The Armor Beast from Ulefone just got an upgrade!
If you’re looking for one tough cookie of a smartphone then the Ulefone Armor 2 might just be for you. It’s a serious outdoors smartphone, as it’s way to heavy and bulky for the civilised world of offices and laptops weighing in at 270 grams.
This phone is meant to be thrown around, submerged and take a beating every day of its life!
So how does the Ulefone Armor 2 stand out in the now very competitive rugged & touch smartphone markets?
Quite well, the Armor 2 impresses with some mid-high level hardware and comes with a full IP68 rating that offers a waterproof rating to a depth of 1.5 metres for a full 60 minutes.
Let’s take a quick look at the Design, Display, Performance, Camera & Connectivity… but first… check out the Pros & Cons of the Ulefone Armor 2 below…
Want a phone that can keep up with your active lifestyle?
The Good
- IP68 Waterproof & Drop Tested
- Bright & Responsive Display
- 4700mAh long battery life
- Dedicated SD Card Slot
- NFC Ready
The Bad
- Need a screwdriver to access SIM Tray
- It’s a beast at 270 grams
- Poor camera performance
Design, Display & Build Quality
If you’ve checked out my Best Tough & Rugged Smartphones article, you might have noticed a few of the latest smartphones are starting to look very similar…
The Ulefone Armor 2 and Doogee S60, look like two peas in a pod. I have a feeling that there’s a 3rd party supplier of IP68 smartphone bodies making them all look very similar.
Whether you’re a fan of the walkie-talkie smartphone or not, the Armor 2 is packing some serious defences. The top and bottom sections are made from a high density-plastic that will ward off drops while absorbing impacts. Holding it together are the metal sides panels which are part of the super strong metal frame.
All this extra armour is what puts the rugged Ulefone Armor 2’s weight up to nearly 300 grams and that’s with only a tiny 5″ display squeezed in.
I’m happy that Ulefone has opted to go with a Sharp display inside the Armor 2, as it offers good viewing angles, works well in sunlight and the 1920×1080 resolution is super crisp @ 441 PPI. Although, unlike the S60 which offers Gorilla Glass 5, the Armor 2 only has Gorilla Glass 3.
You also have the option to use onscreen buttons or stick with the capacitive buttons at the bottom and the fingerprint reader for home.
… –40 to +80 degrees operating temps …
On extra in the screen department that Ulefone touts is that it comes with an oleophobic coating. Comment if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that almost all smartphones do… otherwise your fingers wouldn’t glide across the screen…
Tough Credentials: IP68 Waterproof & Dustproof (1.5m for 60 minutes), -40 to 80 degrees operating temps, Drop-tested. Check out this page as well.
Screen Tech Specs: 5 inch Sharp display, 1920×1080 resolution, 441 PPI, Gorilla Glass 3
Colours Available: Gold & Grey
Performance & Hardware
It’s no wimp in the hardware department either as it’s packing 6GB’s of RAM, 64GB’s of Storage and the Octa-core (big.LITTLE) MediaTek Helio P25 CPU. While not one of the top tier ‘X’ range MediaTek chips it’s still very capable chip that offers speedy performance.
What the heck is big.LITTLE?
The Helio P25 CPU comes with 8 cores split into two groups. Group one runs at 2.6GHz and crushes any intensive tasks using its binary might! Group 2 runs at the slower speed of 1.6GHz and takes cares of all the easy day-to-day tasks.
The benefit? Power savings and longer battery life.
We’ve also got the ARM Mali T880 Graphics Unit on the Helio P25 chip which performs well with the latest 3D gaming titles making the Armor 2 a great option for gamers.
CPU: MediaTek Helio P25 (2.6GHz Quad-core)
GPU: Mali T880-MP2
RAM: 6GB LPDDR4
Storage: 64GB (expandable Micro-SD 128GB)
Battery Life: 4700mAh non-removable
Camera
Although the Ulefone Armor 2 is packing a 16MP rear facing camera the end results aren’t very impressive. Images tend to look soft and a little washed out. Getting the focus right can be difficult and colours in the final photos aren’t very punchy.
It’s not the worst Android camera, but it’s nowhere near on par with others in its price range. This starts to make sense when you realise that all of the effort that’s gone into making the Armor 2 has been into making it incredibly tough. Stick with the GoPro for now.
Rear Camera:
- 16MP
- f/2.0
- Dual LED / Two-tone flash
Front Camera (Selfie time):
- 13MP (8IP)
What’s in the box?
Ulefone has revamped the packaging for their latest tough phone with a bright yellow box picturing hikers ascending a mountain. Since you won’t find a headphone jack on the Armor 2, they’ve included a handy USB Type-C to 1.5mm headphones jack adapter.
You’ll also find a PE+ 2 Amp Fast Charger, Red USB Type C Cable, Micro-USB to USB Type-C Adapter, Instructions, Screwdriver & SIM Pin.
Ulefone Armor 2 – The Early Verdict
It’s difficult to recommend the Ulefone Armor 2 when there’s the Doogee S60 sitting next door shouting hey look at me with my bigger display, better camera and longer battery-life…
But the Armor 2 does have its pros. A forward facing fingerprint reader, better network support and a better IP68 guarantee. Let me know in the comments below what your favourite Rugged Phone is!
Check out the best Ulefone Armor 2 deals below…
Tech Specs & Connectivity
Want to know more about the Ulefone Armor 2 and what it has to offer? We’ve listed the full tech specs below. Got any questions, just comments below and I’ll do my best to answer your question.
UK Network Coverage? Yes, the Ulefone Armor 2 comes with full UK Support for all carriers.
 |
|
|---|---|
| Smartphone | Ulefone Armor 2 |
| Screen Size | 5 inch |
| Pixel Density | 441 |
| Screen Resolution | 1920×1080 (1080P) |
| Screen To Body Ratio | 59% |
| Screen technology | Gorilla Glass 3, Oleophobic Coating |
| Thickness | 14.5mm |
| Weight | 270 grams |
| Material | Plastic, TPU, Polycarbonate, Fibre Glass |
| Colors Available | Black |
| Storage | 64GB |
| Processor (CPU) | MediaTek Helio P25 (4x 2.6GHz | 4x 1.6GHz Octacore) |
| Graphics (GPU) | ARM Mali-T880 |
| RAM | 6GB |
| Android Version | 7 Nougat |
| IP Rating (Water, dust) | IP68 (1.5m for 60 minutes) |
| Micro-SD Card Tray | Yes – |
| Notification LED | YES |
| Finger Print Sensor | YES (Front / Home Button) |
| Infrared | NO |
| USB Type | USB Type-C |
| 4G Bands | FDD-LTE: 2100/1900/1800/1700/850/2600/900/700/700/850/800(B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/19/20)
TDD-LTE: 2500/1900/2300/2500(B38/39/40/41) |
| 3G Bands | WCDMA: 900, 2100MHz |
| 2G Bands | GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz |
| SIM Support | Dual SIM – Nano x 2 |
| WiFi | Dual Band 2.5 + 5GHz a, b, g, n |
| GPS Tech | GPS + GLONASS |
| Bluetooth Version | 4.1 |
| NFC | YES |
| Sensors | Ambient Light Sensor, Gravity Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Compass, Gyroscope, Barometer |
| OTG | YES |
| Battery Size | 4700 mAh |
| Fast Charging | Quick Charge (PE+ 2.0) |
What do you think of the Ulefone Armor 2 Smartphone Beast? Have any questions, let me know below!
Hey Eugene,
With a lot of Smartphones, they only have a single speaker. For aesthetics, a lot will add dual speaker grills but only one will actually be a speaker. It’s quite common : )