Blackview WAVE 6C Review UK

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Ever feel like you need a second mortgage just to buy a new mobile? The latest flagship phones from the big names can cost well over a grand. It’s enough to make your wallet weep. But what if you could get a perfectly decent, brand-new smartphone for less than the price of a fancy meal out for two? That’s the promise of phones like the Blackview WAVE 6C.

For under £100, you get a big screen, a battery that claims to last for yonks, and the latest Android software. On paper, it sounds like a stonkingly good deal. But we’ve all been burned by “too good to be true” offers before. Is this a genuine bargain that punches well above its weight, or is it a classic case of getting what you pay for – a slow, frustrating piece of plastic destined for the back of a drawer?

Blackview Wave 6C 4G Smartphone Unlocked

Get Latest Price

Amazon.co.uk

Display: Features a 6.5-inch waterdrop display with a 720×1600 HD+ resolution for an immersive visual experience.
Battery: Equipped with a large 5100mAh battery, providing extended usage for gaming, video, calls, and music.
Performance: Powered by an octa-core Unisoc SC9863A processor, ensuring smooth performance for daily tasks and multitasking.
Memory & Storage: Comes with up to 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, expandable up to 1TB with a TF card.
Camera System: Includes an 8MP Samsung ISOCELL rear camera and a 5MP front camera, capable of capturing detailed photos and 1080p videos.

We’re going to find out. This isn’t just a quick look at the spec sheet. We’re diving deep into what it’s really like to live with the Blackview WAVE 6C in the UK. We’ll test its speed, snap photos in typical British weather (grey and drizzly, probably), and see if that battery can survive a full day of scrolling, streaming, and navigating. By the end of this review, you’ll know for sure if this is the budget champion you’ve been waiting for.

What’s in the Box? The Grand Unboxing

Let’s be honest, unboxing a new gadget is part of the fun. With the Blackview WAVE 6C, the experience is straightforward and no-frills, which is exactly what you’d expect at this price. The box is simple cardboard, but inside you get everything you need to get going straight away.

Inside, you’ll find:

The Blackview WAVE 6C handset itself.
A USB-C charging cable. It’s great to see the modern USB-C port here, as some budget phones still cling on to the old micro-USB.
A 5V 2A charging plug. No need to hunt for one of your own.
A SIM ejector tool.
A basic user manual.

There are no fancy extras like headphones or a pre-fitted screen protector, but that’s hardly a surprise. The important thing is that the essentials are covered. You can take it out of the box, charge it up, and start using it immediately. It’s a simple, practical start.

Design and Build: Cheap and Cheerful, or Just Plain Cheap?

When you first pick up the WAVE 6C, you won’t mistake it for a £1,000 iPhone. The entire body is made of plastic, from the back panel to the frame. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It feels surprisingly solid, with no creaks or groans when you give it a gentle squeeze.

At 191 grams, it has a decent heft to it without feeling like a brick. It’s a big phone, thanks to its large screen, with dimensions of 164.7mm x 76.5mm x 9.7mm. The thickness is noticeable, but it helps accommodate that big battery we’ll talk about later.

The back has a subtle texture that helps with grip and does a decent job of hiding fingerprints – a welcome change from the glossy, smudge-prone backs of many more expensive phones. The model we reviewed came in a pleasant blue, but other colours are available. The camera module is a simple, neat rectangle in the top corner, housing the single rear camera and flash. It’s an understated look that doesn’t scream “I’m a cheap phone!”

On the right-hand side, you’ll find the volume rocker and the power button. They’re easy to reach and have a satisfying click. The bottom edge houses the USB-C port, a 3.5mm headphone jack (hooray!), and the speaker grille. The SIM tray is on the left, and it can take either two Nano-SIM cards or one SIM and a microSD card for extra storage.

Overall, the design is best described as functional and durable. It’s not going to win any beauty contests, but it feels like it could survive a few knocks and bumps in a bag or pocket. For a phone at this price, that’s a sensible and welcome approach.

The Screen: Big, but is it Beautiful?

The display is often where budget phones make their biggest compromises. The WAVE 6C sports a huge 6.5-inch IPS display with a waterdrop-style notch at the top for the selfie camera. Having such a large screen is brilliant for watching YouTube videos, browsing websites, or playing simple games. You just get more space to see everything.

However, the resolution is 720 x 1600 pixels, which is classed as HD+. On a screen this big, it’s not the sharpest. If you look closely, you can see individual pixels, and text isn’t as crisp as it would be on a Full HD (1080p) display.

