World's cheapest foldable shows mixed results

Doogee’s prototype of its flip-style foldable smartphone V Flip isn’t yet ready to be taken to a consumer tech show.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas isn’t the place to find many new smartphones. Typically, vendors showcase their flagship phones at the Mobile World Congress exhibition in Europe a few months after CES.

However, you can still find some lesser-known companies at CES, which this year takes place from January 7 to January 10. Driven by curiosity, I decided to take a look at some of the models.

Soon, I found a vendor that plans to launch the cheapest flip-style foldable smartphone in the world. It is Doogee, a Chinese company that mostly makes rugged phones and also has a few tablets in its portfolio.

According to company representatives, Doogee plans to launch two flip-style foldable smartphones, the Doogee V Flip and Doogee V Flip Pro, in March or April.

The regular version should cost $380 - $400 and potentially debut as the cheapest foldable smartphone in the world.

Currently, the cheapest foldable appears to be the Nubia Flip 5G, which costs around $500.

The buggy prototype

The V Flip's specs sheet shows that it has a 2,5 k resolution AMOLED flexible 6,9-inch screen, is powered by MediaTek’s Helio G99 system on a chip, and has a 4550 mAh battery capacity.

In addition, the smartphone features a 32 MP front and a dual main 100 MP + 8 MP camera and has 32 MP front camera. On the back of the phone, there is a small AMOLED screen that allows you to see time, temperature, and a few other things of your choice.

The V Flip's design and colors look good, especially considering its future price. It is a small and appealing smartphone that somewhat resembles the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip.

Just after I started exploring the phone, it was out of battery, as well as a few other devices available for testing.

I was told that I could visit the booth in 20 minutes, so I came back to review it again.

After I came back, I noticed that one of the device’s hinges was broken. Meanwhile, the device that was given to me was filled with bugs. You could see black lines on the back of the small AMOLED screen.

When I tried out the camera, it just didn’t open. The company representatives politely told me that the smartphone's software does not yet properly work.

I understand that all of the models were just prototypes, and it is natural that prototypes may not work as intended. However, when you encounter several bugs, both with software and hardware, in just five minutes of testing, you begin to question why any company would decide to showcase such models at the exhibition.

It also makes you doubt whether the phones at launch will be any good. Let’s hope that all of the bugs are solved when Doogee V Flip and the Pro are launched to consumers.