While there were a few unconfirmed leaks circulating online, little was known about the mysterious Black Shark, except that it is a gaming smartphone from Black Shark Technology, a Chinese gaming company backed by Xiaomi. The veil was finally lifted yesterday when the whole device was revealed, complete with specs and accessories:

The Black Shark comes in two flavors: Polar Night and Sky Gray
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Some of the new device's specs are as follows:

• 5.99” 18:9 IPS LCD with Full HD+ resolution
  
• Snapdragon 845 chip
  
• Adreno 630 GPU
  
• 4,000 mAh battery
  
• Up to 8GB of RAM
  
• Up to 128 GB Internal Storage
• An integrated multi-stage liquid cooling system that brings the CPU temperature 8° C down
• Android Oreo OS with JOY UI custom launcher
• Dual camera on the back: 12 MP f/1.75 + 20 MP f/1.75 with 6P lens and a dual-LED flash
• Front camera: 20MP sensor but slower f/2.2 lens
• 109g weight

Unfortunately, the Black Shark does not feature a microSD slot but comes in two versions: 6 GB RAM + 64 GB internal storage or 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage.

To stand out as a gaming smartphone, the Black Shark has a few dedicated features to back its claim. The gaming phone's most striking feature is its dedicated detachable gamepad. The latter is somewhat akin to the Nintendo Switch's joy-con as it attaches on one side of the phone. The gamepad itself packs a 340 mAh and can connect via Bluetooth. While this peripheral will be sold separately, the first 50,000 buyers will get it for free. It is a quite peculiar gamepad as it is only one-sided, offering only one analogue stick and a shoulder button but no directional keys nor any A/B/X/Y buttons.

Another "game-y" feature is its "Shark" key located on its left side. This will allow the phone to go all out, dedicating all resources for optimal performance.

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Gaming smartphones might sound like a niche market but they are slowly picking up. That's especially the case in China where online mobile games are a huge hit. There is even a growing competition among hardware companies to bring gaming smartphones to consumers. Razer recently unveiled its Razer phone and another gaming phone, the Red Magic, is in the works. The smartphone gaming market has also been welcoming console titles like PUBG and Fortnite that will soon follow suit and might attract more gamers worldwide.

The Black Shark is now available for pre-order on JD.com, with the 8GB RAM/128GB storage version costing CNY3,499 (€452/$557) and the 6GB RAM/64 GB version priced at CNY2,999 (€387/$477). The Black Shark Gamepad is sold separately at CNY179 (€23/$28).

Black Shark Official Website

 

[WhiteMaze]

A lot of people here seem to dislike the design. I actually like the design.

Feels good to finally see a departure from the overly clean, flat, "iphon-esk" and Samsung type design..

 

[Deleted User]

A lot of people here seem to dislike the design. I actually like the design.

Feels good to finally see a departure from the overly clean, flat, "iphon-esk" and Samsung type design..

Yeah it's honestly refreshing to see a phone look like this after the overly simplified feel and UI design that seems to pervade mobile phones today.

I guess some people think it looks too much like Alienware desktops, or that it's trying too hard, though.

 

[GhostLatte]

Who needs iPhones anyways? Much better shit for hlav the price.

The basic people who live and breathe Starbucks.

 

[gohan123]

Chinese phone, which means it'll snap as soon as it's taken out of the box. Or explode with its counterfeit Samsung battery. That also will only last a tenth of the advertised capacity rating.

Even if by some chance they do have a winner, anyone importing it will find it will at best work with ONLY AT&T, because international phones seem to only target that carrier for compatible bands.

And yet both Sony and Nintendo killed their handhelds because of this garbage?

if it's not only backed by xiaomi but also build by them .. I highly doubt that.

@ gamepad

something like this but individually improved to the device would be so much better

 

[WhiteMaze]

Yeah it's honestly refreshing to see a phone look like this after the overly simplified feel and UI design that seems to pervade mobile phones today.

I guess some people think it looks too much like Alienware desktops, or that it's trying too hard, though.

I agree that the design could have been less aggressive. But I still like how it stands out from the norm.

