Today I have on review a protected smartphone Oukitel WP27. This is a new model, which has recently appeared on sale. In addition to protection from shock, dust and water, the device has pretty good characteristics. Namely: a good 6.8-inch display, a good SoC in the form of MediaTek Helio G99, 12 GB of RAM with the possibility of adding virtual memory, a fast UFS 2.2 drive with a total of 256 GB, a main camera with a maximum resolution of 64 MP and infrared shooting and a capacious battery of 8500 mAh. I have already made reviews of protected smartphones, so there is no way I could not pass by this novelty.
Oukitel WP27 Specifications
- Display: IPS; 6.8″; FHD+ (2460×1080) resolution; 120Hz refresh rate; 20.5:9 aspect ratio; 396 PPI density; 430 nits max brightness; 1000:1 contrast ratio; 93% screen-to-body ratio
- SoC: Mediatek Helio G99, 8 cores (2×2.2GHz Cortex-A76 and 6×2GHz Cortex-A55), max clock speed 2.2GHz, 6nm process, Mali-G57 MC2 video chip
- RAM: 12 GB LPDDR4X with the option to add virtual 6, 9, 12 GB
- Storage: 256 GB UFS 2.2
- Memory card support: microSD up to 2 TB
- Main camera: 3 modules (main, night, macro). Main module 64MP, Samsung S5KGW3SP13 sensor, 1/2″, aperture f/1.8, wide angle 81°, PDAF focusing. Night shooting module 20MP, SONY IMX350 sensor, 1/2″, aperture 1.8, wide angle 78°, AF focusing. Macro module 2MP, GC02M2 sensor, 1/5″, aperture F2.4, wide angle 81.4°, focus FF. LED flash, infrared illumination. Maximum video recording resolution 2K@30FPS
- Front camera: 16MP, HI1634Q sensor, 1/3.1″, F2.0 aperture, 76.9° wide angle, FF focus. Maximum video recording resolution 1080P@30FPS
- Battery: 8500 mAh, support fast and reverse charging, maximum charging power 33W, maximum reverse charging power 5W
- Operating system: pure Android 13
- Communication standards: 2G, 3G, 4G (LTE) with VoLTE support
- Wireless technologies: Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC
- Geolocation services: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou
- SIM slot: triple (2×Nano-SIM + 1 microSD)
- Sensors and sensors: accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, light sensor, magnetic compass, geomagnetic sensor, coulometer, fingerprint scanner, NFC
- Protection: resistant to shock, water, dust. Protection class IP68, IP69K
- Dimensions: 178.2×86.2×15.3 mm
- Weight: 328 g
- Accessories: smartphone, case, charger, USB-C to USB-C cable, SIM card clip, user manual, warranty card.
Positioning and price
Oukitel WP27 model is positioned as a reliable rugged modern smartphone, which is ideal for travelers, tourists, extreme athletes, military. In general, people with a specific kind of activity, where a protected device with good autonomy may be useful. In principle, WP27 can be safely recommended as a smartphone for simple everyday use. Unless, of course, you are not afraid of the weight and size of the device.
The standard price of the WP27 on the official Oukitel website is $369.99. At the time of writing the review there was a discount and the smartphone could be purchased for $299.99.
On AliExpress WP27 can be found at 3 sellers at once: OUKITEL Official Store, OUKITEL Factory Store and OUKITEL Franchise Store. I can assume that all 3 sellers are official, because there are links to them from the official OUKITEL Facebook page. Well, as usual, you can buy this smartphone cheaper on AliExpress. The price range for the model varies from $183 to $213.
Of course, it’s disconcerting to see the $613 non-discounted price posted by some sellers. But I think it’s a standard trick from the Chinese during the Black Friday sale, during which the review was made. So, for the sake of interest, I additionally looked at the price dynamics of this model with the help of Alitools extension. And the theory was confirmed. Judging by the information from the extension, WP27 appeared on AliExpress only at the beginning of the month and its price has not exceeded $240 since it went on sale.
Considering the average price and specifications, Oukitel WP27 can be safely attributed to the class of budget smartphones.
Complete set
The smartphone comes in a branded cardboard box with dimensions of 196×195×33 mm. There is nothing remarkable in terms of design and decoration – a simple white box with the company logo and brief device specifications on the back.
