Fossibot F106 Pro Review

OS, UI and software

Fossibot F106 Pro runs on almost stock Android 14. We received our review unit very early. During our testing period, the device received an OTA update changing the UI a bit, including the wallpaper and some app icons. The Task Manager was changed adding an app lock option, a Radio app was added, and the Camera app underwent several UI changes as well. The current software overview is of the device's latest status. The Lock Screen is dominated by a huge Clock widget adjoined by a small Date one and basic status bar icons. A swipe up unlocks the device by default. The Home Screen has a search bar on top and two rows of apps at the bottom. A swipe to the right opens Google Discover. A swipe-up opens the app drawer. The customization picker can be accessed after a long press on any free space on the desktop. It contains a Widgets menu, a Wallpaper & style menu, and Home Settings. The latter allows you to switch from an app drawer style to a desktop-style of app listing. The Task Manager tiles the applications horizontally. For each, you get access to the app info, split-screen mode, and an app lock. A swipe down from the top of the screen opens the list of notifications. The Notifications shade has a standard design and layout. A second swipe opens the Quick Settings toggles listed on three pages with an option to add more or remove existing ones from this list. The Volume settings also contain a toggle for a live caption. Fossibot F106 Pro arrives with a standard set of pre-installed applications, including Google Assistant, Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Chrome, Clock, Contacts, Drive, Files, Find Devices, FM Radio, Gmail, Google, Keep Notes, Maps, Meet, Messages, Phone, Photos, Play Game, Play Store, Safety, Sound Recorder, YouTube, and YT Music. There's a dedicated app serving the camping light, which also benefits from a dedicated physical button on the left frame. Finally, there's a Toolbox app containing a torch, a bubble level, a pic hanging tool, an altitude meter, a magnifier, an alarm, a plumb bob, a protractor, and a compass. The Settings app comprises 23 menus headed by a settings search bar. The first two menus are about connectivity and are shown in detail in the corresponding section of this review. The third menu is "Apps" and it allows you to manage various aspects of the applications on the device - follow up the screen time, battery usage, permissions, etc. It is followed by the "Notifications" menu which manages this specific aspect of the smartphone, including managing app notifications, history, conversations, bubbles, DND mode, privacy-related settings, wireless emergency alerts, etc. "Smart key" is the fifth menu and lets you set an app or action to a single click, a double click, and a long press on the physical button on the left frame. It is followed by the "Smart Assistant" menu that lets you switch on Glove Mode, activate Screen Recording, make and edit screenshots, set Emergency Rescue data, and enable three useful gestures - a three-finger swipe to make a screenshot, a three-finger swipe to open the Camera app, and a double tap to lock the screen. The "Battery" menu is described in the corresponding section of this review and the following "Storage" one is self-explanatory. "Memory Expansion" is already widely available as a feature in modern Android smartphones. Whenever it is activated for the first time, you will be prompted to reboot the device in order for the changes to take effect. The "Sound & vibration" is tenth in the list. It begins with the four standard slide bars for media, calls, rings & notifications, and alarm volume. You can also choose a ringtone, alarm, and notification sound, manage the Live Caption options, the vibration and haptics one, as well as the DND mode. The usual toggles for screen lock, touch, etc. are also present along with the sound enhancement features. The "Display" menu follows including a feature that has not been active for quite some time - MiraVision. This is a video enhancement technology for smartphones that intelligently adjusts a wide range of display and video streaming factors providing hardware and software optimizations that improve the viewing quality. Further display settings include the brightness level bar, adaptive brightness, dark theme, night light, lock screen settings, display size and text adjustment, color settings, auto-rotate screen toggle, and a lift-to-wake one. Then there's the "Wallpaper" menu offering a choice Live Wallpapers, a shortcut to the Photos app to choose a wallpaper from the available photos, and a shortcut to the Wallpaper & style settings. The "Accessibility" menu follows and allows you to manage your screen reader, display (size and text; color and motion; extra dim; magnification), interaction controls, system controls - the same options exist in the System menu, vibration and haptics, Live Caption options, audio aid, and accessibility shortcuts. As an Android 14 device, the F106 Pro has an updated "Security & Privacy" menu. Google Play Protect is now called App Security, Find My Device is Device Finders and includes the Find My Device option plus Unknown Tracker Alerts, and Google Play System Update is System & Updates including Google Play update, Security update, and Backup. The system issues a security warning if you don't have a screen lock setup or if you haven't added your Google account. When you set up a screen lock and manage the Lock Screen settings to your preference, you can also set a fingerprint ID. Account Security is the option that contains the Google Account security checkup and the Password Checkup. These options are in a way doubled in the Passwords & Accounts menu which follows the Security & Privacy one. The Privacy Menu is now listed under the Security one. It contains the usual permission manager, privacy dashboard, ads management, health connect, and activity controls. The More Security & Privacy options include Lock Screen Notifications, App Content, Android System Intelligence, Autofill Service from Google, Extend Unlock, and others. Extend Unlock is the Smart Unlock feature renamed.

The next menus are standard and include Locations, Safety & Emergency, Passwords & accounts, Digital Wellbeing & parental controls, Google, DraSpeed, Schedule power on & off, System, and About Phone. The "System" menu contains the separated languages and keyboard settings, gestures options, update options, backup and reset, and date and time settings. Under gestures, you will see the "Quickly open camera" feature, the "Navigation mode" (on-screen gestures or virtual buttons with further customization), the "Press and hold power button" feature, and the "Prevent ringing" toggle. The About Phone menu contains the usual data about the model name, main specifications, software versions, etc.