Newest Doogee rugged phone adds more memory and a better camera

Doogee has long been one of the best smartphone options if you value ruggedness and durability above all else, and the Chinese company just unveiled the latest in its line of super-tough handsets with the Doogee S88 Plus.

Once again it's the protection that this phone gets that's the main highlight, but there are a couple of important upgrades under the hood as well. Firstly, the RAM has been upped to 8 GB from 6 GB on the previous S88 Pro model, which means more room for your Android apps to operate in while they're open.

Secondly, the camera gets a performance boost. The S88 Plus offers a triple-lens, Samsung-made 48-MP + 8-MP + 8-MP rear camera with added AI processing, which should make for photos and videos that are better than ever. The camera boasts integrated HDR processing and an ultrawide mode, though there's no optical zoom.

The upgrades put Doogee's latest phone more in line with its competitors in terms of the standard specs everyone looks for, but all the usual selling points for this series are here too: full waterproofing and dustproofing, for example, and military grade MIL-STD-810G protection against serious drops and knocks.

In other words, you're not going to need a case for this phone. Its IP68/IP69K rating means it'll survive both a dunking in water at depths of up to 2 meters (around 6.5 ft), and drops on to a hard surface from up to 1.5 m (nearly 5 ft). Like previous Doogee phones, it's also been put through brick pressure and sand immersion tests.

As we saw with the S88 Pro, there are LED lights around the back that you can customize in a variety of ways for notifications and so on, plus a 10,000-mAh capacity battery that should ensure plenty of time between charges (it's good for up to 470 hours in standby mode, Doogee says).

The other specs you need to know about are the 6.3-inch, 1,080 x 2,340 pixel resolution LCD screen, the Helio P70 processor, and the 128 GB of internal storage. Android 10 comes preloaded, plus some useful apps for those who enjoy the outdoors, including a compass, a height measurement app, and a magnifier.

All that protection and power, and you can still get the phone for a very reasonable US$349.98. Your color choices are Army Green, Fire Orange, and Mineral Black.

Product page: Doogee S88 Plus