Review of the Robust Hotwav Cyber X Pro Smartphone

When it comes to leisure activities like camping or fishing, risking your pricey smartphone loaded with important contacts, pictures, and apps is not ideal. This is where a rugged smartphone, immune to water damage or physical impact, becomes a great fit. The Hotwav Cyber X Pro not only provides this resilience but also boasts modern features, a robust battery, and an attractive price tag. It’s resistant to moisture and dust and offers unique features not found in other smartphones.

Packaging and Contents

The smartphone comes in a brand-specific cardboard box that includes a plastic insert with compartments for all the packaged items. The back of the box provides a summary of technical specifications and the device model. This is critical as the manufacturer offers two models, Cyber X and Cyber X Pro, housed in the same case but differing in built-in memory capacity and minor exterior variations.

The package is fairly generous, including not only the smartphone and a charger with cable but also a protective glass with an installation kit, and additional cables for headphone connectivity. The battery capacity is sufficient to charge an external device, so the manufacturer thoughtfully included a reverse connection cable.

The packaged charger delivers a power output of 33W with a broad voltage range and requires a power cord with USB Type-C connectors on both ends. For connecting external devices or additional memory, a special USB Type-A connector cable can be used. While these cables aren’t very long, they are quite convenient to use. The manufacturer deserves kudos for this enhanced capability as many don’t equip their gadgets with additional hardware.

Appearance

As you might expect, the Hotwav Cyber X Pro is a rugged smartphone, with corresponding dimensions and weight, plus a fairly large screen. The device doesn’t exceed 380 grams in weight, with dimensions of 181.885.117.5 mm. You wouldn’t call them compact, but there are indeed devices that are significantly larger.

Like all rugged devices, rubber inserts are featured on the sides. Additionally, it has special bumpers to protect the screen and the matrix block on the back.

The sides include a tray for installing two SIM cards or one SIM card plus a memory card for expanded storage. You won’t need a special pin to remove the SIM card tray. The tray itself is located on the left side above an auxiliary smartphone button. On the opposite side, you’ll find a volume rocker, power button, and a fingerprint sensor situated on a separate plane. The buttons are made of metal and have a rough surface.

On the bottom, beneath a rubber cap, is a USB Type-C port for charging the built-in battery and external devices.

On the back, there’s a camera module and an additional 0.96″ OLED screen, which can display current time, date, battery level, or show the caller and number for incoming calls. This screen is quite handy, allowing you not to activate the main screen to view necessary information. Several display options are available, configurable from the smartphone’s settings menu. Unlike the younger model, the back cover of this gadget features a leather-like insert. The standard Cyber X model comes with a plastic X-shaped cover.

The main screen measures 6.78” with FHD+ 2460×1080 resolution and a refresh rate of 60Hz. The screen is fairly contrasty, but you might need to crank up the brightness to maximum in sunny weather. Viewing angles are optimal, allowing you to view displayed information without image distortion. The selfie camera is located in the upper-middle part of the screen and is noticeable as a black circular window. There are no LED indicators or backlighting.

Software

The pre-installed Android 13 operating system is relatively clean and free from the bloatware that other manufacturers love to include.

The quick access drop-down menu is divided into three pages.

The settings menu of the Android 13 operating system is pretty standard, featuring all the necessary points for setting up your smartphone, including the settings for the additional screen on the back.

The phone’s features are designed to accommodate both children and seniors. The manufacturer has included the option to limit the phone’s use by children and implemented special safeguards. With the launch of this mobile app, you can restrict a child’s access to software, set required data usage, prohibit other software installation, and more. Child restrictions can be enabled and disabled using a password.

There’s also an option to launch a special mobile app that allows you to set up the smartphone for use by an older person. This includes setting up large buttons on the screen that can be programmed to launch certain apps or dial a specific number. It won’t be easy to exit or minimize this app.

Photos and Videos

The smartphone comes with 4 cameras. The primary one is a 108 MP Samsung HM2. In addition, there are two more, an 8 MP wide-angle lens and a 0.3 MP auxiliary lens. The selfie camera features a 16 MP sensor. For capturing photos in the dark, there is a dual-LED flash.

Photos and videos were taken at different times, in both sunny and cloudy weather. The image quality is quite high. The maximum photo resolution reaches 12000*9000 pixels, and the size is almost 17 MB. Due to website restrictions, these files need to be compressed before uploading.

Conclusion

Hotwav’s latest offering is highly attractive due to its features and competitive price point – there’s even a promotional discount currently available. The smartphone is water-resistant, making it suitable for camping, fishing, or hunting trips without worrying about damage. The modern internals allow for the running of any mobile app. If you accidentally drop it in water during a vacation, it will retain all photos and still keep you connected.