The Umidigi Bison is Umidigi’s first rugged device and this device has IP68 and IP69k rating (read more on IP ratings). Umidigi Bison is designed to withstand stress and harsh conditions and is the first device in the Umidigi Rugged series.
The device has a solid battery life, fast charge, PTT, liquid cooling system, under water camera, protractor, dust proof, waterproof, shock proof etc.
If you are looking for the device to keep with your keys in same pocket, that doesn’t send your heart racing if you have slippery hands and can withstand some extreme conditions, then the Bison is for you.
Well, lets take a look at all the its features and specifications.
Umidigi Bison Specifications Summary
| OS | Android 10 Stock OS |
| DISPLAY | 6.3 inch LCD FHD display with 1080p resolution. |
| CAMERA | 24MP selfie 48MP main + 16MP ultra wide + 5 MP depth sensor + 5MP Macro LensRAM6 GB of RAM spaceSTORAGE128GB storage with expansion card slot (Uses SIM 2 Slot)PROCESSORMediaTek Helio P60 Octacore chip, 12nm, 4 x Cortex-A73 chips clocked up to 2.0GHz & 4 x Cortex-A53 chips with speed up to 2.0GHz. |
| BATTERY | 5000 mAh |
| SECURITY | Face Unlock and Side Finger Print |
Design
Being a rugged device, the Umidigi Bison is quite bulky unlike regular devices but this doesn’t affect the aesthetics of this device.
The Umidigi Bison is 6.3 inch tall with a U Notch visible on the top bezel. The bezels are quite large as this helps with build quality. The device has a thickness of 12.8mm but weighs only 259g.
The phone has a solid polycarbonate build that ensures you have a good grip and prevents it accidentally slipping off your hands. Should it eventually slip, the device is built to withstand a 1.5m drop.
On the right side of the phone are the volume buttons, the power button and a customizable button that you can assign any function to.
The left side of this device house the side fingerprint sensor, SIM tray and a second customizable button. The 3.5mm jack is places at the top while the base houses the type C charging port and a dedicated mic.
Off to the back of the phone, we have the quad camera cutout sitting at the top left, barometer sensors next to it and a second Mic. The Bison series trademark is beautifully placed at the centre, running vertically bottom up. At the bottom left is the external speaker and there is also a Lanyard Hook close to it.
Umidigi Bison Build Quality
The Bison is a rugged 12.8mm device with not so slim bezels. The device is IP68 certified meaning it is dustproof and waterproof and also has an IP69K certification for being able to perform normally under pressure (up to 1450 psi) and temperature up 80 Degree Celsius.
The thick build also contributes to its shockproof and ability to withstand drops from 1.5metres. It has the US Military Grade MIL-STD-810G drop test certification. The Umidigi Bison is tightly sealed.
The screen has a Gorilla Glass of unknown certification (I suspect the Glass 3) while the casing protrudes a little at the front to make sure the screen doesn’t touch any surface if the phone falls.
Display
Umidigi rarely holds back when it comes to display as the Bison has a 6.3 inch Full HD+ IPS LCD with 2340 x 1080 screen resolution. This give 409 pixels per inch (PPI) and it common amongst their devices within this price range.
Screen protection as mentioned earlier is an unspecified Corning Gorilla Glass. The device isn’t bezel-less and that is expected. A minor trade off for durability. Aspect ratio stands at 19.5:9.
Camera Setup and Specification.
For its price tag, the Umidigi Bison has a 24MP selfie camera sitting under the receiver grille of the phone. It is AI powered and can take awesome photos with nice filters.
The rear side of the smartphone has quad camera lens; a 48MP Sony main rear shooter, a 16MP Wide lens camera with 120 degrees field of view, a 5MP macro camera and an additional 5MP depth sensor.
Both cameras can shoot 1080p videos at 30fps, with great auto focus, Like most other Umidigi products though, there is no video stabilization.
Umidigi Bison Performance: Processor, Memory and OS
Under the hood, we have the MediaTek Helio P60 processor with 4 x Cortex-A73 chips clocked up to 2.0GHz & 4 x Cortex-A53 chips with speed up to 2.0GHz.
P60 chip may be 2 years old but it is still efficient and quite chip, help keeping the phone price cheap. The processor is backed by ARM Mali G72 MP3 GPU with speed up to 800MHz.
Over to the memory aspect, we have a 128GB UFS 2.1 flash storage and 6GB LPDDR4X ram space. All combined together, make the phone pretty cool.
