Oukitel WP63: 30-second review
Oukitel has a strange approach to phone naming: they release phones in seemingly random order. Therefore, the WP66 has been around for a while, and now the WP63 has arrived.
But perhaps the problem isn’t the order in which these devices were announced, but when they actually get delivered.
With so many phones on Oukitel’s stable, you might be wondering, not unreasonably, what makes this one different?
On the surface, this is a heavy rugged design where battery capacity is paramount, mostly at the expense of fitting in a normal-sized pocket.
That hints it's aimed at the adventure market, since this phone could easily last a week without a charge, if you use it wisely. Reinforcing that notion, it also has a big speaker and a camping light. But one feature on this phone I’ve never seen before sounds a little bonkers.
This is the first phone I’ve reviewed that has an ‘ignitor’ in it. Yes, something to intentionally start fires, not just accidentally. If you need to start fires, or you just can’t give up smoking, then the WP63 might be the perfect phone for you.
In other respects, this isn’t an especially powerful smartphone, but it can reverse charge at 18W using an inbuilt USB-C cable, and it is running Android 16. It’s also not expensive, making it a good candidate if the rugged requirement is only for a specific trip or job. However, I can’t see myself putting this in our best rugged phone collection, even with its unique features.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Oukitel WP63: price and availability
- How much does it cost? $390/£295/€405
- When is it out? Available from Oukitel in early November
- Where can you get it? Only from Oukitel
While I was writing this review, I was slightly confused by the lack of a web page for this device, since I knew its release was imminent.
Thankfully, now the WP63 has a webpage, and I’ve been promised it should be available to purchase by the time you read this review.
The quoted US price is $389.99, supposedly 35% less than the $599.99 MSRP Oukitel imagined when they cooked up this phone. UK customers pay £294.58, and in the EU it’s €348.05. But keep in mind that prices can change. Unusually for a Chinese phone maker, these prices are roughly identical based on the current exchange rates between the US dollar, British pound, and Euro.
While the WP63 has some unique features, plenty of rugged designs offer 20000 mAh of battery capacity, but most pack more processing power than this model.
A phone with a similar spec is the Blackview XPLORE 1, which costs $359.99 on Amazon.com, and at that price you do get more RAM and 55W charging.
That pricing suggests the WP63 isn’t a bargain, but if it saves you from carrying another ignition source, the cost difference may be worth it.
The WP63 isn’t an expensive phone, but it also has modest specs.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)- Value score: 4/5
Oukitel WP63: Specs
Oukitel WP63 SpecificationsCPU:
UNISOC T8200 octa-core, 6nm TSMC
GPU:
ARM Mali-G57
NPU:
Inbuilt NPU
Memory:
8GB RAM, confirmed on the sample, plus up to 24GB virtual RAM
Storage:
256GB UFS 2.2 LPDDR4X, microSD up to 1TB (shared with second SIM)
Display:
6.7-inch LCD, 720 by 1600 pixels, 120Hz refresh
Brightness:
480 nits typical
Glass:
Corning Gorilla 5
Rear cameras:
64MP OV64B40 (1/2 inch, f/1.8), 8MP night vision with infrared lights.
Front camera:
20MP Sony IMX376 - 1080P@30fps
Battery:
20,000mAh, 33W wired charging, 18W reverse charging.
Operating system:
Android 16
Wireless:
WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, dual SIM 5G, eSIM ready
Navigation:
GPS (L1 and L5), GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou
Audio:
3W Smart speaker
Protection:
IP68, IP69K, MIL STD 810H
Dimensions:
174.7 x 83 x 27mm
Weight:
629g
Colour:
Black
Oukitel WP63: Design
- A chunky monkey
- In-built USB-C cable
- Light the blue touch paper
If I were inclined to hike a long way, maybe over several days, I’m not sure I’d take the WP63 along. At 629g and an awkward fit in most pockets, this is a hefty device that you wouldn’t want to carry in open water.
However, Oukitel sloped the undersides, so it’s relatively easy to handle unless you have weak wrists.
Button placement is typical, with the power and volume rocker on the right and a PTT custom button on the left with the SIM slot. One mild annoyance was that when it wants a fingerprint for access, it places a fingerprint icon on the screen, where some phones have the sensor embedded under the display. This isn't one of those phones, and the fingerprint reader is actually on the power button.
That said, most people should be able to transition to this device easily.
On the rear is a 3W speaker for summoning beach-party people, and that pushes the two rear cameras out to the edge of the phone. What space is left by the speaker and camera cluster is taken up with a substantial camping LED, one of those that can temporarily blind you if set to full brightness and looked at. This device has no wireless charging because there is no open space for it.
None of this is especially unusual, as I’ve seen a dozen or more rugged phones with a big lamp and speaker, probably in the past year. Where the WP63 goes off into uncharted territory is with two other special functions, one of which is a short but integrated USB-C cable. This cable can be used to charge and also reverse charge other devices, making it unnecessary to carry a charging cable with you. I like this idea, and even with the shortness of the cable, it's useful.
The other special feature is slightly more controversial, because the WP63 can set things on fire, hopefully when you intend for it to do so.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Given how phones and other battery-powered devices are often blamed for starting fires, it seems contradictory to actually design a phone specifically to set things on fire, but Oukitel did.
Along the top edge is the ignitor, which comes out of a tube when pressed down and sideways, so it doesn’t deploy accidentally. A phone app controls when it heats and for how long, so it should be impossible for this to happen unintentionally.
