It is now almost customary for most smartphones coming from China now to have certain key features. This includes a metal frame on the sides, a custom interface that doesn't have an app drawer and looks like an Apple iPhone or other flagship smartphone. Surprisingly, the Doogee Ibiza F2 steps away from it's China-brand siblings for a light, thin and full-metal frame smartphone that we think could also be a great device for the gamer on a budget. Read on and find out why (along with some other details) below.
Design, Tech specs and Features - Thin, light, full metal with a removable backplate
Weighing in at 135g, the Doogee Ibiza F2 is surprisingly light considering the full-metal frame it packs. While the back and front are normal plastic the metal frame makes it look like a smaller Samsung Galaxy Note 4 or Xiaomi Mi Note. The 13MP rear camera is round and protruding though and the back is rather slippery by itself. Thankfully, it comes with an extra clear plastic back cover, which does help make it easier to grip and adds a bit more value to the package. In our hands-on video we showed that it feels quite tough and sturdy and for the most part looks quite nice. On the front it packs in a 5MP front camera and 5-inch display with a rather low 960 x 540 pixel resolution (which turns out to have an advantage, but more on that later) and separate capacitive keys below the touchscreen. The Ibiza F2 also packs in 4G LTE connectivity but check out the full tech specs and features list below:
- 1.5GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6732 processor
- 1GB RAM
- 8GB storage + up to 64GB microSD
- 5-inch display (960 x 540 pixel resolution, 5-point touch)
- 13MP rear camera (LED Flash) + 5MP front camera
- 135g
- Android 4.4
- features dual-SIM dual standby, 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, FM Radio
- 2500 mAh battery (removable)
At first glance, the Doogee Ibiza F2 has a mix of midrange to entry-level features
The Doogee Ibiza F2 has a full metal frame
The Doogee Ibiza F2 features dual SIM dual standby and a removable 2500 mAh battery
Powered by an Android 4.4 operating system, the Ibiza F2 is one of the few China-brand smartphones to feature a standard app drawer. Unfortunately, when you go into the settings the overall interface is rather basic with generic switch buttons. Thankfully, the smartphone does pack in some of the newer features like double tap to wake and gesture shortcuts from standby mode. You can also do a three finger screenshot, two finger volume adjustment and double tap to lock the phone. This rather basic interface continues on for the camera as well, but features include a HDR, panorama and picture in picture mode. This doesn't get in the way when taking photos or selfies, but the video recording interface feels a bit unfinished as you'll have to press the back capacitive button to end recording.
The interface is surprisingly basic despite having some of the latest features
Performance - Surprisingly good gaming
Our benchmarks reveal a rather high score of 29642 in AnTuTu with about a third of this score contributed by the graphics. This better than average graphic performance is continued in Asphalt 8:Airborne as this is one of the few entry-level smartphones we've seen that can play the game on high with nearly no lag. While our 3DMark benchmark shows a score of 4952 in Ice Storm Extreme our other gaming engine benchmark of Epic Citadel returned an excellent score of 53.8 on ultra-high quality with buttery smoothness. We theorize that this is because since the Mali T760 MP2 graphics don't have to work as hard to generate the rather lower-end resolution screen image, the overall graphics performance is also smoother. For the most part, you don't see too much blur unless you look for it. Geekbench 3 sort of confirms this theory as it gave a rather low single core score of 643 and multi-core score of 1915. Sound quality is above average but battery life really goes fast which is about 3-4 hours on heavy usage (gaming, browsing, etc.). If you're a normal user, you can expect at least a day's worth on a single charge. However, the phone does get a bit hot after you binge a little on it, but not to the point where it has to turn off.
AnTuTu scores are above average at 29642
The Doogee Ibiza F2 does about average in 3DMark and GeekBench 3
The Doogee Ibiza F2 does surprisingly well in Epic Citadel
The Doogee Ibiza F2 manages fairly smooth performance in Asphalt 8:Airborne on high quality visual settings
Camera performance is a bit of a mix though as we found that the 5MP front camera actually has better colour reproduction than the 13MP rear camera. In well-lit conditions the rear camera does well enough, but the better performance from the front camera makes the Ibiza F2 a better selfie cameraphone than normal. The rather basic interface isn't the nicest to look at, but it does get the job done. We'd advise using it indoors for the most part though as it doesn't handle outdoors or HDR situations very well. Connectivity is also good with relatively stable call and WiFi quality.
While the rear camera does capture many details, we felt the front camera offers better colour reproduction as shown in the above picture-in-picture mode
13MP, Auto
Conclusion - For gamers on a budget
Currently priced at RM669, the Doogee Ibiza F2 is one of those pleasantly surprising smartphones that feature a good design and performance that probably wasn't meant for what it was initially designed for. While the lower resolution display may make images not as sharp as normal, when used in combination with the better graphics processor, this results in a smartphone ideal for gamers on a budget as it should be able to handle most of the higher-end games and apps better than most smartphones in this class. It definitely isn't the best cameraphone, but it should satisfy most selfie takers as well. The full metal frame design is well executed as well and should serve to make the Ibiza F2 both more attractive as well as durable. Unfortunately, this year, quite a lot of good quality smartphones are currently in the market for around the same price tag and featureset like the ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE500CL, Honor 4X and many more, with all of them being able to handle more. Gaming performance on the Ibiza F2 is definitely smoother though but like we said earlier, be prepared for some decrease in graphics quality.
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