Doogee Y6 Max Review: Big Phablet or Small Tablet?


The trend of phone upsizing hasn’t slowed down much and Doogee has pushed that trend as far as it will go with the new Doogee Y6 Max, a 6.5” phone. This phone dwarfs the Nexus 6P and the Note 7 and even the Bluboo Maya Max with its 6” screen.

There is also another edition of the Y6 Max that supports glassless 3D but that one is not released yet. This Y6 Max doesn’t boast incredible specs but neither is it low end. It utilizes the MTK6750T, 3GB of RAM and fills the 6.5” screen with a full HD resolution. It’s also fairly cheap, starting at $150 with flash sales bringing it down to $120 on occasion.

In order for this to be a hot product, Doogee has to create a compelling package, but even if it does, $150 isn’t a great price for specs like these when you have the Redmi 4/4A. But then again, the Y6 Max is aimed at a different market, specifically those looking for something almost comically huge. So first, Doogee has to succeed in creating a good phone before we even talk about price. Let’s see if they do.

“So massive it’s crazy”

Doogee Y6 Max Specifications

Processor Mediatek MT6750 Octacore
Display 6.5” 1920 x 1080 px, IPS LCD
RAM 3GB
Storage 32GB
Operating System Android 6.0
Cameras 13MP + 5MP Camera
Battery 4300mAh
Physical Properties 255g, 17.30 x 8.90 x 0.90 cm

Big thanks to Gearbest for providing this review unit. I used the Doogee Y6 Max on Fido in Toronto.

Doogee Y6 Max Hardware

I think the term “small tablet” describes this phone better than “massive phablet”. I can’t even use this device properly as a phone even with both hands. I almost dropped it multiple times while walking and I even dropped it on my face while using it in bed as well.

Massive size aside, the phone itself is pretty compact. Sure it might not be bezelless Mi Mix style, but with an 84% screen to body ratio, its keeps the bezels to an acceptable level. There is a tiny black bar around the display but its quite small and unobtrusive. The phone is thick at around 9mm but that is helped by the curved back.

The backplate is made out of metal with plastic strips on the top and bottom to help with reception and the fingerprint sensor below the camera. I find it incredible hard to reach because of how big the phone is so a front facing sensor might have been a better option. Other than that I have no complaints about the build quality, it is metal, it feels high quality but it is so massive.

“small for its size….”

Doogee Y6 Max Display

We have a 1080p resolution on a 6.5″ display, and I know many of you will want at least a 2K resolution, however 1080p is still more than good enough for a screen size like this.  Max brightness is OK, topping out at around 400 nits which means you’ll have difficulty seeing it in direct sunlight.

Everywhere else and the screen performs just fine. There is no protective glass on the screen either.

Doogee Y6 Max Audio

We have two sets of speaker grilles flanking the USB-C port and it produces some very decent sound. Audio volume is definitely not the loudest, there are devices out there that top it in terms of volume but it does produce more than enough for pretty much anyone.

The quality is actually below average with distortion at max volume (yes, volume booster was turned off) and there is a significant lack of bass as well. Check out the video review below for the audio test.

Doogee Y6 Max Battery

A 4300mAh battery is nothing to sneeze at and should provide even the heaviest of users with one day of battery life without issue. The Y6 Max definitely delivers, providing battery life slightly above the Bluboo Maya Max and on par with the Redmi 3. I was able to get 6 hours of screen on time with about 15% battery left at the end of the day.

This was a mix of light and heavy usage, gaming, photo taking, reddit and web browsing. I was definitely expecting worse battery life out of this because of the huge 6.5” screen but Doogee did a great job putting in a big battery and optimizing properly. I hail phones that get battery life like this as the best battery life possible in a normal sized phone (e.g. no Oukitel K10,000) but I can’t for two reasons.

First, this phone is the definition of “not a normal sized phone”, and second the Redmi 4 Prime currently holds the crown and will only be toppled by another Snapdragon 625 toting phone. Still though, getting half the battery life of a Redmi 4 Prime is no easy feat.

