There are quite a few budget rugged smartphones out there and we just came across the AGM A8 device. It has decent specs, great build quality and it costs less than $140. Learn more in our full review.
Thanks to Giztop.com for sending the AGM A8 for a review.
VIDEO REVIEW
UNBOXING
The phone ships with all the usual items. No extras included.
DESIGN and DISPLAY
The AGM A8 has the IP-68 rating and it is water, dust, shock and temperature-resistant. Naturally, all the ports are covered with flaps to avoid any water damage.
What I love about the A8 is that it is kind of sleek and slim for a rugged phone and the buttons that are on the right side, are clicky and tactile. Also, the metal sides add a little bit of a premium look and feel.
The 5” display has only 720p resolution but it is covered with the Gorilla Glass 3. It could definitely look sharper and the colors look a bit oversaturated but it’s a decent panel for a budget phone.
Just above the display, we have just a 2MP shooter.
There is no LED notification light but the capacitive buttons have a nice backlight.
When it comes to the camera, we have a 13MP shooter and a single LED flash.
The loudspeaker has a decent sound output but it has just a mediocre sound quality.
In order to open up the backplate, you need to use the supplied tool or any screwdriver. Underneath it, you can find 2 SIM card slots, microSD card slot, and a replaceable 4050mAh battery.
HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
When it comes to hardware, the AGM A8 ships with a Snapdragon 425 chip, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage. These are pretty good specs for the price considering this is a budget rugged phone after all.
The gaming performance is kind of mediocre. You can play games like Asphalt 8 just on medium graphics and there still be a few skipped frames.
BENCHMARKS
USER INTERFACE
AGM A8 ships with a purely stock Android 7.0 user interface and there are no added features to talk about.
Most importantly, I didn’t have any issues with the phone’s daily performance even after installing quite a few apps and I would say that the AGM A8 is a pretty fast performer.
IMAGE QUALITY
When it comes to the image quality, the AGM A8 can take some okay-looking images in daylight. I took most of the pictures on a cloudy day and there could be more detail in most of the shots. Also, some of the pictures look under-exposed. The camera does not really impress in low-light as there is quite a lot of noise and grain in the pictures.
As for selfie camera, the images will do the trick for social media but they could look sharper.
When it comes to the 1080p video, it is kind of mediocre as the footage could look sharper.
CONNECTIVITY
I didn’t have any connectivity issues with this device and even the GPS lock speeds and accuracy were okay. It’s worth mentioning that the phone has the NFC.
BATTERY LIFE
The 4050mAh battery performs really well on the daily basis. I could easily get a few days of moderate usage out of this phone, which is a really good result. However, it takes about 3 hours to fully charge the phone, which may be annoying.
CONCLUSIONS
The AGM A8 is a good rugged phone for the price, yet it is not perfect, like all budget phones.
Since it is rugged, you can be rest assured that it will work even under the harshest conditions. Also, I love that it is compact due to 5” display, the phone is well-built and it sits nicely in the hand. In addition, the Android 7-based user interface is smooth and fluid on the daily basis.
However, the Snapdragon 425 is kind of low-end chip that is not designed for gamers, the camera could better and we lack some pretty standard features like a notification LED light.
At the end of the day, I can still say that the AGM A8 is a pretty good phone since it was mainly designed for outdoor use under harsh conditions. Also, it definitely has more than pros than cons and therefore, the price of about $140 can be justified.
