This affordable, rugged smartphone has superpowers, but it’s no tank!

ZDNET’s key findings

• The Ulefone Armor 25T Pro is Available on Amazon for $420.
• Packed with features that engineers and outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy, but not as bulky as your average rugged smartphone.
• Battery life isn’t the best and RAM can get saturated under heavy workloads.

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Although I don’t see myself replacing The iPhone As my daily driver (I’m so immersed in the Apple ecosystem now that there’s no hope for me anymore!), that doesn’t mean I don’t own other Android phones. And my favorite Android smartphones are the ones aimed at engineers. You know, phones with thermal and night vision cameras built in.

Also: Insert relevant link

I have recently been using the Ulefone Armor 25T Pro, a 5G smartphone running Android 14, and it has proven to be a fantastic, versatile phone, packed with features that iPhone users can only dream of enjoying!

See on Amazon

Technical specifications of the Ulefone Armor 25T Pro

• Octa-core 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC (2×2.4 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) & Arm Mali-G57 MC2 GPU
• Android 14 operating system
• 6.78-inch display, 1080 x 2460 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, ~396 pixels per inch density, with Corning Gorilla Victus Glass
• 12 GB memory (6 GB RAM + 6 GB virtual RAM)
• 256GB internal storage (expandable up to 2TB via microSD/TF card)
• 50MP wide-angle rear camera, f/1.65 aperture and 1/1.31-inch ultra-large sensor with 1.2um pixel size
• 64-megapixel night vision camera with f/1.8 aperture and two infrared LED illuminators
• 32-megapixel selfie camera with f/2.5 aperture
• ThermoVue thermal imaging sensor, high resolution up to 160 x 120, refresh rate up to 25 Hz, measurement range up to 1000 m, range from -20 °C to 550 °C
• 6,500 mAh battery (478 hours standby, 48 hours talk time, 16 hours video playback)
• 33W fast charging
• Reverse wireless charging
• Built-in infrared and NFC
• Fingerprint reader
• IP68/IP69K, MIL-STD-810H rating for water and dust resistance.
• 177.4 x 81.4 x 12.5 mm
• 326 grams
• The list of operator support can be found at Ulefone Website

The Armor 25T Pro has two parts, first, let’s consider the appearance of the smartphone.

If you look at the spec sheet for the processor, display, battery, and camera, it’s fair to classify this as a mainstream phone, and you can tell that a few compromises have been made. For example, while the processor, GPU, and RAM are all sufficient to keep the phone running smoothly most of the time, there are rare occasions when things start to feel a little bogged down. I suspect this is mainly because the 6GB RAM and 6GB virtual RAM configuration sometimes just isn’t enough.

Face to face he Blackview BL9000 ProThe Blackview always wins thanks to its faster processor and extra RAM, but that phone costs hundreds of dollars more.

Still, the Armor 25T Pro’s performance is sufficient most of the time.

The same goes for the cameras. They’re packed with megapixels and the results are acceptable, but not as good as the iPhone Pro Max or the Galaxy Ultra.

But again, it’s more than enough for most.

Does this phone need a 50-megapixel main camera and a 32-megapixel selfie camera? Probably not, but megapixel counts help sell, and as sensors get cheaper, megapixel counts will only get higher.

To make a phone that doesn’t feel like a brick in your pocket, Ulefone had to decide what’s important. At 6500mAh, this battery is among the few in rugged phones, but again, it’s good enough.

Also: I’m adding this iPhone thermal camera accessory to my toolkit (especially at this price)

But let’s be honest: No one is buying the Armor 25T Pro for the display, the processor, or the battery life. People are buying it for the thermal camera and night vision.

This brings us to the second part of this phone: the superpowers!

The excellent ThermoVue thermal camera is fast, with a very good update rate and a high level of accuracy.

Thermal cameras have a wide range of uses, from finding where a pet rat is hiding in a bedroom to identifying a faulty component on a circuit board. Yes, they really are that versatile.

I’ve said it before: a thermal camera is an essential tool for diagnostics and repairs, just like a screwdriver, multimeter, or soldering iron.

I used to think night vision was a gimmick, but when you’re crawling around in a pitch-black attic looking for an electrical component, night vision becomes invaluable.

Plus, using infrared night vision is much easier on your eyes than using a flashlight to illuminate the area.

Yes, this tool also has its place in the engineer’s toolbox.

ZDNET’s buying advice

Ulefone is one of my favorite Android smartphone manufacturers, continually pushing the boundaries with its range of rugged phones and always managing to create a device that fits perfectly into the lives of engineers and outdoor enthusiasts.

He Ulefone Armor 25T Pro is no exception, taking common smartphone components and adding useful features like a thermal camera and night vision. These aren’t features for the masses, but if you need them and know how to use them properly, you’ll find them extremely useful.

And this is one of the few armored smartphones that doesn’t feel like a tank in your pocket.