“great battery life”

Doogee Y6 Max Software

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Doogee slightly customizes the look of the software so that it doesn’t look like stock Android but doesn’t interfere much with anything else. Android 6.0 Marshmallow runs quite well on this device and apart from the light Doogee skin, everything else is stock.

The fingerprint scanner on the back is accurate and fast, but doesn’t destroy in either department. Accuracy is absolutely key in this device as its hard to reach meaning that your fingers are almost always never in a prime position for unlocking. Performance is very decent as well, pairing the MTK6750 with 3GB of RAM meaning that multi-tasking is good (but not great) and general performance is very zippy as well.

The MTK6750 performs quite well in gaming; you can play even intense games on the MTK6750 and 3GB of RAM. You can get some decent framerates in games like NOVA and has no trouble playing less intense games such as Rovio’s new Candy Crush style game. It gets a rather average Antutu score of about 44,000 as well.

Doogee Y6 Max Connectivity

I was still able to get strong 3G and LTE connections here in Canada, but pay extra close attention to the network bands and make sure it works on your carrier.

WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS all work well, GPS lags a little behind my Snapdragon 820 Z2 Plus, but nothing huge. There is a microSD card slot that supports microSD cards up to 128GB as well.

Doogee Y6 Max Camera

I was surprised by the quality of the camera, however I have to issue a slight correction to the video, I only noticed it after uploading that while the words coming out of my mouth theoretically agrees with the text review, the tone definitely implies that I was very impressed by the camera.

To be clear, I am most definitely not very impressed, just pleasantly surprised that the camera quality wasn’t terrible. Photos are decent in great lighting conditions but take a nosedive in bad lighting conditions as you can see in the samples below. The front facing 5MP camera struggles with detail due to the low megapixel count and performs adequately.

The 1080p video is quite decent, capturing detailed video albeit slightly washed out, and with 4K cameras becoming more and more prevalent, 1080p just doesn’t impress anymore.

Doogee Y6 Max Verdict

There isn’t a lot of competition in the phablet space, especially when you talk about phablets larger than 6″. You have the Bluboo Maya Max which tops out at 6″ and a couple of other Leagoo devices, but not much else here. There is the PPTV King which uses the Helio X10 processor but it uses a much smaller battery (and a 2K screen) and thus in my opinion is merely a runner up to this or the Bluboo Maya Max. What’s the use of a more powerful processor and a higher resolution screen if it dies quickly?

The Doogee Y6 Max is not perfect. Its not the fastest, it doesn’t have the most RAM (ahem looking at you UMi Plus E) and the camera is definitely not the best either. However, the Doogee Y6 Max is currently the best large budget phablet you can buy, barely edging out the Bluboo Maya Max. Going into 2017, you won’t find something else with a better price/performance ratio than the Doogee Y6 Max.

I would like to thank Gearbest for sending out this review unit, and if you would like to buy one, you can do so here.

“the best large budget phablet so far”

Doogee Y6 Max Video Review

Doogee Y6 Max Gallery

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30 Comments

  1. Lazar Prodanovic
    January 4, 2017

    I know 40~50$ more actually sound a lot but this isn’t to the knees compared to Mi Max.

    • January 4, 2017

      is the Mi Max $200? I thought it was around $280USD?

      • Lazar Prodanovic
        January 5, 2017

        Well it actually starts around 170 for the regular 3/32GB S650 model but the sweat spot at the moment certainly is a 3/64 Prime model with S652 that can be found around 200$.

        • January 5, 2017

          Oh yup you’re right

          • lildwell
            January 6, 2017

            I’d go with the 3/32 sd650 because there is a lot more community support for the 650 version. They have official CyanogenMod 14.1 nougat.

    • JOSEPH SOLOMON
      January 13, 2017

      Lazar
      Why do you say that?
      Presently I’m debating between the doogee y6 and the Xiaomi max(pro)
      And with specs, performance,screen ,camera they are virtually identical.
      I don’t mind paying the extra amount for the Xiaomi..but why are you so sure that it is the superior product?
      Please elaborate.
      Thank you.

