Fossibot F102 Review - excellent battery life, good performance, fast display

OS, UI and software

Fossibot F102 runs on stock Android 13 with powder-pink backgrounds and accents in the UI. The Lock Screen is minimalistic as usual. The main element is a Time and Date widget. The other ones are the icons in the status bar and the charging status if it's plugged in. A swipe unlocks the device by default. The Home Screen has all the usual elements in a familiar arrangement - a search bar on top, a Time and Date widget, and two rows of apps at the bottom. A swipe to the right opens Google Discover. A swipe to the left gives access to the next desktop with apps. In addition to giving you access to wallpapers and widgets, the Widget menu contains the Home Settings which allow you to switch on/off the notification dots, Google Discover, etc. From here, you can also change the launcher style which activates an app drawer. The latter is accessed by a swipe up from the Home Screen and lists the apps vertically in alphabetic order with a list of the most used apps on top below the app search bar. Desktop shortcuts are supported. The Task Manager tiles the applications horizontally. For each, you get access to the app info, split-screen mode, an app lock, and a white list option. The White list option is accessed if you choose "Manage" from the drop-down menu for each app tile. It allows you to select the application which cannot be removed from the background with the Clear All function or by restarting the device. A swipe down from the top left opens the list of notifications. The Notifications shade has a standard Android 13 design and layout. A swipe down from the top right opens the Quick Settings, which are listed on two successive screens. Above the toggles, there are four main ones - Wi-Fi, Mobile Data, Auto brightness, and Brightness level bar. Among the most noteworthy quick settings toggles are the ones for the flashlight, the camping light, the underwater camera, the battery saver, etc. The Volume settings also contain a toggle for a live caption. Fossibot F102 arrives with a standard set of pre-installed applications. The Google ones include the Assistant, Calendar, Chrome, Drive, Files, Find Device, Gmail, Google Discover, Keep Notes, Lens, Maps, Meet, Play Store, Photos, YouTube, and YT Music. Among those is also the Safety application. It is very thorough in providing various services for situations in which you might need help. Having in mind that rugged smartphones are usually carried in industrial sites, mountains, or the sea in extreme conditions, such safety features are more than welcome. You can customize them to your liking and need, including providing emergency sharing data with your real-time location and critical info, emergency contacts, safety check-in timer, subscription to alerts about nearby crises, etc. The standard Android apps comprise the Calculator, Camera, Clock, Contacts, FM Radio, Messenger, Note, Phone and Dialer, Settings, and Sound Recorder. There are also several additional applications, some of which have become the norm for ruggedized smartphones. One such application is the ToolBag which includes a compass, sound meter, gradienter, height measure, magnifier, protractor, plumb bog, lever, alarm bell, mirror, pedometer, and torch. The System Manager is also commonly installed on rugged mobiles. It has a section for power management, that is directly connected to the battery settings of the device. The rubbish clean feature clears spoiled and very old files that take up space. If you add apps to the freezing room is as if you have uninstalled them but you can easily activate them back. There's also an app autoboot list for applications that you want to start up automatically. The One Key Clean equals the White List of the Task Manager. Here you can lock the devices you wish to be protected from being cleared from the background. Finally, there's the App Lock which encrypts applications and you have to enter a password before opening and using them. The rest of the apps include what now has become a standard - Child Mode, Game Mode, and Easy Launcher. The Camping Light has a dedicated app that allows you to set several features. Otherwise, you have to uses the dedicated button to switch it on/off quickly. The Settings app lists the various options in the older-Android style - separate groups visually divided by light-gray lines. The first group is about connectivity and details about these options are in the corresponding section of this review. The second group comprises five menus that are not conceptually linked. It begins with the Notifications options including app settings, history, conversations, bubbles, lock screen notifications, DND mode, wireless emergency alerts, and several standard toggles. The second menu is about managing the Display - setting a bright or dark theme, adjusting the brightness, switching on/off the auto-brightness, lock screen settings, display size and text, LED notification light settings, notch settings, screen refresh rate, screen saver, etc. The Sound & Vibration menu follows with its four volume-level bars, DND mode, ringtones, and various specific toggles. Here are the Live Caption settings along with an Emergency Dialing Signal, Vibration & Haptics, and Hi-Fi Mode toggle. The fourth menu in the second group is the Security one. It is quite standard with the four security status features - Google Play Protect, Security Update, Find My Device and Google Play System Update. It continues with the screen lock settings, face & fingerprint unlock, Smart lock, and the rest of the typical security options. The last menu in the second group is the Passwords & Accounts one. The third group begins with the Apps menu with options to manage default applications, screen time, unused apps, and special app access. It is followed by the Battery menu (check the corresponding section in this review), the Storage menu, and the Accessibility options. The latter contains settings for the screen reader, display settings for the visually impaired, interaction controls, captions with live caption (again), audio settings for the hearing impaired, and accessibility shortcuts. The fourth group is the biggest one and contains almost everything else. It begins with the Privacy settings including the dashboard, permissions manager, camera and microphone access, lock screen notifications, autofill service, activity controls, Google location history, etc. It is followed by the Location menu with its privacy context. The Safety & Emergency menu is third in the fourth group. Its settings are the same as the ones accessed from the Safety described above. The Digital Wellbeing & Parental controls is fourth. The Fingerprint menu is next and contains a list of features that can be toggled on and off and serves as various types of navigation and quick access to apps and functions. The following menus are Google Settings, DuraSpeed, Memory expansion for virtual RAM expanding, Side Key Function, Gloves Mode, and Smart Assist. The Memory Expansions is what it says - you can virtually expand the available RAm with 3GB, 5GB, or 8GB on the F102. In order to take effect, the phone must be restarted. The Side Key Function menu allows you to assign functions to the physical button on the left frame of the device depending on whether you click it once, twice, or hold and press. The Gloves Mode is a simple toggle, which is off by default. When switched on, it enables the display to detect input touch when you're wearing gloves. The Smart Assist contains several intelligent features such as the Smart Touch, Gesture Motion, Night Light, and One-handed mode. The Smart Touch is a floating dot that can serve as an alternative way of navigation. The Gesture Motion contains six toggles - three-point screenshot, three-point camera entry, two-point volume adjustment, gesture double-click, silence the alarm by turning the phone and unlocking the phone by waving from a distance. The Night Light was usually under the Display settings but in the latest smartphones, it is a separate option under the Gesture Motion. You can toggle it on, adjust its intensity, or set a schedule for it to turn on automatically. Finally, there's the One-handed mode, which makes your one-hand interaction with the phone easier. The fifth group contains only the System menu and the About Phone one. The "System" one contains the usual update options, backup and reset, date and time, languages and input, and gestures. Under gestures, you will see the "Quickly open camera" feature, the System Navigation options (on-screen gestures or virtual buttons with further customization), the "Press and hold power button" feature, and the "Prevent ringing one". The About Phone menu contains the usual data about the model name, main specifications, software versions, IMEI numbers, MAC address, etc.