Black Shark 5 Pro durability test
Gaming smartphones have had tough outings at Zack’s place lately. Well, last year’s Black Shark 4 did survive his torturous durability test quite comfortably, but the likes of ROG Phone 5 and Legion Phone 2 Duel didn’t. They broke during the bend test, with the latter snapping into three pieces like a biscuit. With that in mind, let’s dive into the Black Shark 5 Pro durability test. As usual, the tortures begin with Zack scratching the phone’s display with picks of varying hardness. The Black Shark 5 Pro starts scratching at Level 6 hardness, with deeper grooves at Level 7. This confirms a glass screen, very much the standard today. Sapphire is stronger and doesn’t scratch until a Level 8 hardness on Moh’s scale, but it’s costlier and is hardly used on smartphones. Zack then uses his knife to try and cut through the phone’s frame but it’s made of metal. Everything from the volume controls and fingerprint scanner to the physical gaming triggers gets a metallic build, making a screeching sound under the knife. The SIM tray at the bottom reveals that Black Shark isn’t even including a rubber ring around holes and ports to keep the water out, let alone offer an official IP rating. So you might not want to take the phone anywhere near water. Moving on, we have frosted glass on the back, with no Gorilla Glass protection. The cameras get a glass covering but the LED flash weirdly sits under a layer of clear plastic. The display is an OLED panel that goes completely white under direct heat but the pixels mostly recover after some time.
This gaming smartphone is stronger than some of its competitors
After all this, we are down to the bend test, which is considered the pinnacle of Zack’s durability test. The Black Shark 5 Pro was expected to come out clean in one piece like its predecessor. And thankfully, it did. One bending from the back, the phone shows a decent amount of flex along the antenna line, usually a weak point on a smartphone’s body. Flipping it to the other side, the handset sees some “substantial separation” between the frame and the back glass. However, the device locks out without anything breaking or cracking. The Black Shark 5 Pro survives this durability test. You can watch the full video below, if you love to see Zack torturing expensive smartphones.
