The Black Shark 4 Pro is the first smartphone we’ve seen with a bustling digital assistant built inside that wants to interact with me in ways that the Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa, or Cortana never could. The cartoon Shark Chan mascot is a feature that shines out on an otherwise unremarkable gaming phone. It is intended to be a kind of assistant that helps you become familiar with the many options on this phone. also you will check our article on Black Shark 4 Pro review. Even though we don’t like the execution, it’s nice to have a gaming phone that at least tries to stand out from the crowd by offering features that haven’t been done before, such as high refresh rate displays, absurdly high RAM levels, and an additional USB-C port for proprietary accessories like controller grips or cooling fans. The majority of other brands (including older Black Shark phones) rely on flashy design elements to catch the eye of the target market they believe these phones will appeal to. Its back is made of soft-touch, smooth, frosted glass. That’s a feature of the Black Shark 4 Pro we like.
Design
When it comes to the Black Shark 4 Pro’s aesthetic, nothing is overly spectacular or unusual. The two tiny toggle switches that hide two more pop-out buttons to the right of the phone’s front are arguably its most intriguing design feature. You can programme these buttons to do a variety of things, such as taking screenshots or skipping media tracks. It will almost feel like you’re holding a gamepad because the 4 Pro is a gaming phone, so you can use these extra buttons to control gameplay when the phone is in landscape mode. The illuminated Black Shark logo that flashes green on the back of the phone when it is unlocked is also a nice touch. You can also use that light to receive call and message notifications, or you can completely turn it off. Even just those functions are more in-the-bag than the majority of phones. The phone’s other features are all very commonplace. The phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom, a fingerprint sensor integrated into the power button on the side, volume controls on the left, and USB-C for charging and data transfer. The total size is 163.8 mm by 76.4 mm by 9.9 mm (which converts to 6.45 inches x 3.01 inches x 0.39 inches). Compared to other phones on the market today, many of which are quite thin, this phone is heavy and clunky, yet it feels good in the hand because of a well crafted matte glass back (complete with some subtle Black Shark styling). Although a little too obvious and angular in our opinion, the camera hump on the back is by no means unsightly. Although there are additional color choices, our review item was delivered in black. Shadow Black, Misty Grey, Cosmos Black, Dark Blue, and Silver make up the entire variety. It’s important to note that this phone is not waterproof, so you’ll need to use caution when using it near a kitchen sink or in the rain.
Display
In the words of Zoolander, the Black Magic 4 Pro’s display is really, really, ridiculously attractive. A 6.67-inch AMOLED screen with a 2400 x 1080 resolution and a lovely 144Hz refresh rate can be found here. In addition, Black Shark touts its support for HDR 10+, 111% DCI-P3 calibration, and 1,300 nit peak brightness. Of course, gamers need to pay close attention to the refresh rate: It can go up to 144 Hz. This, by no means, can be utilized in all mobile games. also you can read our article on Black Shark 4 Pro review. Although at least 90 Hz would undoubtedly be feasible, we only managed to get a maximum of 60 Hz while testing it with PUBG Mobile. Here, the phone manufacturer must make some adjustments in addition to the game designer. However, because they use more battery power, high frame rates are frequently avoided by manufacturers. At brightness levels below 100%, a noticeable OLED flickering can be seen, but this is typical for this type of screen. Try it out at low brightness before you buy to see if it bothers you.
Black Shark 4 Pro review: Software
Software-wise, Xiaomi’s JoyUI, which is based on its flagship MIUI programme, which in turn is based on Android 11, is installed on the Black Shark 4 Pro. In general, it’s not an awful operating system, although we occasionally yearned for the elegance and simplicity of Android’s original, stock version. This is another example of how Xiaomi likes to pack a lot of features, settings, and utilities into its OSes. To give your games the most memory to work with, there is a dedicated Shark Space app for managing the games on your phone. It blocks annoying notifications and minimizes background processes. It’s a useful addition, but it’s not absolutely necessary. Although the Black Shark 4 Pro phone can be adjusted and customized to a great extent, there may be a few settings and applications that are unnecessary, such as the Mi Video app and the Shark Chan gaming assistant. However, JoyUI is generally not too difficult to use.
