Bluboo S8 Review

OS, UI and software

Bluboo S8 runs 360 OS based on Android 7.0 Nougat. In some ways, the overall design strongly reminds of the iOS. In order to unlock, you have to swipe to the right, but you can change that from the Display menu and choose a swipe upwards. When you land on the home screen, you will see a search bar, clock widget, and 8 apps above a row of 4 docked apps. If you swipe to the left, this will give you access to the rest of the applications, some of which are allotted in two folders. When you install new apps, they will appear in this list directly. Removing them from here will uninstall them. A swipe to the right from the Home screen will open a feature that lists the most often used apps, list of news and a search function. A long tap on an empty space on the Home screen opens the Widgets menu, which contains a choice of widgets and wallpapers, options for icon and folder arrangement, as well as various home screen settings. A single swipe down from the top of the screen opens directly the list of Notifications and the Quick Settings. A second swipe expands the Quick Settings. From the Edit options (click the pencil icon to access them) you can add, remove and rearrange the toggles. The User management options are there, too. No possibility to activate the System UI Tuner. Tapping on the Menu button from the onscreen navigation bar opens the Task Manager. It tiles the applications horizontally. If you swipe an app downwards, you get three options for it to lock/unlock it from being cleared, to access the app information, and to enter the split-screen mode. The icon for the latter is not active for applications that do not support it. Bluboo S8 does arrive with a number of applications in addition to those that are found on smartphones by default. The Dialer actually contains shortcuts to the Contacts and Messenger, which is quite convenient especially if you're on the run and need swift access to both. The File Manager is also quite a convenient tool not only for accessing and organizing files but also for managing the storage. The Clock application strongly reminds us of that on MIUI and EUI. UC Browser is a simple and fast browser. It has an ad blocker, night mode, supports incognito browsing, smart downloading and tab management. The Calendar and Calculator are standard. Themes is another non-stock-Android application. It gives a choice of five themes, plenty of wallpapers and ringtones. The UC News app supports 15 languages, so you can use to read the news in a language of your choice. It has a special message centre and supports sharing comments and opinions. QuickTouch is an app that manages a software feature better known as a floating dot. If switched on, it can serve as an alternative navigation containing shortcuts to various apps and services. A double-tap on the dot opens the Task Manager, a single tap opens the larger circle with options. A press on it opens the Camera app, which happens quite swiftly actually. In addition, Bluboo S8 arrives with an Anti-theft application, a simple Notes app and a re-designed Sound Recorder. There are applications that are OS-bound, such as the 360 Security and 360 Clone ones. The 360 Security app offers three main services - Boost (kills background processes), Clean (cleans junk files), and an Antivirus program. The Speedup service is actually the Boost one from the 360 Security app. The 360 Clone feature is used if you have to transfer quickly all data from one smartphone to another. FreeShare is another similar service. The Freezer is an application, which we're already familiar with from several Oukitel smartphones we have recently reviewed. This is a virtual place, where you can put apps (for good or temporarily) in order to speed up the device and boost power efficiency. When an application is there it cannot run, even as a hidden background process. Once you remove it from the Freezer, it functions normally. 9Apps is very much like a Play Store from where you can download and manage various applications as long as you have a 360 OS account. The Kika app provides you with access to online themes, emoji, sounds, ringtones, etc. The Settings menu is typical for Android 7.0 Nougat but utilises colour icons designating the separate menus. It begins with the list of suggestions followed by the first group of options - Wireless & networks. This group contains the usual settings for wireless connections (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth), SIM cards management, data usage, cellular network settings. The second group is called Device and lets you manage the Display, Sound, Notifications, Apps, Storage, Battery, Memory, Users, and Permissions. The Display menu does contain the MiraVision suite for tweaking the display and settings for the Charging lock screen - this is a lock screen that contains battery charging information. The Permissions tool allows you to manage the onboard applications in various ways as to increase power efficiency. The first list is about applications that are allowed or not to autostart with the device. The second list includeс apps that will be safe from being cleared when the screen goes off. The third list protects applications being cleared from the Speedup functions. The third group of settings is named Personal and manages the usual Location, Security, Fingerprint, Accounts, Google, Languages & input, Backup & reset. This group also contains a Cloud Service menu, which allows you to store your SMS, contacts, card contacts, import data from another smartphone, etc. The 360-bound services such as the 360 Security, 360 Clone, Cloud service, and 9Apps have to be given right to access from the Accessibility menu. Otherwise, the rest is pretty standard. The 360 OS looks and behaves well. The only software glitch that we could detect is in the Fingerprint menu. When you add a new fingerprint the existing list of saved IDs is not updated. You have to go back a level up and load again the list of IDs so that it is refreshed and shows the exact number of stored fingerprint IDs.