Is this a deal-breaker? For most people, probably not. For everyday tasks like checking emails, scrolling through social media, or watching Netflix, it’s perfectly adequate. Colours are reasonably vibrant, and the viewing angles are good, meaning the screen doesn’t look washed out when you look at it from the side.

Where you might notice the lower resolution is with photos and videos. They won’t look quite as detailed as they do on a pricier phone. Brightness is okay, but you might struggle to see the screen clearly in direct, bright sunlight – a rare problem in the UK, perhaps, but something to keep in mind.

So, the screen is a mixed bag. Its sheer size is a massive plus point, making the phone feel immersive to use. But the lower resolution is a clear compromise to hit that low price. It’s a classic trade-off: size over sharpness.

Performance: The Engine Room

This is the make-or-break section for any budget phone. A slow, laggy phone is frustrating to use, no matter how little you paid for it. The WAVE 6C is powered by a Unisoc SC9863A octa-core processor, clocked at 1.6GHz.

Let’s be clear: this is not a powerhouse chip. You won’t be playing demanding 3D games like Call of Duty: Mobile at high settings. But for the basics, it’s surprisingly capable.

Day-to-Day Use

Swiping through menus, opening apps like WhatsApp, Chrome, and Facebook, and checking the weather feels reasonably smooth. There’s a slight hesitation now and then, but it’s not the constant stuttering mess that some ultra-cheap phones can be.

The phone comes with 4GB of RAM. This is a combination of 2GB of physical RAM and 2GB of “virtual RAM,” which uses some of the storage space to help with multitasking. This is a clever trick to keep costs down. It means you can switch between a few apps without them needing to reload every time. However, if you try to juggle too many apps at once, you will notice it starting to slow down.

For the target audience – someone who needs a phone for calls, texts, light browsing, social media, and maybe some YouTube – the performance is perfectly acceptable. It handles the essentials without getting in your way.

Storage: Room for Your Stuff

You get 32GB of internal storage, which isn’t a lot by modern standards. After the Android operating system takes its share, you’ll be left with even less. This will be enough for your essential apps and a few photos.

But the good news is you can easily expand it. The WAVE 6C has a microSD card slot that supports cards up to a massive 1TB. This is a huge advantage. You can pick up a 128GB microSD card for about a tenner, and that will give you all the space you could possibly need for photos, videos, and music.

The Camera: Good Enough for Instagram?

The WAVE 6C has an 8-megapixel (MP) rear camera using a Samsung sensor and a 5MP front-facing camera for selfies. In the world of 108MP smartphone cameras, these numbers sound tiny. But megapixels aren’t everything. How do the photos actually look?

Rear Camera

In good, bright daylight, the 8MP camera can take some surprisingly decent shots. Colours are reasonably accurate, and there’s enough detail for sharing on social media. If you just want to snap a picture of your dog in the park or your lunch at the pub, it will do the job just fine.

However, the camera struggles when the lighting isn’t perfect. As soon as you move indoors or the classic British clouds roll in, pictures start to look soft and grainy. The camera finds it hard to focus, and colours can look a bit washed out. There’s also no fancy ultra-wide or telephoto lens – you just get the one standard view.

Video can be recorded in 1080p, which is good to see. The quality is similar to the photos: okay in good light, but struggles in dimmer conditions. It’s fine for capturing a quick clip, but it won’t be winning any film awards.

Front Camera

The 5MP selfie camera is basic. It’s fine for video calls on WhatsApp or a quick selfie for your profile picture. But again, it needs plenty of light to look its best. In a dimly lit room, your selfies will be quite noisy and lacking in detail.

The camera system on the WAVE 6C is probably its weakest area. It’s functional for basic snaps in good light, but anyone who cares about photography will be disappointed. But let’s be realistic – at this price, you can’t expect a world-beating camera. It’s a simple point-and-shoot for casual moments.

Battery Life: Does It Really Go the Distance?

This is where the Blackview WAVE 6C really shines. It’s fitted with a huge 5100mAh battery. For comparison, the standard iPhone 15 has a battery that’s just over 3,300mAh.

Combined with the power-efficient processor and lower-resolution screen, this big battery delivers fantastic endurance. Even with heavy use – lots of browsing, watching videos, and using GPS – you will comfortably get through a full day with plenty of juice to spare.