      • Lazar Prodanovic
        January 14, 2017

        Well it’s not actually good to compare Xiaomi to Doogee regarding quality or user experience. Wile Xiaomi builded brand Doogee had a lot downfalls all over the road catched numerous times in a lie regarding spec (especially batteries). Xiaomi isn’t anything special regarding it’s quality & I am not a big fun of MiUI but you certainly get what you paid for. Mi Max is actually above average quality & suport for a Xiaomi device & one of rare from their devices in budget class recently with gorila glass.
        Neither spec nor a performance or user experience of Y6 is comparable to Max. Max is a very well balanced device & a good performer regarding both CPU & GPU, comparing Snapdragon 65x to the entry level MT6750 is a bit bold thing to do actually Snapdragon 652 performs better than current MTK flagship’s (X2x) in real usage scenarios. The battery in Max gives you 11h of SOT usually (hardly anything matches this, Redmi 4 Prime certainly doesn’t) even it comes with much better performing SoC, display is nothing to write about back home its a average quality LCD but good enough, speaker is a mid grade, headphones output certainly have a good range (dB) but it’s not very laud, main camera is good only with a decent amount of light. Looks good, feels good, bild quality is fine. It’s not all problem free nor a perfect phone (something like that doesn’t exist); the social & chat apps need to be in locked mode so that you can be certain that you will receive notifications all the time but this is related to MiUI “optimisations” where he kills background apps. Software support is good official and unofficial it will be one of first Xiaomi devices to receive Nugget & plenty of costume ROM’s over at XDA all do still work in progress will probably help to push one or two to production grade firmware (as I do always).
        Long thing short for around 200$ the Mi Max Prime 3/64GB (Snapdragon 652) is still a best big phablet that you can buy. How do I know? I have one.

        • JOSEPH SOLOMON
          January 14, 2017

          Thank you Lazar for your very comprehensive and detailed explanation.
          It is greatly appreciated!
          Until your post I was undecided between the two, now I’m certain that I want the max and will order it tonight.(via Ali Express)
          So thanks to your thoughtful response you have given me the piece of mind I need.
          Truth be told I have researched and looked on many forums regarding the comparison between the two and until now I have foundnd nothing on the subject..absolutely..nada!
          (I suppose it’s got to do with the unique niche of size and unknown chinese make.of doogee that is to explain for the dearth of info.)
          Anyway thanks again and have a great weekend.
          best,
          Joseph.

  2. Lazar Prodanovic
    January 4, 2017

    I know 40~50$ more actually sound a lot but this isn’t to the knees compared to Mi Max.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      January 5, 2017

      is the Mi Max $200? I thought it was around $280USD?

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      January 5, 2017

      Well it actually starts around 170$ for the regular 3/32GB S650 model but the sweat spot at the moment certainly is a 3/64 Prime model with S652 that can be found around 200$. & you have 4/128GB Prime version with currently overblown price of around 300$.

    • Zi Jin Cheng
      January 5, 2017

      Oh yup you’re right

    • lildwell
      January 6, 2017

      I’d go with the 3/32 sd650 because there is a lot more community support for the 650 version. They have official CyanogenMod 14.1 nougat.

    • JOSEPH SOLOMON
      January 14, 2017

      Lazar
      Why do you say that?
      Presently I’m debating between the doogee y6 and the Xiaomi max(pro)
      And with specs, performance,screen ,camera they are virtually identical.
      I don’t mind paying the extra amount for the Xiaomi..but why are you so sure that it is the superior product?
      Please elaborate.
      Thank you.

