This rugged and inexpensive smartphone has superpowers – nevertheless it’s not a tank!

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The Ulefone Armor 25T Professional is available from Amazon for $420.
• Filled with options that engineers and out of doors lovers will get pleasure from, but not as cumbersome as your common ruggedized smartphone.
• Battery life is just not the perfect, and RAM can get slowed down below heavy workloads.

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Whereas I am unable to see myself changing the iPhone as my every day driver — I am so deep within the Apple ecosystem now, there is not any hope for me anymore! — that does not imply I haven’t got secondary Android handsets. And my favourite Android smartphones are these aimed toward engineers. You recognize, handsets with thermal cameras and night time imaginative and prescient in-built. 

Additionally: Insert related hyperlink

Not too long ago I have been utilizing the Ulefone Armor 25T Professional, a 5G, Android 14-powered smartphone, and this has confirmed to be a improbable and versatile handset full of options that iPhone customers can solely dream of having fun with!

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Ulefone Armor 25T Professional tech specs

• Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 6300 6-nanometer SoC (2×2.4 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) and Arm Mali-G57 MC2 GPU
• Android 14 working system
• 6.78-inch, 1080 x 2460 decision, 120Hz refresh fee show, ~396 pixels-per-inch density, with Corning Gorilla Victus glass
• 12GB reminiscence (6GB RAM + 6GB digital RAM)
• 256GB inner storage (expandable as much as 2TB utilizing microSD/TF card)
• 50-megapixel wide-angle rear digital camera, f/1.65 aperture and 1/1.31-inch extremely giant sensor with 1.2um pixel measurement
• 64-megapixel f/1.8 aperture night time imaginative and prescient digital camera with two infrared LEDs illuminators
• 32-megapixel f/2.5 aperture selfie digital camera
• ThermoVue thermal imaging sensor, as much as 160 x 120 excessive decision, as much as 25Hz refresh fee, as much as 1000m measuring vary, -20C to 550℃ vary
• 6,500 mAh battery (478 hours standby, 48 hours name time, 16 hours video playback) 
• 33W quick charging
• Reverse wi-fi charging
• Constructed-in infrared and NFC
• Fingerprint reader
• IP68/IP69K, MIL-STD-810H rated for water- and dust-resistance
• 177.4 x 81.4 x 12.5 mm
• 326 grams
• Service help checklist could be discovered on the Ulefone website

There are two components to the Armor 25T Professional; first, let’s contemplate the smartphone aspect of issues.

Wanting on the spec sheet for the processor, the show, the battery, and the digital camera, IT‘s truthful to categorize this as a mainstream handset, and you’ll really feel the place some compromises have been made. For instance, whereas the processor, GPU, and RAM are sufficient to maintain the handset shifting easily more often than not, there are uncommon events when issues begin to really feel a little bit slowed down. I think that is principally right down to the 6GB RAM and 6GB digital RAM configuration generally not being sufficient.

Pitted head-to-head towards the Blackview BL9000 Pro, the Blackview wins each time because of its quicker processor and extra RAM. However that handset prices a whole lot extra.

Nonetheless, the efficiency of the Armor 25T Professional is sufficient more often than not.

The identical goes for the cameras. They’re full of megapixels and the output is OK, however not iPhone Professional Max or Galaxy Extremely stage good.

However once more, IT‘s greater than sufficient for many. 

Does this telephone want a 50-megapixel essential digital camera and a 32-megapixel selfie digital camera? Most likely not, however megapixel counts assist promote, and as sensors get cheaper, the megapixel counts will go up and up.

To construct a handset that does not really feel like a brick within the pocket, Ulefone needed to determine on what’s vital. At 6,500mAh, this battery is on the small finish when IT involves rugged handsets, however once more, IT‘s adequate.

Additionally: I am including this iPhone thermal digital camera accent to my toolkit (particularly at this value)

However let’s be sincere: Nobody is shopping for the Armor 25T Professional for the show or processor or battery life. Individuals are shopping for this for the thermal digital camera and night time imaginative and prescient.

This brings us to the second a part of this handset — the superpowers!

The wonderful ThermoVue thermal digital camera is quick, with an excellent refresh and a excessive stage of accuracy. 

Thermal cameras have a variety of makes use of, from discovering the place a pet rat is hiding in a bed room to figuring out a failing part on a circuit board. Sure, they are surely that versatile.

I’ve stated IT earlier than: A thermal digital camera is a necessary software for diagnostics and repairs, on par with a screwdriver, multimeter, or soldering iron.

I used to suppose that night time imaginative and prescient was a little bit of a gimmick, however whenever you’re crawling round in a pitch-black loft in search of {an electrical} part, night time imaginative and prescient turns into invaluable.

And utilizing IR night time imaginative and prescient is a complete lot higher on the eyes that blasting a flashlight concerning the place. 

Sure, this software additionally has its place within the engineer’s toolbox.

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

Ulefone is one in all my favourite Android smartphone makers, repeatedly hitting IT out of the park with its rugged handset vary, and all the time managing to construct a tool that is completely suited to the lives of engineers and out of doors lovers. 

The Ulefone Armor 25T Pro is not any exception, taking mainstream smartphone elements and including helpful options equivalent to a thermal digital camera and night time imaginative and prescient. These aren’t options for the plenty, however when you want them and know tips on how to use them correctly, then they’ll be enormously helpful.

And this is likely one of the few armored smartphones to not really feel like a tank within the pocket.