The package includes:
- smartphone
- silicone case
- 33W charger
- USB-C to USB-C cable
- SIM card clip
- user manual
- warranty card
There are no headphones in the package, as well as a protective glass. But it should be noted that out of the box a protective film is already glued on the display. It’s also a little surprising to see a case in the kit for a protected smartphone. But the case is durable, good quality and fits perfectly on the smartphone.
Design, ergonomics, build
The WP27 is available in two colors: Blue Camo and Camouflage. I received the latter color for review, and I must admit, the smartphone looks really cool in this color.
Externally, WP27 looks like a typical rugged smartphone. As soon as you take it in your hands, you can immediately feel the not insignificant dimensions (178.2×86.2×15.3 mm) and weight (328 g) of the device.
The front panel is occupied by a 6.8-inch display. The bezels together with the case: 7 mm on the sides, 16 mm on the top and 10 mm on the bottom. Out of the box there is a protective film on the display, qualitatively and evenly glued. The front camera in the model is island-type – located right on the display. At the very top above the front camera there is a neat little grille of the conversation speaker.
The back panel is designed as an insert with soft-touch coating. At the top is the main camera, which consists of: 3 modules (main, night, macro), infrared illumination and LED flash. At the bottom we see the Oukitel logo and a sticker, which if desired can be very easily peeled off, so as not to spoil the appearance. The smartphone speaker holes are also located here.
The side edges of the smartphone are made in the form of durable gray plastic inserts. On the left edge there is a SIM card / memory card tray and a shortcut key.
The tray is covered with a rubber plug and is deeply recessed. When you open it with your fingers, you can’t get it out easily. It is good that the included paper clip comes with a special notch on one of the ends, which you can easily hook and pull out the tray. The tray itself is triple – it can easily accommodate 2 Nano-SIM cards and a microSD card.
The shortcut key can be set to turn on the flashlight, camera, or quickly launch an application. It is activated by pressing and holding, it works even when the smartphone is locked. By the way, the key sits, how to say it, loosely, that is, a little walks, dangles. There is no such thing with the lock and volume buttons. It does not affect the performance, but it looks a little strange and there are doubts in terms of further reliability, especially with frequent use.
While the smartphone was on my test, I assigned a flashlight to this key. Having used it a bit, I should note that this solution is really convenient and everyone will find a use for the additional key at his discretion. By the way, the flashlight turns out of the smartphone is good, bright.
On the right edge of the smartphone there are standard volume control and lock button. A fingerprint scanner is built into the lock button. Despite the size of the device, the thumb can reach them without any problems.
The corners and bottom edges of the smartphone are covered with black shockproof rubberized material. There are no additional stiffeners on the corners, but on the lower right corner there is a hole for attaching a lanyard.
There is nothing on the top edge. And on the bottom, under a rubber plug, 3.5 mm headset and USB-C connectors are hidden.
The build quality of the smartphone is excellent. The design feels strong, reliable, monolithic. Nothing squeaks, doesn’t loosen, doesn’t bend. The only thing that I have doubts about is the shortcut key, but perhaps it is designed that way, and nothing bad will happen to it over time. Otherwise, the assembly of the device is of high quality, there is nothing to complain about.
Oukitel WP27 has protection against shock, dust, moisture and water resistance. The smartphone can withstand immersion in water to a depth of 1.5 meters up to 30 minutes. The protection class is IP68 and IP69K. Military standard MIL-STD-810H protection is also present.
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Oukitel WP27 Display
The Oukitel WP27 features a 6.8-inch IPS display. It has an FHD+ (2460×1080) resolution and a screen refresh rate of 120Hz. There is no dynamic refresh rate. By default, the frequency is set to 60Hz in the display settings. We can change it to 90 Hz, 120 Hz or leave it as it is.
The touchscreen display recognizes 10 simultaneous touches without any problems. The display responds to all actions (gestures, swipes, taps) clearly and quickly. The high refresh rate of the screen makes the display fast and smooth, which makes it pleasant to use the smartphone in principle.
The pixel density is 396 PPI. Images, text, any content on the WP27 display looks great.
The color reproduction of the Oukitel WP27 is not bad. Although, if you look closely, you can see that the colors are still a bit pale. As for me, it lacks a little saturation. There are no special problems with the contrast of the image. Black color looks normal. In general, we can say that the level of color reproduction of the Oukitel WP27 is typical for devices of its segment.
The viewing angles are wide. Even at a high angle, the display is clearly visible.