There is also the Liquid cooling System 2.0 that helps dissipate heat while the phone is under heavy use. This phone should be able to handle PUGB and CODM under low-medium graphic settings.
The Bison is chipped with bloat free stock Android 10 OS making performance better. Well this is better deal than most phones out there can offer.
Battery Life, Connectivity and Other Functions
The Umidigi Bison is powered by a 5000mAh battery with 18W fast charge. This is enough to last a full day on moderate to heavy usage.
The smartphone is a 4G VoLTE compatible smartphone and dual band WiFi that operates in 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. There is also Bluetooth 4.2 available although I would have preferred the 5.0 version.
There is a 3.5mm headphone jack and USB Type C available on the smartphone. There is also a barometer, electronic compass and even NFC. For security, you get the Face Unlock and side fingerprint sensor.
Overall Specifications
Network
| Technology | GSM / HSPA / LTE |
| 2G | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2 |
| 3G | WCDMA: Band 1, Band 2, Band 4, Band 5, Band 6, Band 8, Band 19 |
| 4G | FDD-LTE: Band 1, Band 2, Band 3, Band 4, Band 5, Band 7, Band 8, Band 12, Band 13, Band 17, Band 18, Band 19, Band 20, Band 26, Band 28A, Band 28B, Band 66. TDD-LTE: Band 34, Band 38, Band 39, Band 40, Band 41 |
| Sim Type | Dual Nano SIM |
| Network Speed | Unspecified. Probabely HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE Cat4 150/50 Mbps |
Design and Display
| Dimensions | 162.5 mm x 79.9 mm x 12.8 mm |
| Height | 162.5 mm |
| Width | 79.9 mm |
| Thickness | 12.8 mm |
| Weight | 250 g |
| Display Size | 6.3 inch |
| Display Resolution | 1080p x 2340 |
| Display Technology | LCD |
| Build | Solid polycarbonate, Gorilla Glass Front |
| Protection | Solid Durable Polycarbonate, Gorilla Glass Front |
| Colors | Cyber Yellow, Lava Orange |
Platform and Hardware
| OS | Android 10 Stock ROM |
| Processor Name & Technology | MediaTek Helio P6-, 12nm Fabrication, Cortex A73, A53 |
| No. of Processor Cores | Octacore chip |
| Processor Cores Speed | A73 4 x 2.0GHz, A53 4 x 2.0GHz |
| Graphics Chipset | ARM Mali G72 MP3 GPU IMG PowerVR8320 |
| RAM | 6GB of RAM space |
| Internal Storage | 128GB of Storage space |
| External Storage | Yes. Uses SIM 2 Hybrid Slot |
| Sensors | Side-Mounted Fingerprint Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor, Gyro, Touch Sensor, Electronic Compass, Barometer |
Camera Specifications
| Front/Selfie | 24MP Sony ultra-clear front camera, 1080 Video @30 fps |
| Rear Camera | 64MP Sony primary camera, 1/2” image sensor, 1.6μm 4-in-1 super pixel, F/1.79 aperture, 6-element lens + 16MP Ultrawide FOV 120 + 5 MP Depth sensor + 5MP Macro Camera, Dual LED Flash, 1080 Video @30 fps |
| Features | 48MP HD, Ultra wide-angle mode, Steady handheld night photography, Slow motion video, AI scenes detection, Macro mode, Portrait mode, Panorama mode, HDR, AI Beautify, Ultra wide-angle edge distortion correction, Dual LED flash, Face recognition, Real-time filters |
Multimedia
| Video | FLV, MP4, MKV, AVI, 3GP |
| Audio | PCM, AAC / AAC + / eAAC +, MP3, AMR – NB and WB, APE, WAV |
| Image | jpeg, png, gif |
| Speaker type and Chipset | Single, Chip Unknown |
| Audio Jack | Yes, 3.5mm |
Connectivity
| Bluetooth | 4.2 |
| WLAN (WiFi) | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band(2.4, 5.0), Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
| USB | Yes, TypeC |
| NFC | Yes |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS |
Battery
| Battery Capacity | 5000mAh |
| Battery Technology | LiPo |
| Fast Charge | Yes 18W |
| Removable | No |
Umidigi Bison Price
The Umidigi Bison is priced around $150 on Alixpress, N57,000 on Alixpress app and around N85000 on Jumia.
