Ulefone is one of several Chinese manufacturers of tough phones that are competing against one another by offering increasingly complex designs at very competitive prices.
Its bestselling Armor series is frequently updated with new processors, improved displays, and distinctive features.
Today, we'll examine the Ulefone Armor 15, which is the most recent model. This reasonably priced gadget offers significant advancements over the Armor 14 line and a previously uncovered hidden feature.
If you work outside, is the Armor 15 the best option, or are there better options available?
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The Armor 15 costs only $349.99 (plus delivery) from Ulefone North America, but only $259.99 directly from the Ulefone website (plus shipping).
Although the Armor 15 marketed in the USA has been modified for that mobile communications environment, the less expensive choice is a global model.
In addition to the standard phone, Ulefone also offers a case that will further safeguard the device. When purchased from the international website, the phone plus protective case cost $284.98.
Although all of these are primarily black, the Armor 15 comes with a rear panel in black, red, and blue.
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The Armor 15 is undoubtedly one of Ulefone's most beautiful designs, and it radiates an outside aesthetic without appearing to be resistant to mortar splinters.
This design is also a little smaller than many rugged designs because the 5.45-inch display was chosen instead of something bigger by the creators.
This gadget weighs 346 grammes, which is a little bit less than the 14 Pro. This is not something you would enjoy being struck with, even if the corners are rounded and rubberized.
Similar to many other tough phone designs, the camera cluster on the back is pushed out a few millimetres to create more interior space. preventing it from sitting flatly when set down on a flat surface. Ulefone also created a similar bulge on the bottom that is nearly as proud to fit this projection.
This lessens the chance of the phone sliding and prevents scratches on the coloured rear. The absence of wireless charging, which would prevent the user from unplugging the USB-C connection and keep the phone waterproof, is the single drawback of this design.
Where you might anticipate, the rubber plug-covered charging port is on the bottom. At the other end, though, there are two very identical covers that conceal a design flaw that we'll discuss later.
The button arrangement is primarily standardised. On the right are the volume controls, a specialised camera button, a thumb-sanctioned power button, and a fingerprint sensor. On the left are the SIM card port and a programmable button.
The volume control is one feature of the buttons that we particularly appreciated because it is two independent buttons rather than a rocker, which makes it much simpler to use for combined pushes like screen capture.
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But by far the most peculiar aspect of the Armor 15 is a set of TWS Earbuds that are concealed beneath two rubberized doors on the top. It's impressive that they were able to find room for these two things, and the site also has a way to charge them when not in use.
These are fantastic because, after being Bluetooth-paired with the Armor 15, they will automatically connect when taken out of their home and disconnect when returned.
For this design, Ulefone offers an Armor Case that takes into account the doors that cover the earbud garage and offers a convenient way to hang the phone from a belt using a carabiner.
Although the Armor 15 appears professional from the outside, what's inside might be more crucial.
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We anticipated a MediaTek SoC from looking at past Ulefone designs, however the Armor 15's designers didn't meet our expectations.
However, we were startled to learn that the Power Armor 14's Helio G35, which was perhaps the worst component in that design, is also used in the Armor 15.
The G35 is a notch behind the Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 and isn't the most potent SoC platform we've examined. Despite having an octo-core architecture, the PowerVR GE8320 is a shockingly unimpressive GPU that is unsuitable for VR or gaming.
Perhaps it's time for Chinese phone manufacturers to abandon the ARM Cortex-A53 cored SoCs, which are seven years old, and switch to a more modern architecture.
The Helio G35 SoC is coupled with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage in this case, which should be sufficient for everyday tasks. The SIM tray can still store two Nano SIMs at once and accept Micro SD cards up to 1TB in capacity, allowing for greater storage.
The 720 x 1440 pixels 18:9 ratio panel on this design is one of the strange resolutions we've recently seen on Chinese phones.
Ulefone refers to it as HD+ while conveniently ignoring that HD has a better resolution of 1920 x 1080.
The Sony IMX350 was once the main rear camera used by Ulefone designers, and the Sony IMX481 was utilised for front-facing selfies. These have been updated with a newer Sony IMX363 camera on the back, which is supported by a Samsung S5K3M3 wide-angle camera. However, the front has the identical Sony IMX481 sensor.
Unfortunately, the SONY IMX363 sensor, which is found in the Pixel 3 and iPhone 11, is still only capable of 1080p video recording. With a maximum resolution of 4032 x 3024, still image capturing is often excellent, and the presence of a dedicated photo button makes it easier to rapidly get ready to shoot.
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Both still photos and video can be taken underwater using the camera. However, because the phone doesn't float and the waterproofing is only rated for 1.5M for 30 minutes, we'd be very cautious about trying to use it in this way.
Liquid damage is not covered by the guarantee, as it is with all Ulefone robust designs.
Sadly, we also need to point you that the Helio G85 SoC lacks video encryption protection, making it impossible to access HD-quality streams of content from Netflix, Disney, or Amazon at a resolution higher than 480p.
This design's lack of support for 5G is another serious flaw. While 5G isn't available in all areas, in those where it is, switching back to 4G would be outdated.
The Armor 15's battery is significantly smaller than the Power Armor 14 Pro, at only 6600 mAh, presumably to make room for other features. While the capacity would be adequate in a typical phone, it is inadequate for tough designs that may be carried for days without a source of power.
36 hours of talk time and 360 hours of standby time is about half the battery life that some 10000 mAh capable phones are delivering.
The Armor 15 didn't easily navigate through the hurdles of our benchmark testing; instead, it did it in a less graceful manner and with underwhelming results.
The Helio G35's performance limitations are well known, but in the modern age, a phone that struggles to run even any of the graphical tests smoothly raises some questions.
Unfortunately, the Vulcan implementation does not offer enough capabilities for it to play 3DMark Wild Life.
In order to put these figures into context, the Power Armor 14 Pro(opens in new tab), which uses the Helio G85, managed to complete all of the tests and had an OpenGL score of 3472 in the Slingshot bench, compared to the G35's score of 813. While the differences on each test varied, this was always one of the lowest performers we've tested. That's a tiny portion of the power.
When in use, the phone appears quick and responsive, but give it a task that requires graphics or processing, and it won't be able to accomplish much.
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To put it frankly, this isn't the most powerful tough phone Ulefone has produced, but because of the decently quick UI, most users won't initially be aware of its flaws.
Other restrictions include the inability to record video in resolutions higher than 1080p, the absence of 5G communications, and Netflix's limited 480p streaming. Most of these problems are related to the Helio G35 SoC's use of the ARM Cortex-A53, which has to be retired.
Although the integrated earbuds are a nice touch, it seems that Ulefone doesn't provide replacements in case you misplace or break them.
Overall, the Armor 15 falls short of expectations and is outperformed by the more affordable Power Armor 14 Pro(opens in new tab) model. Unavoidably, Ulefone will release a Pro model that partially, if not entirely, fixes these problems.
- Also check out our complete list of the best rugged smartphones
