You can also remove the case if you have installed any; doing so will help your phone dissipate heat better. When you update an Android Smartphone, you see the usual installation process, then the phone restarts, and it looks like the update is complete, but it isn’t.
- 4K recording is limited to the main camera only; switching to the ultra-wide lens brings the resolution down to 1080p.
- If you previously rooted or modified the system (or other) partition of the phone in any way, flashing this stock ROM will overwrite all existing modified system files to replace them with factory software.
- Interrupting the firmware installation means bricking your phone.
- There’s no wireless charging support, but there is 120W fast wired charging with the included adapter – a frankly astonishing rate than can juice up your phone to full from zero in as little as 15 minutes.
- The appearance of the Black Shark 4 Pro is completely different from the series of Black Shark 3.
Gameplay was fluid in Call of Duty and Real Racing 3, especially the latter, which supports 120fps. The Black Shark’s 144Hz screen also gets plenty bright — peaking at 1,300 nits — so you can comfortably use it outdoors. It’s no surprise, but if you’re worried, check out the Black Shark Magnetic Cooler. The Black Shark 4 Pro is hefty (220g), and thicker than the average smartphone.
- Hidden when not in use, the triggers simply pop out by flipping the switches that sit next to each, providing a more console-esque gaming experience without the need to carry around accessories.
- The front-facing camera is pretty good, though — 4-in-1 pixel binning the 20MP shot with decent HDR to make a balanced image.
- Compared to Black Shark 3, it comes with a little lighter weight, but it is still a heavyweight gaming phone.
- Introduced with last year‘s model, the magnetic pop-up triggers make their return with the Shark 4.
It also allows for game macros – something not found on most gaming phones – that allow you to trigger repetitive actions with a single tap of a button, further aligning the PC and mobile gaming experiences. The Black Shark 4 Pro is an exceptionally well-built gaming phone, with all the nuts and bolts that we’ve come to expect from one. Better yet, its $579 starting price undercuts most of the competition, without compromising on processing power and functionality. Just be prepared for the device’s heavy skin over Android, a slower cadence of software updates, and middling battery life. If you can get over those shortcomings, the Black Shark 4 Pro may be the gaming phone for stock firmware you. Those numbers are not “all-day battery life” by any means, but Black Shark makes up for it with an amazing 120W HyperCharge technology. Using the proprietary USB-A to USB-C cable and charging adapter, the 4 Pro can charge from 0% to 100% in a frighteningly-fast 20 minutes.
The tall aspect ratio is also why the top of the display is so hard to reach one-handed, as mentioned earlier. Almost a year after the initial announcement of the Black Shark 4 Pro in China, the smartphone is set to come to UK shores. With a flick of the textured side key, a side trigger button pops up. Appearance-wise, the Black Shark 4 Pro inherits most of what its predecessor had to offer. The Shadow Black variant that I’ve been testing has a sleek, pebble-like backing, with an all-glass build that screams (and feels) premium.