Hardware and performance
Let’s go to the main use of this phone. The Black Shark 4 Pro’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor from the previous year is paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. With the help of a “sandwich” liquid cooling system that maintains optimal thermals, this power is kept at the right temperatures. The Snapdragon 888 has produced impressive results in benchmark tests, but the 4 Pro raises the bar for performance. The 4 Pro achieved a multi-core score of 3,742 on the Geekbench 5 test, and a 3DMark Wild Life average frame rate of 35.2 FPS. Unsurprisingly, the A15 Bionic in the iPhone SE destroyed this with a score of 4,482. However, the RedMagic 6R achieved a multi-core score of 3,652 and matched the average FPS. For fun, we also put this up against the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (3,682 multi-core) in the OnePlus 10 Pro, and the 4 Pro is currently outperforming it. The OnePlus 9 Pro outperformed the 10 Pro as well (3,685), suggesting a change in priorities with the 8 Gen 1. However, graphics performance has significantly improved, with the 10 Pro delivering 61 FPS on 3DMark Wild Life. Whatever the case, that translates to a phone that never even shows a hint of lag, regardless of the games you run on it. The same holds true for your regular activities, including as multitasking and swiping between apps. While newer components may offer faster speeds, this phone offers a good price-to-performance ratio and, despite the fact that it can get hot during heavy use, does not suffer from temperature spikes that would slow it down.
Black Shark 4 Pro review: Camera
Any smartphone’s camera performance is important, but gaming smartphones are the only ones where it doesn’t seem to matter as much, according to the manufacturers. Even while the Black Shark 4 Pro has a better camera than its predecessor, it’s still not what most people would call a flagship. A main 64Mp sensor, an 8Mp ultrawide lens, and a 5Mp macro lens are all located on the back. The main sensor, which has specifications that far surpass those of the other two lenses, is what you’ll be using the majority of the time. Its highlights include a respectable f/1.79 aperture. Stills are a good photographer for everyday shots because they have a good amount of detail, vibrant colors, and great dynamic range with good lighting. Low light is when quality starts to suffer, with images looking much softer and a more noticeable anti-noise algorithm in use. Shooting in the dedicated night mode doesn’t make much of a difference either. More than anything else, it’s a stabilization limitation because optical image stabilization (OIS) would be able to correct the wobble as you hold the phone still better than electronic image stabilization (EIS) could. Although there is still a noticeable difference in detail between shots taken with the main lens and those taken with the 119-degree ultrawide, this difference only becomes more pronounced as light levels start to wane. Only in the best lighting conditions is the ultra-wide lens ideal for landscape or group photos. The 5Mp macro lens is something we should keep quiet about, in part because it took us so long to locate the mode in the Camera app that we assume Black Shark intentionally concealed it. It doesn’t work very well, doing approximately as well as the majority of macro lenses now on the market. It won’t be something you utilize more than once or twice. The 120-degree ultra-wide 20Mp camera on the back of the phone is more than wide enough for group selfies, but because of its f/2.45 aperture, it performs worse in low light than the wide camera on the rear, so you’d better turn on a lamp or go outside for video calls and selfies.
Battery life
We have now reached the Black Shark 4 Pro’s main flaw. Sigh. It is clear that this phone is designed for hardcore users like myself with its brutishness. At least five to six apps are often open at a time, with a few more operating in the background. We frequently leave mobile data, Bluetooth, and location settings on as well. When you combine all of this with the average daily gaming time of three hours, one clear conclusion emerges: 4,500mAh is not nearly enough. Despite our best efforts, we were never able to make the Black Shark last for the full 24 hours. This is unacceptable in a world where the majority of gaming phones offer 5,000mAh to 6,000mAh. Why purchase such a precise device if you can’t even get a day’s worth of battery life out of it? The majority of Xiaomi’s own mid-range devices have larger batteries than the Black Shark 4 Pro, which is perplexing. Xiaomi made an effort to sweeten the deal by including the high-end 120W HyperCharge support. In the box, you’ll find a 6A USB-C cable and a 120W power supply. Similar to the Xiaomi 11T Pro, using the provided cable with the charger will guarantee that you receive the fastest possible charging speed. The Black Shark 4 Pro delivers on its promise of going from 0% to 100% in an astounding 20 minutes. On the other hand, when charging at full speed, it gets extremely warm. While an electronic device is being charged, we aren’t entirely at ease with that amount of heat; we are actually afraid of it. That can be dangerous for you and your house in addition to being risky for the battery’s longevity. Would we compromise safety for accelerated charging? No, and neither should you. you will learn our article on Black Shark 4 Pro review.
Price and availability
Black Shark 4 Pro review: Conclusion
The Xiaomi Black Shark 4 is a good gaming phone once more, and it has a mechanical trigger trick up its sleeve that makes the buttons more reliable than those on competing gaming smartphones with touch solutions. The phone’s appearance is somewhat understated, and unlike other gaming phones, it doesn’t feature LED lighting effects. The smartphone is reasonably light, the camera takes good pictures, and the speakers can even simulate some bass. Although the battery runtimes could be longer, they are adequate for daily use.