The maximum declared brightness is 430 nits. In principle, the smartphone can be comfortably used outdoors in sunny weather. But under direct bright sunlight the screen will most likely go blind. As for personal feelings, for me the optimal level of brightness on Oukitel WP27 is reached only when setting the value to 100%. Still, the brightness reserve is a bit lacking.
To summarize, we can say that the display in Oukitel WP27 is not bad: large, fast, smooth, with good response. There are small shortcomings in terms of color reproduction and brightness reserve, but they are not so critical. In principle, the display corresponds to the price of the device.
Components and performance
Oukitel WP27 is powered by Mediatek Helio G99 processor, has 12GB of RAM and 256GB UFS 2.2 storage. In general, we have a pretty good stuffing, as for a budget phone. Let’s go through the components in detail and run some performance tests.
Processor and graphics
Mediatek Helio G99 is an 8-core 2022 mobile chipset. It is manufactured using 6-nanometer process technology. The architecture of the cores is as follows: 2 Cortex-A76 2.2 GHz cores and 6 Cortex-A55 2 GHz cores. The Mali-G57 MC2 chip is responsible for graphics..
RAM and storage
The smartphone has 12 GB of LPDDR4X type RAM. Additionally, you can add 6, 9 or 12 GB of virtual memory. The virtual memory is taken from the storage device. This setting is located in the “Memory expansion” menu.
The 256GB UFS 2.2 type storage is pre-installed. Additionally, you can install a microSD card up to 2 TB. The drive is quite fast, which is actually confirmed by AnTuTu and PCMark tests.
Performance tests
Immediately before the synthetic tests, I will literally say a few words about my personal feelings about the level of performance. The smartphone is quite fast. Navigating the OS, installing, launching and running applications, web surfing, watching videos and YouTube is fast. I did not notice any strong lags and sluggishness in the work of the smartphone during the entire time of use. The only moment that can spoil the picture is the work of the camera application. But I will tell you about it later and, in general, there is nothing critical there.
In principle, based on this experience, I can immediately say that the performance of Oukitel WP27 is quite good. As for tests and benchmarks, they give quite expected results from this model. As a confirmation below I add screens with results from: Geekbench 6, PCMark, 3DMark, AnTuTu Benchmark, AiTuTu Benchmark, CPU Throttling Test.
Game performance
Oukitel WP27 is not only enough for the usual everyday tasks. The smartphone is quite capable of pulling modern mobile games. Of course, in particularly resource-intensive games will have to sacrifice graphics or be satisfied with low FPS. But if we talk in general, then to a large extent the smartphone copes with games. I installed and tested several modern games, and here is what I can say about them.
Asphalt 9: Legends
On default graphics settings (Visual Quality – Default) the game runs well. Smooth gameplay without freezes, lags and underloads. By feelings, we have about 30 adequate FPS. If we raise the graphics settings to High Quality, we won’t lose anything in performance – the game runs as smoothly and without obvious problems.
Free Fire
The smartphone pulls this game at maximum graphics settings without any problems. The gameplay is smooth, we feel that we have stable 30+ FPS. No freezes or noticeable slowdowns were noticed during several matches.
Diablo Immortal
This game has flexible settings, but not all of them are available on our smartphone. For example, we can’t set frame limit more than 30 and raise the resolution above Medium. But we can set the quality settings and some effects at our discretion. By default, the game itself set the quality settings to Low, but after playing a bit, I raised the settings to High for the sake of interest.
And you know what? The smartphone pulls the game at these settings quite normally. By feelings we have about 30 FPS with slight slippages in especially fierce battles, when there are a lot of enemies and effects in the frame. There are also small freezes when moving between locations, but I’ll tell you that they are also on more powerful devices. In general, you can play Diablo Immortal on Oukitel WP27 without any problems.
Real Racing 3
This game runs on Oukitel WP27 perfectly. The gameplay is fast and smooth. The game delivers clearly more than 30 frames. By the way, there are no graphics settings in the game. But the graphics and detail in the game is excellent.
Genshin Impact
Optimal graphics settings for this game on Oukitel WP27 are the lowest “Lowest”. But we can safely set the frame limit to the maximum, i.e. 60.
At these settings the game is more than comfortable. By feelings, we have 40 – 60 FPS. The game is fast and smooth, even in cities. Sometimes there are small freezes, but most likely it is due to online, and in general they do not interfere with the gameplay.
