operating system

The Oukitel WP18 runs on Android with no overlays or additions from the manufacturer, so it's a fairly pure version of Android, so you won't get any ads or unwanted apps. There is also no app drawer, all apps are placed one after the other on the right screen from the home screen. This kind of telephone usually offers the possibility of personalizing the keys but I did not see this possibility on this telephone.

Encoutered bugs

Not yet available / tested

Accessories Oukitel WP18

Compare Oukitel WP18 with the others

Test / Review conclusion

The Oukitel WP18 is an entry-level phone, so you shouldn't expect it to be at the top of the rankings and that's to be expected. So you have to evaluate this phone based on what you can expect from a phone of this type. It's not a phone for playing or taking pictures, it's a phone that you have to see as a work tool. I tested several phones of this type and I find that the concept is quite interesting despite the imposing appearance of the phone. I can perfectly imagine that some of you are not interested in the performance or the photo, this phone offers you the solidity and the autonomy, the other factors are secondary.

Despite the lack of performance, the phone is perfectly suited to everyday tasks, there is a little latency for launching applications or switching from one screen to another, but it is not disabling. I was positively surprised by the quality of the photo indoors, but outdoors, the phone is quickly in trouble. This will not prevent you from taking functional photos as part of a professional activity.

Rather than listing all the points where this phone has weaknesses, I will instead focus on the purpose of this phone. There are not many phones around 100€ today, the existence of this phone in this price range is already a feat in itself. The other phones of this type that I tested were all more expensive and not necessarily better. Oukitel has therefore managed to correctly position this phone in the right place and I am sure that it will find its audience.

Strengths

- battery life
- sturdiness/water resistance
- indoor photo quality
- price
- "pure" version of Android

Weaknesses

- poor performance
- screen colorimetry
- outdoor photo quality
- video quality and stabilization
- audio quality

Alternatives to this product

Not yet available / tested