With the Black Shark 4 finally arriving in Malaysia, has the wait been worth it for the latest iteration of gaming phone? Having announced its availability and pre-order window just a week ago, we took the time to try it out to see if it lives up to the hype. Our review model is the 8GB + 128GB variant.

SPECIFICATIONS IN BRIEF

DESIGN

At first glance, the Black Shark 4 Pro looks quite simple, even ordinary. It’s when you attach the case, then it starts looking “gamer-like”, if people hadn’t already recognized the Black Shark logo that lights up on the back.  There’s a caveat where it’s really easy to leave fingerprint marks on the back, if it isn’t already covered by the case.

It measures 163.8 x 76.4 x 9.9mm, weighing in at 220g. This makes the phone one on the heavier side, which I personally prefer. With the magnetic cooling, that heft is increased, besides also gaining bulk. After more regular use, you’d likely get used to it and it’ll feel less awkward when you have it on for your games. Unlike most phones where they have the volume and power buttons on the same side, the Black Shark 4 Pro has volume on the left with the SIM card slot, with the power button on the right in between the Trigger buttons. The bottom has the USB Type-C port and 3.5mm audio jack. In horizontal position, the speakers are on the right and left side of the phone.

DISPLAY

As befitting its intention to cater to the mobile gaming market, the 6.67-inch display is great, to put it simply, offering a high refresh rate up to 144Hz and customizable to suit your needs. With its Magic Press technology – for dual press-sensitivity – your inputs will be as accurate as possible, especially important if you’re playing a competitive mode. You can “map” this indeed magical press, so you don’t have to worry about accidental inputs.

The Samsung E4 AMOLED display is naturally also well suited for your regular activities, be it surfing the net or watching videos. Enjoy a 1300 nits peak brightness, true DC dimming, HDR10+, DCI-P3 certified, MEMC supported screen! All this, with up to 15% less power consumption, to keep those lights on for as long as possible.

PERFORMANCE

With a combination of a Snapdragon 888 5G chip and Kyro 680 CPU, could you expect anything less besides very fast processing power and great performance? The 4500mAh battery comes along with an admittedly bulky and heavy charger, but that’s a good enough trade off for a 15 minute full charge. It doesn’t boast being the fastest charging gaming phone for nothing.

Gaming wise, you can see all the apps you’ve installed through Shark Space. If it isn’t already in the list, you can add it manually. Shark Space gives you the customization options to further improve performance as you game, basically a gaming mode to let you play without any external interruptions. All games below ran on the highest possible settings.

MOBILE LEGENDS: BANG BANG

I’m sure the absence of lag and low phone temperature will appeal to those who play this game more competitively. Go wild!

PUBG MOBILE

The trigger buttons initially feel awkward, though as mentioned, it just needs some time to get accustomed to. On Ultra HD graphics, the phone does feel hot, so if you’re planning to crank up the settings, use the cooler or keep it at Medium settings.

GENSHIN IMPACT

The titan of mobile benchmarking, the Black Shark 4 Pro performs swimmingly with no latency and keeps 60 FPS. Unfortunately, the phone does start to bake after a while and rapidly drains the battery within an hour, so sticking to the recommended settings will keep the phone cool and save on power consumption.

SHARK-CHAN

While not a game, the phone comes with its own AI assistant, named Shark-chan. She’ll call you “Commander”, and can help set your alarm or just hang around when you’re charging your phone. You can interact with her a little by touching her when she’s on the screen. There’s only eight actions available now, but why not, right?

COOLING

The two liquid cooling internal components in the Black Shark 4 Pro makes for a 30% overall increase in heat dissipation, keeping the CPU temperature lower by 18 degrees. You’re not going to have a hot potato in your hand if you’re gaming for long.

This is thanks to the copper heatsink designed to rapidly redirect heat to the liquid cooling system to accelerate heat venting. The new intelligent NTC temperature sensor also helps to detect the temperature, transmitting data to the cooling system for better real time temperature control.

AUDIO

Perhaps it’s not surprising to learn that the speakers are truly astounding, boasting the top rank of the DXOMARK smartphone audio charts. It features dual-symmetrical linear stereo speakers, with high-power amplifiers and also oversized sound cavity which produce the best sound quality.

The partnership with DTS and Citrus Logic Technology have further helped to fine tune the sound effects, offering incredible music playback and recording. The three microphones have noise cancelling, so you’ll be heard loud and clear.

CAMERA

While gaming may be the primary focus here, the camera setup is hardly to be scoffed at. It has a whole bunch of features including 4K, super night scene, electronic image stabilization and more for when you want to moonlight as a photographer.

If you really want the best quality photos, you should look for something more dedicated over the Black Shark 4 Pro. This gaming phone is just to give you the flexibility.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

As promised, the Black Shark 4 Pro is perfectly suited for your mobile gaming needs and flexible enough for other functions. It’s got 5G support too, for future proofing. If you’re looking for one of, if not the best, gaming experiences out there, pre-order your own starting 25 January 2022, RM 2599 for 8GB + 128 GB and RM 2999 for 12GB + 256 GB.