Oukitel WP27 Cameras
As a rule, no one emphasizes the camera in protected budget phones. Oukitel WP27 is no exception. The cameras here are far from super, but not the worst either, let’s put it this way. The rear camera in Oukitel WP27 consists of 3 modules: main, night and macro. The main module has a resolution of 64 megapixels. The sensor of the main module is Samsung S5KGW3SP13. The night shooting module has a resolution of 20 megapixels. The sensor of the night module is SONY IMX350. The macro module has a resolution of 2 megapixels. The sensor of the macro module is GalaxyCore GC02M2. There is PDAF focusing, LED flash and infrared illumination.
By default, the main camera takes photos at 16MP resolution. In the camera app, you can quickly switch to a high-resolution 64MP mode.
The maximum resolution of video recording on the main camera is 2K at 30 frames per second. You can also record in 60 frames, but only at Full HD resolution. There are also modes with lower resolution (HD, VGA), but at the moment they are not relevant, and therefore not very interesting.
The front camera has a resolution of 16 megapixels. The front camera uses a Hynix HI1634Q sensor. The maximum resolution of video recording on the front camera is Full HD at 30 frames per second.
Before we get directly to the examples of photos and videos taken on the Oukitel WP27, it’s worth going through the camera app itself a bit. Let’s take a look at what’s available here.
Camera app
The WP27 camera app itself is simple and straightforward. It is not distinguished by a large number of settings and modes. Of the available photo modes, there are: standard photo (shoots in 16MP), 64M (maximum resolution), infrared, HDR, beauty, macro, night shot, long shutter speed photo and professional mode.
But for video there are no additional modes, just standard video shooting and that’s it. And by the way, I was a bit surprised by the fact that there is no infrared shooting mode for video. Immediately remembered another protected smartphone, which also had a night module – Cubot Kingkong Star. By the way, I did its review not so long ago. So infrared video shooting was available there.
In photo mode, you can also notice a mysterious AI icon on the top panel. Supposedly, it’s something like automatic optimization and photo enhancement. But to be honest, I didn’t notice any difference when it was turned on.
There aren’t many advanced settings for both photos and videos in the app. And of what there is, there’s nothing unusual that I’d like to emphasize. I’ll show you everything I have on the screenshots.
For the front camera, there are only 3 modes in the app: video, photo and beauty. And the advanced settings are the same as for the main camera.
As for the operation of the camera app itself, it is, to put it mildly, not ideal. The smartphone may slightly “hesitate” when switching modes. Also, saving photos is not as fast as we would like. There are also critical bugs. For example, when trying to record video in 1080p@60FPS, the application simply hangs. This bug, most likely, is purely software and will be fixed in updates.
Photos and videos on the main camera
In good light, the photos taken with the main camera are not bad. Yes, if you look very closely, you can be picky about the detailing of some objects and color reproduction. But if you look at the whole, I think that the quality of photos is more than acceptable. Especially for a budget model.
With a maximum resolution of 64 megapixels, the clarity and detail of objects in the frame increases. At first glance, the difference may not be visible. But when you zoom in and look at individual objects in detail, it is there. The only point: when shooting in 64 MP you should try to keep your smartphone as still as possible, ideally it is better to lean it on something or use a tripod.
Photos taken with infrared photography look good to me. To give you an example, I took some photos in total darkness. It’s also worth noting that the infrared illumination does its job well.
The Oukitel WP27 camera supports HDR shooting. Photos taken in this mode look more contrasty. It often happens that HDR in budget cameras exists purely for a tick. But in Oukitel WP27 HDR really works.
But macro shooting in Oukitel WP27, as in many budget phones, is just for show. Of course, you can shoot macro photos, but you should not expect super quality. Macro more or less turn out only in sufficient light. In other cases the camera can’t even focus normally in macro mode. I chose the most successful examples to show that, in principle, you can shoot something in macro mode if you really want it.
In principle, the smartphone camera copes well with shooting in low light or artificial light conditions. In some places the detail drops a bit. But in general, the photos turn out pretty good.
When shooting in the evening and night, the quality drops significantly: detail suffers greatly and a grainy effect appears. In general, such quality of evening/night shooting is, again, typical for budget cameras. That’s why I don’t see the point in picking on it too much. By the way, there is a separate “Night” mode for evening/night shooting. But I didn’t notice much difference when using it.
As for video, the main camera shoots well in good light. There is even some kind of stabilization. But the smartphone has a problem with evening and night video shooting – brightness. Videos taken in the evening, turn out very dark, while in photo mode the camera shoots normally. And it doesn’t look like a bug. Exactly the same picture was on the Cubot Kingkong Star I already mentioned in the review.