 

[Azmort]

No Windows (x86) = Not Gaming

 

[the_randomizer]

No Windows (x86) = Not Gaming

x86 phones can't even run emulators well ;O;

 

[ILuvGames]

I bought a first generation Mi Pad from Xiaomi when they first came out. Was very happy with the quality of Xiaomi's product. Still am. It still out performs almost all tablets nearly 4 years later. Even though this discussion is about a phone, based on my experience of owning a Xiaomi product I would gladly buy this if I was in the market for it.

 

[Deleted User]

No Windows (x86) = Not Gaming

So, by your logic, the PS4 isn't gaming?

 

[spotanjo3]

Who needs iPhones anyways? Much better shit for hlav the price.

Apple hater, aren't you ?

 

[Xen0]

Apple hater, aren't you ?

Yes I am

 

[TotalInsanity4]

So, by your logic, the PS4 isn't gaming?

The PS4 runs on an x86 processor, that was one of two of the worst examples you could have given to prove a point

 

[Vieela]

To be fairly honest? I don't think there's enough market for creating a phone targetted to gaming. Sure, there is indeed some heavy games that need a controller (and by the way, Xiaomi's controller on this is terrible. Really, it's sad. Only left sided?...) and a great hardware, but these are in quite small amounts. I can only see this being really well utilized if someone pretends to emulate GC/Wii games on their phone. (and YET, there's phones waaaay cheaper that can do the same.) Nonetheless, it's pretty interesting to have such thing. It is a very powerful phone indeed, and surely will run the heaviest games available and possibly even in the future. I'd say barely any games nowadays utilize so much of the hardware's full capabilities, whoever buy this phone won't need an upgrade for quite a long time.

 

[Deleted User]

The PS4 runs on an x86 processor, that was one of two of the worst examples you could have given to prove a point

My point was that the PS4 runs a variant of FreeBSD instead of Windows, though you are right about the x86 processor.

In retrospect, something like the 3DS, Switch, or Vita would've been a better example. My point still stands, however.

 

[KingVamp]

A lot of people here seem to dislike the design. I actually like the design.

Feels good to finally see a departure from the overly clean, flat, "iphon-esk" and Samsung type design..

I'm neutral about the design, but I can see why people might be against it.

To be fairly honest? I don't think there's enough market for creating a phone targetted to gaming. Sure, there is indeed some heavy games that need a controller (and by the way, Xiaomi's controller on this is terrible. Really, it's sad. Only left sided?...) and a great hardware, but these are in quite small amounts. I can only see this being really well utilized if someone pretends to emulate GC/Wii games on their phone. (and YET, there's phones waaaay cheaper that can do the same.) Nonetheless, it's pretty interesting to have such thing. It is a very powerful phone indeed, and surely will run the heaviest games available and possibly even in the future. I'd say barely any games nowadays utilize so much of the hardware's full capabilities, whoever buy this phone won't need an upgrade for quite a long time.

Ideally, there would be a shop and ports specifically for the phone.

 

[BlackWizzard17]

This would actually be good for emulation with PS2, Gamecube and PSP. Snap Dragon 845 is a beat of a processor going off of the powerful 835.
I wonder if the screens refresh rate will be 120hz instead of 60hz like razors gaming phone.

 

[zeveroth]

Anyone remember the NGage? It was bad-ass for about 5 minutes. I see this going the same way .

 

[LightyKD]

F**K THIS! Who the hell needs these beefy ass specs for Android gaming?! There aren't even enough PS360 level PC game ports on Android. If this was a x86 Windows device, that would be awesome but this shit is not needed? Don't even get me started on the "gamepad". It's just a damn add on analog stick. You wanna make a gaming phone? Give me a damn phone with a slide out gamepad like the Xperia Play. As of now, this game will be good for PS2 and GameCube emulation but 80% of Android games will be wasting the added horsepower. If I could add a rolling eye emoji to this, I would!

 

[calagan]

I kindof agree that nowadays, in terms of gaming, ARM devices cannot keep up with x86, but this has nothing to do with the CPU (x86 CISC architecture is objectively inferior), it's all about the those subpar Adreno, Mali and Videocore GPUs that are ruining the whole thing.

It's hard to believe that after about three years, the Nvidia Shield remains the best Android device for gaming, just because Nvidia took care of including its Kepler graphic chip (which was then used for the Nintendo Switch in its next iteration).

 

[Bladexdsl]

yay a phone to play all your shitty micro$ games on