The minimum heating time is four seconds, the maximum is ten, and then there is a longer period during which the ignitor must cool down before it can be fired again. You are advised that the ignitor gets extremely hot, and it is best not to touch it when in use.
So what is this practically useful for? Well, I suspect it's fine for lighting cigarettes, the odd firework, but you would need some paper or dry tinder to start a campfire using it.
The box includes a spare igniter element, so it will eventually burn through the heated wire it uses, and you can replace that part. Some grease is also provided to make sure the igniter deploys smoothly when you want it.
I don’t know how much power this feature uses, but it will have an impact if you use it repeatedly.
As a non-smoker and non-pyromaniac, this isn’t a feature I’d find much use for, but I accept that others might find it useful. I just wouldn’t want to be found with this phone in an era which has had an unexplained forest fire recently.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Design score: 4/5
Oukitel WP63: Hardware
- UNISOC T8200
- 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage
- 20000 mAh battery
The UNISOC T8200 (UMS9621S) is a mid-range 5G chip. It has eight cores in two clusters, with two Cortex-A76 cores at up to 2.3GHz and six smaller cores at up to 2.1GHz. A two-core Mali G57 handles graphics, and the chip is built on TSMC’s older 6nm process. That process is a little dated now, but it remains perfectly efficient if underwhelming.
Memory support is sensible. The controller handles LPDDR4 and LPDDR4X, with the latter used here. That means no speedy LPDDR5, which holds back peak performance.
The integrated modem covers sub-6 GHz 5G with carrier aggregation. There is no mmWave here, but few phones at this level need it.
The camera and display features are generous for the price. UNISOC says the chip supports sensors up to 108MP, 4K video recording and a 120Hz FHD+ display. Variable refresh rate support should also help battery life. However, not all of those features apply to this phone.
So how does it perform? Day to day, it should feel fine. Scrolling, browsing, social media and video streaming sit well within its abilities. The two A76 cores give it a useful turn of speed when apps need it. Notebookcheck lists a Geekbench 6 single-core score of around 750. That is respectable, and clearly better than entry-level silicon.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Gaming is where limits appear. Two GPU cores will manage casual titles and older 3D games without fuss. Demanding modern games will need lower settings and will not hold high frame rates for long. I would not buy it for that job.
Against the competition, it sits below chips like the Dimensity 8100, which uses a 4nm process and much faster Cortex A78 cores. It is a budget-friendly alternative, not a rival, and Oukitel only use UFS 2.2 storage because it works in this context. The allocation of 256GB is plenty for most people, and you can add a 1TB microSD if you need to capture lots of video.
For a rugged or value-focused handset, the T8200 is a sound choice. It is quick enough, frugal enough and well connected. Just keep expectations realistic.
The one area where Oukitel pushed the boat out is battery capacity, with 20000mAh to splurge. That obviously provides a substantial running time, but it can also be used through reverse charging to keep other devices powered. One nice note about that feature is that if it is charging another phone, for example, and the battery capacity hits 20%, it will stop so it doesn’t exhaust the battery entirely.
- Hardware score: 3.5/5
Oukitel WP63: Cameras
- 64MP and 8MP on the rear
- 20MP on the front
- Three cameras in total
The Oukitel WP63 has three cameras:
Rear cameras: 64MP Omnivision OV64B40 , 8MP Hynix Hi-846 (Night Vision)
Front camera: 20MP Sony IMX376
The camera sensor collection on this phone isn’t the best, but it isn’t junk either.
I’ve seen the 64MP Omnivision OV64B40 on many devices, and it performs decently on most of them, even if it’s not a sensor a premium phone would use.
The biggest issue is that it has no optical zoom, so all zoom is digital. That undermines the premise of using a 64MP sensor with pixel binning to deliver 16MP images that are sharp and perfectly saturated. The results without zooming are therefore much better than those with. I took some decent pictures using this sensor, but it does like plenty of light.
One positive aspect of this sensor is that it will capture 4K video, but only at 30 fps. In fact, it's locked to 30 fps at all resolutions unless you use ‘slow motion’ mode, where the frame rate jumps to 120 fps for 1080p or 720p capture.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)The second rear sensor is an 8MP Hynix Hi-846 Night Vision chip. An SK Hynix part with an 8-megapixel 1/4-inch sensor and 1.12 µm pixels. It outputs 3264x2448 natively, so the resolution in your screenshot matches its true array and not a cropped one. Works well if the subject is close enough to be illuminated by the IR array,
The front-facing 20MP Sony IMX376 seems ideal for selfies, but it is limited to 1080p video.
And, as I always check, this phone is rated for Widevine L1 encryption, so streamed video can be higher than 480p. However, the screen resolution isn't enough for 1080p streaming, so it's not a huge benefit.
Overall, the cameras can take decent photos and video, but these choices seem mostly budget-driven and not meant to deliver photographic excellence.
Mark Pickavance
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Mark Pickavance- Camera score: 3.5/5
Oukitel WP63: Performance
Phone
Oukitel WP63
UleFone RugKing 5 Pro
SoC
Unisoc T8200
Unisoc T7250
GPU
ARM Mali-G57 MP2
ARM Mali-G57
NPU
Integrated NPU
N/A
Memory
6GB/256GB
8GB/256GB
Weight
629g
629g
Battery
20000
20000