Gadgetory

Before we durability test the new Black Shark 2 gaming phone, I've had a few people ask me what happens when I try to use the telephoto periscope camera on the P30 Pro that I dissected and left out of the phone. The answer is nothing. I initially assumed that the other cameras would still work, but they don't. The camera app just freezes and doesn't function when one camera is missing. Kind of strange...but hey, now we know. This gaming phone durability test is sponsored by the game Raid: Shadow Legends. Now I'm personally not a big gamer, but if you're into RPG games, Raid Shadow Legends is one of the most ambitious projects of 2019. It's a totally free role playing game with an immersive in-depth story line. Giant boss fights and hundreds of champions to collect and customize. Shadow Legends has put a ton of effort into the detailed 3D graphics that are used through out the game. You can see crazy level of detail that goes into the champions and dragons. It's pretty intense. Raid has grown pretty fast, so if you're into gaming, use the link in the description to download and jump into special launch tournaments and win prizes. If you download the game through the link in my description, you'll get 50,000 silver and a free epic champion. Thanks to Rage Shadow Legends for sponsoring this video. Now it's time to check out what kind of hardware a dedicated gaming smartphone brings to the table with the newest Black Shark 2. Let's get started. [Intro] While every smartphone can technically game, there are a few phones on the market that are built specifically for gaming. Usually they get pretty expensive. This Black Shark 2 is about half the cost of other flagship gaming phones while still providing a lot of the same exact features. And you know that gets my attention pretty quick. Inside the box we have a charger and a power cord, and it also includes a case that's form fit to the unique design of the Black Shark 2. This thing looks pretty sweet with it's intricate meshed together glass and metal design and subtle dark green shine along the edges. I almost feel bad about putting this phone through my tests...almost. The cool thing about gaming phones is that they usually add LED accents like we saw on the Razer Phone 2 and the ROG Phone. This Black Shark 2 is no different. My camera doesn't pick it up super well, but it has an LED light up logo on back and LED bars that light up on the sides when it's plugged in. I'm a fan. Let's start with the scratch test. Black Shark was nice enough to add a plastic protective screen protector. I have a set of Mohs mineral picks that tell us what materials things are made from. Plastic screens, like a Nintendo Switch, scratch at a level 3. Glass screens would scratch at a level 5 or 6. And sapphire screens scratch at a level 8 or 9. Diamonds are the only thing that scratch at a level 10. This Black Shark 2 gaming phone shows scratches at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7, which is pretty much the norm these days. But, we still always got to check to make sure. There is an earpiece on this smart phone. This also doubles as a stereo speaker, which makes sense, even with only one speaker would be pretty hard. The front 20 megapixel camera is covered with the same glass as the screen and is scratch resistant. One thing I am kind of worried about are the LED strips along the side. Like we learned with the iPad Pro, any defect or hole introduced into the metal frame makes the metal weaker and this plastic bar is taking up quite a bit of space. The power button is made from metal and there is one more little slider switch up here at the top. Black Shark creatively calls this the Shark Key. When flipped, this throws the phone into a shark space mode with a bit better dedicated game performance and no notifications. The button is made from metal, along with the top of the phone. The left side has its volume rocker and same LED strip embedded along the edge. We'll find out later if the flashy bits make the phone weaker or not. Down here at the bottom of the phone, we are missing the headphone jack, but do have a USB-C port and dual SIM card tray. There is no water resistance rating on the Black Shark 2. One thing I do like about gaming phones is their ability to break out of the normal smart phone mold and add a little bit of design flare. This phone appears to be using metal for the matte black bits as you can see from my little shark drawing down here at the bottom. Sharks have a reputation for being loners, but a lot of sharks are actually social with each other, sometimes hunting in packs or just hanging out in groups called a shiver. A shiver of sharks. I guess you could say that this is a baby shark, mommy shark, and daddy shark doodoodoodododo...okay, I'm really sorry. The glass area intertwined with the metal is where Black Shark has stuck their antennas. Taking apart this phone is going to be interesting, especially because they claim to have made the world's first smart phone with direct touch full coverage liquid cooling, whatever that means. So subscribe if you want to see the internal guts of the phone. The main camera here is a 48 megapixel monster, paired with a 12 megapixel telephoto camera - both protected by scratch resistant glass. One thing that Black Shark has been bragging about is the display. It's a normal 1080p AMOLED, but they say that the touch sensitivity is where this phone excels, with a 43.5 millisecond response time. They've tested it against the iPhone, the S10, and even the ROG gaming phone. Of course it's Black Shark's own test, and Black Shark did come out on top, but that's still pretty cool, and a pretty important feature while gaming. The screen lasted for about 20 seconds under the heat from my flame before going white and never completely recovered. Like a lot of other high end flagships, the Black Shark 2 does come with an under screen optical fingerprint scanner. We can tell it's optical by the way it uses green light to illuminate my fingerprint while it's taking pictures. I'll scuff up the glass with some deeper grooves and try the fingerprint scanner again, just to make sure it can survive some abuse. And it looks like even with this damage, the fingerprint scanner still functions. A durable smart phone is important, especially a gaming phone that's going to be manhandled constantly. It's time to see if this aesthetic blend of metal, glass, and plastic LED sidebars is durable. When bent from the back there is almost zero flex to the phone. With the exact same result when bent from the front. This phone is totally rock solid. Whether you keep your phone in your back pocket, or are a gamer with anger issues, this phone should survive the rigors of everyday life and gaming just fine. I'm looking forward to see how the internal LEDs integrate with the hardware and to see if the internal liquid cooling of the Black Shark 2 even comes close to the water bed sized heat pipe we found inside of the Razor Phone 2. Remember, there's a link in the description for Raid Shadow Legends if you want to try a new game. Hit that subscribe button if you haven't already. And come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter. Thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.