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      January 14, 2017

      Well it’s not actually good to compare Xiaomi to Doogee regarding quality or user experience. Wile Xiaomi builded brand Doogee had a lot downfalls all over the road catched numerous times in a lie regarding spec (especially batteries). Xiaomi isn’t anything special regarding it’s quality & I am not a big fun of MiUI but you certainly get what you paid for. Mi Max is actually above average quality & suport for a Xiaomi device & one of rare from their devices in budget class recently with gorila glass.
      Neither spec nor a performance or user experience of Y6 is comparable to Max. Max is a very well balanced device & a good performer regarding both CPU & GPU, comparing Snapdragon 65x to the entry level MT6750 is a bit bold thing to do actually Snapdragon 652 performs better than current MTK flagship’s (X2x) in real usage scenarios. The battery in Max gives you 11h of SOT usually (hardly anything matches this, Redmi 4 Prime certainly doesn’t) even it comes with much better performing SoC, display is nothing to write about back home its a average quality LCD but good enough, speaker is a mid grade, headphones output certainly have a good range (dB) but it’s not very laud, main camera is good only with a decent amount of light. Looks good, feels good, bild quality is fine. It’s not all problem free nor a perfect phone (something like that doesn’t exist); the social & chat apps need to be in locked mode so that you can be certain that you will receive notifications all the time but this is related to MiUI “optimisations” where he kills background apps. Software support is good official and unofficial it will be one of first Xiaomi devices to receive Nugget & plenty of costume ROM’s over at XDA all do still work in progress will probably help to push one or two to production grade firmware level (as I do always).
      Long thing short for around 200$ the Mi Max Prime 3/64GB (Snapdragon 652) is still a best big phablet that you can buy. How do I know? I have one.
      Before buying be certain to read user opinions at GSM arena.
      http://m.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_max-reviews-8057.php

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      January 14, 2017

      Support is getting on pair for both model’s/SoC’s kernel is the same & CM14.1 official is far from perfect or bug free, currently Niel’s LineageOS 14.1 unofficial is the best build, still lot of work to be done especially on kernel side to be completely honest.
      https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-max/development/rom-lineageos-14-1-t3529851

    • JOSEPH SOLOMON
      January 15, 2017

      Thank you Lazar for your very comprehensive and detailed explanation.
      It is greatly appreciated!
      Until your post I was undecided between the two, now I’m certain that I want the max and will order it tonight.(via Ali Express)
      So thanks to your thoughtful response you have given me the piece of mind I need.
      Truth be told I have researched and looked on many forums regarding the comparison between the two and until now I have foundnd nothing on the subject..absolutely..nada!
      (I suppose it’s got to do with the unique niche of size and unknown chinese make.of doogee that is to explain for the dearth of info.)
      Anyway thanks again and have a great weekend.
      best,
      Joseph.

  3. Muhammad Yasir
    January 5, 2017

    no

  4. Guest
    January 5, 2017

    no

  5. ololosh1
    January 6, 2017

    Why dont they step up in the tablet market ?

    Brand has some recognition, despite the problems with crappy batteries, earlier

  6. ololosh1
    January 6, 2017

    Why dont they step up in the tablet market ?

    Brand has some recognition, despite the problems with crappy batteries, earlier

  7. amine
    January 7, 2017

    Doogee Y6 max seems dont have value than Blackview P2.

  8. Guest
    January 7, 2017

    Doogee Y6 max seems dont have value than Blackview P2.

  9. MrDibism
    January 14, 2017

    You compared this phone with Bluboo Maya Max. What about in comparison with Cubot Max? Thats quite a popular 6″ Chinese phone too. Would love to know which have the best battery life between these three!

  10. MrDibism
    January 14, 2017

    You compared this phone with Bluboo Maya Max. What about in comparison with Cubot Max? Thats quite a popular 6″ Chinese phone too. Would love to know which have the best battery life between these three!

  11. Ruby Ruby
    February 18, 2017

    Also vkworld T1 Plus and T6, all of them are 6” Chinese phone with similar specs. But the price decides everthing.

  12. Ruby Ruby
    February 18, 2017

    Also vkworld T1 Plus and T6, all of them are 6” Chinese phone with similar specs. But the price decides everthing.

  13. prisha
    August 1, 2017

    friends, i want to buy Geotel Note because this is fit in my budget, at this time this is available only in $80 and come with 3gb ram, 5.5 HD display, 3200mAh battery so suggest me this is good ?

  14. prisha
    August 1, 2017

    friends, i want to buy Geotel Note because this is fit in my budget, at this time this is available only in $80 and come with 3gb ram, 5.5 HD display, 3200mAh battery so suggest me this is good ?