Last few days we talked about the Armor 17 Pro that comes from UleFone, a special well-built rugged phone. It’s the first time we saw a rugged phone coming with a 108MP camera, a night-vision sensor, a 120Hz 1080P display, and magnetic-attach wireless charging. Even as a regular phone, such configurations are still impressive.
And earlier today the UleFone released another rugged model that’s even more powerful, the Power Armor 18T. It comes with a more powerful chipset, a brand-new microscope camera, a thermal sensor, and so on. It’s definitely another beast that we’ve never seen before.
I know some of you are confused about the differences between the latest Armor 17 Pro and the latest Power Armor 18T. I hope our reviews will help you.
Unboxing
So first, let’s check out what we got from the phone package. Well, there’s a tempered-glass screen protector and several instructions that tell users how to use the phone, including a detailed user manual, an instruction showing multi-functions like underwater camera and glove mode, and another one that tells how to use the thermal imaging camera step by step. We do appreciate that UleFone takes user experience so seriously.
Design
Well, the Power Armor 18T looks a bit tougher than the Armor 17 Pro. Due to the tougher armor and the larger battery, the Power Armor 18T is thicker and heavier. On the protective film, you can learn about almost all of its interesting selling points, such as the 108MP main camera, the thermal camera, and the Dimensity 5G chipset. Turn it over, and its shield reminds me of the look of some armored fighting vehicles, which are reliable and wild at the same time. The back cover is covered with a whole piece of rubber material, held in place by a whole circle of screws, while the sides of the phone are inlaid with a metal frame, and its color is kept the same as the camera module. Even though it looks more complex, the whole phone still impressed us with a strong style of design.
Camera
We’ve had a lot of hands-on rugged phones, but this is the most powerful and most interesting camera combination we’ve ever seen on a rugged phone. And even if we compare it with regular flagships, it’s still special enough. There’s a triple-lens camera combination led by a 108MP main camera. We know that this 108MP sensor was only seen in some mid-range and even high-end regular models before. Its super high original resolution supports 9-in-1 pixel binning, which can capture massive light with pretty decent noise control. The samples shot on this camera also live up to the expectations. It produced vivid colors with good contrast. You can check the sample in the video.
The other two are a super microscope lens and another thermal camera that includes a thermal imaging camera and a FLIR Lepton 3.5 Sensor. The thermal sensor is powered by the professional manufacturer FLIR, while the super micro-lens just surprised me with its super close focus. And you don’t need to adjust the phone in the air to find the focus. The fixed focus allows users to directly place it on the surface of the subject. When you are shooting, a ring of fill light around the lens illuminates your subject well, even if your phone is completely blocking the ambient light. You can use it to look at microscopic worlds you haven’t noticed before!
Durability
Obviously, the rugged phone has great water and dust resistance. The phone is not just rated at IP68 and IP69K but also meets Military Standard 810G, which means that it is fine to be dropped or violently crashed on all faces and corners. For field workers or outdoor adventurers, it’s extremely important to ensure that they have the tools with them to help them survive harsh environments. So, in addition to the reliable ruggedness, the Power Armor 18T took a few special scenarios into account with quite a lot of practical features.
For example, the phone comes with dual-frequency navigation systems, which significantly enhance accuracy compared to the single-band system. Meanwhile, to ensure the phone has the best positioning service worldwide, it generously supports multiple navigation systems, including Glonass, Galileo, BeiDou, and QZSS.
And the thermal camera at the back can also be used directly as a night vision device, in the field to avoid the danger of large creatures in the outdoors. The 18T with a 6.58-inch screen is definitely one of the best options.
Display
The screen also features a 120Hz 1080P LCD panel just like the Armor 17 Pro. Most of the rugged models do not pay much attention to the visual experience brought by the screen but only promote their ruggedness. So it’s common to see a rugged phone coming with a 60Hz screen at even just 720P resolution. Now, this Armor series combines the advantages of both. And for durability, the screen is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass which is damage and scratch-resistant.
Performance
As for performance, the 18T is also better than most rugged models. It’s powered by the Dimensity 900 5G chipset, which is also a well-known chipset among the MTK flagship series.
The 5G module integrated into the chip can provide a faster 5G connection, while it’s effective power consumption also can extend battery life while delivering good performance. The rugged phone is available in a great version with 12GB Ram and 256GB Rom, and also supports storage expansion with a TF card.
As for specific benchmarks and gaming results. You guys can check it here for yourselves.
The power solution of the 18T is also the best among all the rugged phones. It comes with a 9600mAh large battery capacity with the support of 66W fast charging. In addition, it also inherits the 15W wireless charging support on the Armor 17 Pro.
Interesting accessories
The Power Armor 18T has an expandable interface to connect expandable modules. By far there are not many modules available in UleFone store. The most interesting module for the phone is an endoscope camera, which can inspect drains, pipes, and wires or check hard-to-reach engine or suspension parts. We also look forward to more expandable modules to enrich the uses of the Power Armor 18T.
So that’s all we want to share about the Power Armor 18T. It’s the most powerful rugged phone that I’ve ever experienced. As a rugged phone, it’s almost impeccable in hardware, while its software is pure and clean without any non-essential apps pre-installed, but at the same time, all the google apps are ready to go. To be honest, I quite like this phone.