Photos and videos on front camera
The quality of photos and videos shot on the front camera is at the level of budget smartphones: pale colors, overlighting, lack of focus in some places, low detail of evening and night selfies. In general, of course, you can shoot on the front, but you should not expect much from it. Evening and night videos on the front camera have the same problems as the main camera – very low brightness.
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Sound
As a rule, you can’t expect high quality sound from protected budget phones. As for Oukitel WP27, we can say that it sounds just normal, no more or less. The smartphone has a single speaker, which is located on the back panel. The device is quite loud, especially if you crank the sound to the maximum. The sound quality itself is generally not bad. You can safely watch a movie or YouTube video without any discomfort.
The sound settings are quite standard. Except for the interesting “Sound Enhancement”, which is enabled by default.
The smartphone has a standard 3.5mm jack for wired headphones and headsets.
And when you connect a good wireless headset, you can notice that the smartphone has support for LDAC codecs.
Both with wired and wireless headphones the smartphone sounds good. Therefore, Oukitel WP27 is also suitable for listening to music.
As for the conversation speaker and microphone, I had no complaints about them. During phone conversations, I could hear my interlocutor well, and he could hear me.
Communication
Like all modern smartphones, the Oukitel WP27 has support for 2 Nano-SIM SIM cards. Supported networks are standard: 2G, 3G, 4G. Support for 5G, unfortunately, there is no. While the smartphone was on my test, I used it as my main phone for calls. I checked the simultaneous work of two different cellular operators and did not find any problems with this smartphone for myself. Connection is stable, there were no problems with the mobile Internet as well.
Wireless technologies
Technologies for wireless connections in Oukitel WP27 are standard: Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1. Of course, there is an NFC-module for contactless payment. Some problems in the work of wireless connections I did not note for myself, everything worked as it should. The smartphone quickly finds Wi-Fi networks (that 2.4, that 5 GHz) and connects to them. The connection speed shows standard results.
Bluetooth 5.1 also has no problems: it quickly finds devices, connects to them and keeps a stable connection. To be honest, I didn’t check NFC work, as I don’t use this feature in principle. But I don’t think there can be any problems with it here. As for geolocation, Oukitel WP27 supports a standard set of services: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou.
Software
The smartphone runs on pure Android 13. There are no changes or any proprietary additions to the OS. The set of pre-installed applications is minimal – only the most necessary and all from Google. In terms of smartphone settings, everything is also quite standard.
The system can be navigated using 3 buttons or gestures. The unlocking methods are standard: password, pin code, graphic key, fingerprint and facial recognition. By the way, unlocking by fingerprint and face recognition works clearly, quickly, without any problems.
Of interest, we can highlight the Outdoors application – a collection of various useful tools that can be especially useful to the target audience of this smartphone. Compass, noise meter, level, altitude measurement, mirror, heart rate monitor and the like.
There’s not much more to tell about the OS, it’s pure Android 13. Simplicity and minimalism. The OS works on Oukitel WP27 quickly and without any problems. Of the shortcomings, except for the translation – some menus and functions have not been translated into Ukrainian or translated partially. But, in principle, this is the norm for such Chinese smartphones, so I have already got used to it and do not consider this point critical.
Battery life
The smartphone has an 8500 mAh battery. It comes with a 33W charger.
It takes about 40 minutes to charge the smartphone from 5 to 50%. It took me 2 hours and 25 minutes to fully charge to 100% with the included charger.
As for the battery life – it is quite on the level. The Work 3.0 Battery Life test from PCMark showed that the smartphone can work for 12 hours and 58 minutes with continuous use. The test was conducted at a display brightness of 100% and screen refresh rate of 120 Hz.
It is also worth noting that Oukitel WP27 supports reverse charging technology – you can charge other devices from the smartphone battery. The maximum reverse charging power is 5W.
Conclusions
In the end, we can say that the Oukitel WP27 is a pretty good protected budget smartphone. Of the obvious pluses can be noted: display, performance, build quality, design, autonomy and the price of the device. Of the minuses, except for the weak camera, namely evening (night) photo and video shooting. But I have already said, the camera is not the main thing here, and they did not bet on it initially. I would say that Oukitel WP27 is not a bad mid-ranger among the protected budget phones. There is nothing in it that would strongly distinguish it from its competitors, both for good and for bad. In general, if you come across discounts, you can take it, the smartphone is not bad.
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