~This is a phone for p[eople who drive tanks!! I guess that shows my age (the tanks reference was from a Kenny Everett sketch). The Ulefone Power Armor 14 is a budget smartphone – it is not going to change the world but it IS SOLID. This is the second rugged phone I’ve looked at in a week and I can honestly say it is the most substancial phone I’ve had for a long time. The Ulefone was sent to me by Hekka.
Let’s start with the not-so-exciting bits – 4GB RAM, 64GB ROM and Android 11 (one back from the very latest Android). There’s a lot of click-bait on the web about Android 12 for Ulefone but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
The phone was released in October 2021 so I see no reason why not. the Gorilla-glass 3, 6.52″ screen resolution is ok but has a not-too-exciting 1600*720 resolution – but bear in mind the price.
Ok, onto the good bits – Hekka.com have this phone at about €139 (I also saw a USA advert from them showing $149 dollars), it has a 10,000maH battery (ie a monster), dual-band WiFi, NFC and (if you have a wireless charger) 15W wireless charging as well as normal USB-C charging with the supplied plug-in-the-wall quick-charger (mine has an EU 2-pin plug).
Side-mounted fingerprint sensor is included as is a custom button on the opther side of the phone.
Video recording is 1080p at 30fps. The corners of the Power Armor 14 have some rubber protection and the phone is also IP68 dust and water resistant. You can apparently submerge this waterproof smartphone in 1.5 metres of water for up to 30 minutes or drop the phone from 1.5 metres onto concrete but I’d recommend not doing the latter if possible:-) The USB connector is also protected.
The phone comes with triple-rear-cameras starting with a 20Mpx main camera, a 2Mpx macro camera and a 2Mpx depth camera. The AI on the camera will help a lot. I’m about to check that out.
Using YourPhone APP, I quickly paired my PC with the new phone, having the latter scan a QR code on the PC screen.
Note that the photo below was taken with the camera, not in 20MPx mode (that is 4:3 format only) but in 10Mpx mode so I could use my preferred 16:9 format. You may note a slight tinge to the photo – that is partly down to the phone but won’t be helped by the reality that here in Southern spain we’re recovering from the word sahara Desert storm I can remember – red dust EVERYWHERE .
But just for the sake of it let’s take a similar shot with my (much more expensive) Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro (below).
Erm, yes, the colour balance on the Power Armor 14 could be better but given the price difference am I being unreasonable?
It is important to ermember a key featuer of this phone when considering other issues – it is a RUGGED phone with long battery life. Oh, re: the claim about hands-free FM radio without earphones – well, for me at least, only static hiss without earphones so if you’re looking at the site below, bear that in mind.
If you want the full set of specs, they are all there on the Hekka website – along with the price which, last time I checked was on offer at €139 so the price and features pretty much match up IMHO.
Note that all the photos you see here are my own, no stock images. That fitting on the top is the protected 3.5mm earbud jack and on the bottom we have the USB-C connector, similarly protected. I hope my photos convey the size of this phone given my average size hands. If not the spec and Hekka’s stock photos should do the job.
And here is the impressive rear view of this phone – solid looking/feeling – and handling wireless charging.
Ulefone are not a company I’ve looked at in the past but if the phone being well built and with a decent battery life, it has to be worth a second glance.
If on the other hand, accurate-colour photography is important to you, I think I’d be looking at one of the other phones I’ve recently covered.
GPS works just fine incidentally. It handles all the major systems including GLONASS (but I guess most of us will not be thinking of using the latter in the near future).
So there it is, the Ulefone Power Armor 14.
Anyway if you’re interested, you can apparently use code techscargill10 to get discount at Hekka (I don’t make anything).