I’m sorry to tell you all: it’s the year of the notch. Android phones that unabashedly ape the iPhone X’s sensor-packed front notch keep on coming, and another, from Chinese phone maker Doogee, is about to arrive.
The Doogee V looks pretty darn close to an iPhone X: there’s the front notch with screen wrapping around it into the corners; a display that nearly touches the bottom of the phone; vertically stacked rear cameras (although they’re centered, rather than set to the side); and no fingerprint sensor to be found on the back of the phone.
One of the big highlights here is that the Doogee V still has a fingerprint sensor — it’s just built into the screen. The very first phone with a fingerprint sensor only arrived a few weeks ago, but the tech, which comes from Synaptics, is available to other companies, so we’re going to start seeing it proliferate this year. Doogee hasn’t said if it’s using Synaptics tech, but if its in-display reader actually works, it’s likely that it is. But I wouldn’t take the sensor working well as a safe assumption.
The inclusion of a fingerprint sensor means that Doogee doesn’t have any tech similar to Face ID. It also means that the notch is kind of unnecessary. Though it’s sized to pretty perfectly mimic the iPhone, it doesn’t have nearly as much inside of it — just an earpiece, a selfie camera, and an ambient light sensor, from the looks of it. The phone also has USB-C and a headphone jack.
Pricing and availability haven’t been announced yet. No specs have been detailed either, though we might know one thing: the phone was leaked a month ago by VentureBeat’s Evan Blass, who said it’ll have a 6.2-inch display. The images he leaked (included above), are spot on with what Doogee revealed in a phone announcement teaser today (seen below), so the detail’s probably right, too. Doogee plans to unveil more details about the V on February 27th.
Keep in mind, as good as these mock-ups look, the phone is not likely to be anywhere near the quality of the iPhone X. Prior Doogee phones have looked a long way from their renders, and their low price has meant low-end specs and components that leave a lot lacking.
