Source: Black Shark 2 review
introduction
After the demise of the Xperia Play, gaming phones seemed to have disappeared for good, but it turns out they were merely regrouping before launching another assault on the smartphone market. And they’re coming in numbers this time – Asus, Nubia, Razer and Xiaomi all claim the gaming smartphone throne and even Huawei is marketing the Mate X as the best gaming phone. Well, Xiaomi is ready to rock the boat with the new Black Shark 2 – a phone that aims to really make gaming phones mainstream.
The first Black Shark had the looks and the punch, but its plain LCD screen earned it few favors. Then came the Helo, which patched just that. And now, with the Black Shark 2, we have the most refined Black Shark phone yet, featuring a large AMOLED screen, the latest Snapdragon 855 with an advanced cooling system, more RAM and storage, and a new gaming catering design with dynamic LED lighting .
The manufacturer is serious about the new Black Shark 2 – it has 240Hz touch input for those who play with virtual controls, but there are also proprietary Black Shark hardware attachments for the most immersive gaming experience. The latter is an optional attachment that we will come back to later.
The Black Shark 2 has the two of the three cameras from the Xiaomi Mi 9, which is a nice touch. It can also take flagship selfies thanks to a high-end 20MP selfie shooter. An interesting aspect is that the Black Shark runs standard Android 9 Pie, and the only proprietary thing is the Shark Space, which is triggered with a hardware switch – it’s a dedicated game launcher with some nice options.
Black Shark 2 specifications
- Body: frosted metal and glass;
- Advertisement: 6.39″ AMOLED, 2,340 x 1,080 pixel resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 402 ppi; HDR 10 and DCI-P3 compatible; 240 Hz touch input.
- Dual Rear Camera: Wide – 48 MP f/1.75, 1/2 inch, 0.8 µm pixel size, PDAF; Telephoto – 12MP, f/2.2 aperture, 2x zoom; 2160p at 60/30 fps.
- Front camera: 20 MP, 0.9 µm pixel size, aperture f/2.0; 1080p/30fps video recording.
- Operating system: Android 9 Pie (vanilla); Gaming Shark Space with dedicated hardware switch
- chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855: Octa-core CPU (4 x 2.84GHz Kryo 485 Gold & 4 x 1.7GHz Kryo 485 Silver), Adreno 640 GPU.
- Storage: 8/12GB RAM; 128/256GB storage.
- Battery: 4,000 mAh Li-Ion (sealed); 27W charging.
- Connectivity: dual SIM; LTE-A, 4-band carrier aggregation, Cat.16/13 (1 Gbit/s/150 Mbit/s); USB-C; WLAN a/b/g/n/ac; dual band GPS; Bluetooth 5.0.
- Various: fingerprint reader under the display; front stereo speakers; dedicated gamepad (sold separately)
The Black Shark 2 lacks a 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD card slot. The storage expansion can be forgiven with the plentiful storage options available, but the lack of the audio jack on a gaming phone is harder to swallow. An adapter helps fix that, but if anyone needed to charge and use headphones at the same time, it would be gamers.
The Shark 2 doesn’t have water resistance like the ROG phone, but its price is half of what Asus charges for the ROG, so there it is. The Xiaomi offering can’t quite match the ROG’s accessory ecosystem either, but it does it still covers the main ones – controllers (with a case or a stand), a cooling case and Black Shark-branded headphones.
Unpacking the Black Shark 2
The Black Shark 2 comes in two flavors – 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage. Their retail packages have only one difference – the 12GB/256GB model comes with a pair of Black Shark Gaming Earphones (€19.90 RRP), while the smaller model has no headphones in the box.
So we have the high-tier model and its box is unusually large. The first layer of the black box contains the phone itself, with five compartments underneath. The middle one contains some papers and a transparent silicone case, while you’ll find the aforementioned Black Shark Gaming earbuds, which terminate in a USB-C plug, a 27W charger, and the USB-C cable. Oh, and a SIM eject pin is there too.
At first we thought there wasn’t a 3.5mm to USB-C adapter in the box, but as it turns out, the little thing was pretty well hidden inside the USB cable. And since the Black Shark 2 lacks a 3.5mm jack, it’s a must-have indeed, and we were relieved to find it.
Last but not least, the Black Shark 2 has a thin screen protector that is applied at the factory. So if you need one, it’s already there and you don’t need to go shopping right away.
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