Doogee S88 Pro review

A triple-camera on the back

The Doogee S88 Pro packs a triple camera on its back. It has a 21MP primary snapper, an 8MP ultrawide shooter, and an 8MP depth sensor. A dual-LED flash is also around, but it will be used much more as a flashlight and far less as a camera flash.

The primary camera uses a dated Sony IMX230 21MP 1/2.4" sensor with 1.12µm pixels, and it sits behind a f/2.2 lens. Phase-detection autofocus is available for this camera.

The second snapper is an 8MP f/2.2 one for ultrawide photos. The focus is fixed at infinity for this one.

The third camera uses another 8MP sensor behind an f/2.2 lens, and this one should be the depth sensor. We suspect this one is fake, but we'll get to that in a bit.

Over at the front, you'll find a 16MP camera for selfies behind f/2.2 lens. The focus is fixed.

The camera app is quite awkward - you swipe to switch between modes - Monochrome, Video, Picture, WideAngle, Beauty, Bokeh, Pro, Night.

When using the default Picture mode, you will see a 1x and 2x switch on the viewfinder, but that's digital zoom only. If you need the ultrawide camera, then you swipe to go to WideAngle mode.

Camera app

The Pro mode is not that pro - it offers white balance, ISO (up to 1600), and exposure compensation but not shutter speed.

The Night Mode does nothing - it shoots identical photos as the regular one, there is no timer, multiple frames stacking, or any fancy processing. But that's to be expected from a camera that can't even support HDR, right?

Oh, and the Bokeh mode doesn't seem to use the depth sensor (if that's connected to the board at all). In fact, it's so bad, we can't wait to show it to you.

Photo quality

The Doogee S88 Pro cameras are hands down the worst shooters we have seen in ages.

The main camera shoots high-res photos that are quite large. The quality is poor - the detail is low, the noise is too high, the colors are washed out and desaturated. The contrast and dynamic range are mediocre at best.

Worse, if you are shooting more complex objects, the camera processing may find them too complex and give up on them entirely.

Main camera, 21MP

The 8MP ultrawide photos are incredibly awful. They are so bad that some of us found them hilarious, actually. Everything outside the center spot is blurred, the corners are warped, and the colors are really terrible. It's a potato camera.

Ultrawide camera, 8MP

The Doogee S88 Pro maybe featuring the highest-resolution depth sensor we've seen in a while, but it's either fake or isn't utilized at all. The blur is entirely simulated and not by AI, but you. Yes, you select the size of the blur borders manually. And even then - the photos are horrendous.

Portraits

Should we even talk about the low-light photos? Well, the ones from the main camera are barely usable and completely desaturated.

Main camera, 21MP

The low-light ultrawide photos are oversaturated (really?!) and entirely overrun by noise.

Ultrawide camera, 8MP

The 16MP selfies are okay for social networks, maybe. They are poor in detail, and the colors are washed out, but maybe if downsized to 4MP or so, you can do something with them.

Selfies, 16MP

Video recording

The Doogee S88 Pro supports 1080p@30fps video recording with its primary camera and 720p@30fps capturing with the selfie shooter.

The 1080p@30fps clips from the main camera are captured with 17Mbps video bitrate and feature mono audio (128Kbps). The frame-rate is steady at 25fps and can't reach the promised 30fps. And then comes the quality, which is, well, average. The resolved detail is okay, but the colors and contrast are as bad as the still from the main camera.

There is no video stabilization, in case you were wondering.