AGM announced a very interesting phone at MWC 2023 that you should have heard of: the AGM G2 Guardian, a rugged smartphone with ultra-long-range thermal imaging capabilities. it’s now available for pre-order on the official website, and at $899 it’s really expensive. Not everyone needs a thermal imaging phone. So if you are sure you really need such a phone, I will also tell you if it is worth the $900 price tag.
Thermal monocular
The biggest highlight of G2 Guardian is the long-range thermal monocular. since the heat of an object will gradually dissipate in the air, it is difficult for ordinary thermal imaging phones to detect long distances of more than 100m. G2 Guardian can detect heat up to 500m. This is the main reason why they dare to announce this phone at MWC. This infrared lens is not only 5.6x telephoto but also supports autofocus. It allows the heat source to present a clear outline so that you can distinguish what kind of creature it is.
To put down the latest thermal monocular and large speaker, the G2 Guardian is an amazing 2.5cm thick and weighs over 400g. It is definitely uncomfortable to use with one hand, but it is the same as Samsung or Xiaomi’s flagship phones. Sacrificing the feel of the hand for the sake of functionality is definitely something that some people like too.
The function of the Thermal Sensor Camera App is relatively simple. At the top is a basic option to adjust the Ribbon or contrast or something like that. In the bottom right corner is a switch between two modes: night vision mode and temperature mode. As their names say, one is to detect the use at night, the other is to detect the temperature of the object. The difference between them is the difference in contrast, and you do not necessarily have to switch modes often.
Why do you need this phone
Why do you need a long-range thermal monocular instead of a regular thermal imaging phone? AGM gives us a few answers: night search and rescue. When the maximum detection distance of thermal imaging becomes longer, it also means that the range of search and rescue becomes larger.
At night, you can also spot wildlife at a further distance, avoiding them in advance to prevent injury. Or if you are a forest patrolman, you can expand your search area with this long-range thermal monocular, so that suspicious people can not hide. Mountain fires can also be easily detected, so I recommend this phone to forest patrollers, landscape photographers, and people who like to go on wilderness trips.
Camera
In addition to the thermal imaging lens, the remaining three lenses are a 108 MP main camera, a 20 MP infrared night vision camera, and a 2 MP macro camera. Usually, the main camera takes good pictures. The colors are rich and the exposure is accurate. The photos in high-resolution mode are also very clear.
Performance
Another interesting thing about the G2 Guardian is that its processor is a model you’ve never heard of. Even I’ve never heard of it. Qualcomm QCM6490, is purpose-built for industrial and commercial IoT applications such as transportation, warehousing, and logistics management.
Although we do not know why AGM uses such a chip, but the performance is not weak. It’s similar to the Snapdragon 782G with an AnTuTu score of 590,000.
This allows the G2 Guardian to achieve an average frame rate of 54fps with the Genshin Impact with Low Graphics. This is already very strong for a rugged phone, many rugged phones can’t even run stably at 30fps. This chip also supports 5G network, which is not much different from a normal phone chip.
Other specs
Other specs of the G2 Guardian are also at the top of the rugged phone. A 120Hz FHD+ panel with Corning Gorilla Glass protection is top-of-the-line for smoothness and durability. The battery capacity is 7000mAh and supports 18w charging. Dual SIM card slots support up to 512G TF cards for expanded storage. The dock charging and side fingerprint recognition are also there, and there’s a 100 lumens flashlight on top.
There is a headphone jack at the bottom. If you don’t want to wear headphones, the speaker with a maximum volume of 109dB is equivalent to a mobile Bluetooth speaker. If I put the real volume into the video you may be deaf, so the volume in the speaker test will be reduced appropriately, you do not have to worry.
(Click on the video at the beginning of the article to listen to the speaker test)
The AGM G2 Guardian is a very professional phone and there is no one better than it in thermal imaging phones. If you need a very professional long-range thermal imaging device and don’t want to put an extra thermal imaging camera in your backpack. Then this phone is just for you. For most people, it’s not worth paying $899 for a rugged phone, but once you like its thermal monocular, it’s worth whatever you spend.