For light to moderate users, two full days on a single charge is easily achievable. If you only use your phone for a few calls and texts each day, you might even stretch it to three. This is a massive selling point. It’s the kind of battery life that flagship phone owners can only dream of.

It means you don’t have to worry about carrying a power bank or constantly searching for a plug socket. For anyone who works long hours, travels, or just wants a phone they can rely on, the WAVE 6C’s battery life is a game-changer.

When it does finally run out, it charges at 10W with the included charger. This isn’t particularly fast by modern standards – a full charge from empty will take a couple of hours. But since you won’t be charging it that often, it’s a minor inconvenience.

Software and Extra Features

The WAVE 6C runs Android 13, which is a relatively recent version of the operating system. This is great news, as some budget phones ship with old, outdated software. It means you get access to the latest features and, crucially, up-to-date security patches.

Blackview applies its own light “skin” over the top of Android, called DokeOS. It’s mostly a visual change and doesn’t add too much bloatware or unwanted apps. The experience is pretty close to standard, “stock” Android, which is a good thing. It keeps things simple and helps the phone run as smoothly as possible.

Smart-K Box Speaker

The phone has a single, bottom-firing speaker. Blackview calls it a “Smart-K Box Speaker.” In reality, the sound quality is average at best. It gets loud enough for you to hear a YouTube video in a quiet room, but it sounds quite thin and tinny, with very little bass. One customer review rightly pointed out that “you’ll never rock out with one of these.”

For listening to music or watching films, you’ll definitely want to use the 3.5mm headphone jack or a pair of Bluetooth headphones.

Other Features

Face Unlock: You can unlock the phone with your face. It works reasonably well in good light but can be slow and unreliable in the dark. There is no fingerprint scanner.
Dual SIM: The phone can hold two SIM cards, which is handy for having separate work and personal numbers, or for using a different network for better coverage.
GPS: It includes GPS, Glonass, and Galileo for navigation, so Google Maps will work just fine.
FM Radio: A rare treat these days! You can listen to the radio by plugging in a pair of wired headphones (which act as the antenna).

The Verdict: Who Should Buy the Blackview WAVE 6C?

So, after all that, is the Blackview WAVE 6C any good? The answer is a resounding yes, but only for the right person.

This is not a phone for power users, gamers, or photography enthusiasts. If you want a phone that feels lightning-fast and takes incredible photos, you’ll need to spend a lot more money.

However, if you fall into one of these categories, the WAVE 6C is an absolutely brilliant choice:

The First-Time Smartphone User: For an older relative or a child getting their first phone, its simplicity, durability, and low price are perfect.
The Budget-Conscious Buyer: If you simply don’t want to spend hundreds of pounds on a phone and just need the basics to work well, this phone delivers incredible value.
The “Second Phone” User: It makes a fantastic backup or work phone. Its dual-SIM capability and incredible battery life are ideal for this role.
The Festival-Goer or Traveller: Take this to a festival or on a backpacking trip. If it gets lost, stolen, or broken, it’s not a financial disaster. And that two-day battery life is a massive bonus when you’re away from power sockets.

The Blackview WAVE 6C gets the most important things right. It has a huge screen, phenomenal battery life, and modern software. It handles everyday tasks without fuss and feels sturdy enough to last.

Yes, there are compromises. The camera is basic, the screen isn’t the sharpest, and the speaker is weak. But at this price, those compromises are understandable and, for many people, completely acceptable. It represents a return to what many of us want from a phone: a reliable tool that connects us to the world without costing the earth. In the crowded market of budget smartphones, the Blackview WAVE 6C stands out as a true champion of value.

Blackview Wave 6C 4G Smartphone Unlocked

Get Latest Price

Amazon.co.uk

Display: Features a 6.5-inch waterdrop display with a 720×1600 HD+ resolution for an immersive visual experience.
Battery: Equipped with a large 5100mAh battery, providing extended usage for gaming, video, calls, and music.
Performance: Powered by an octa-core Unisoc SC9863A processor, ensuring smooth performance for daily tasks and multitasking.
Memory & Storage: Comes with up to 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, expandable up to 1TB with a TF card.
Camera System: Includes an 8MP Samsung ISOCELL rear camera and a 5MP front camera, capable of capturing detailed photos and 1080p videos.

The Ultimate Blackview WAVE 6C Review: Britain’s Budget Phone Champion?

What’s in the Box? The Grand Unboxing