What’s most interesting of the new Armor 9 is the thermal FLIR camera at the back, which can help you find warmer or cooler spots in various environments, see what’s in the dark, find leaks or even wall fires that are invisible to the naked eye, measure temperatures, among other applications. As a smartphone, the Armor 9 falls into the mid-range category – it has a 6.3″ 1080p LCD screen and is powered by the Helio P90 chipset coupled with 8GB of RAM. It has a dual-camera on the back – 64MP+2MP, and a single selfie snapper at the front. It is equipped with an impressive 6,600 mAh battery that should last you for days on a single charge. How much is Ulefone Armor 9 wireless charging price? Get more in Ulefone Armor 9 wireless charging review.
Specifications – Ulefone Armor 9 wireless charging rugged phone
- Display: 6.3″ IPS LCD, 1080 x 2340px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 409ppi, scratch-resistant glass, oleophobic coating.
- Body: 168.2 x 82 x 15 mm, 320g; reinforced metal frame with rubber top and bottom, Thermoplastic polyurethane back with reinforced with aluminum alloy, shock-proof up to 1.2m height, IP69K for dust and pressurized water endurance, MIL-STD-810G compliance. PTT button.
- Front camera: 8MP, f/2.2 aperture. 1080p/30fps video recording.
- Rear camera: Primary: 64MP, f/1.9 aperture, 0.8µm pixel size, PDAF. Depth: 2MP, f/2.2. Thermal FLIR camera (Lepton module); quad-LED flash. Video: 2160p@30fps.
- Chipset: Mediatek Helio P90 (12nm): Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55), PowerVR GM9446 GPU.
- OS: Android 10
- Battery: 6,600mAh; 18W fast charging.
- Memory: 8GB of RAM; 128GB UFS 2.1 storage; shared microSD slot.
- Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE-A, LTE Cat-12/ Cat-13; USB-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; dual-band GPS; Bluetooth 5.0;
- Misc: Side-mounted fingerprint reader; single down-firing speaker; NFC; FM radio, tri-color notification LED.
In the box – Ulefone Armor 9 wireless charging rugged phone
If you are a fan of the deluxe bundles that are abundant in accessories, look no further than the Ulefone’s. The Armor 9 box contains the phone itself and the two vital companions – a red USB-c cable and an 18W charger.
Inside, you will also find a microUSB-to-USB-C adapter, a USB OTG cable, and even a wrist sling, which you can attach to the gigantic hook on the back of the Armor 9. That’s not all. Ulefone is also shipping the Armor 9 bundled with a tempered glass screen protector. Nice! There are some manuals inside the box, which we suggest you go through unless you are familiar with the principles of operation of thermal cameras.
You can buy the Armor 9 with two optional accessories.
The first one is the Multifunctional Protective Case. It is one super rugged case made of TPU plastic for the back and rubber frame with reinforced corners that will absorb even more shock than the Armor 9 offers by default.
This case comes with two detachable accessories itself – a 180-degree rotatable back clip, and a secure carabiner that you can use instead of the clip.
Finally, you can opt for the endoscope accessory, which can be mounted on the side of the Armor 9. It is IP67-rated and comes with a 2m-long cable and six LEDs with adjustable brightness. It offers three different adapters for the endoscope’s camera – a hook, a reflecting mirror, and a magnet. You also get two small screws and a screwdriver, so you can attach the endoscope securely to your Armor 9.
The Multifunctional Protective Case ($29.99) and the Ulefone Endoscope E1 ($49.99) are sold separately, but they are very reasonably priced and complement the Armor 9 very well.
Ulefone Armor 9 wireless charging Price
The Ulefone Armor 9 (price) bundled with the endoscope module sells for around $581 from Gearbest. You can get the smartphone by itself for $537 and if you don’t fancy buying from Gearbest, you can grab it from Ulefone Armor 9 US price is $630 and Ulefone Armor 9 UK priceis £469.99, both without the endoscope module.
Is it water, heat or scratch resistant – Ulefone Armor 9 wireless charging?
Is Ulefone Armor 9 water, heat or scratch resistant with this price range? The Armor 9 is compliant with numerous MIL-STD-810G standards for temperature and altitude shocks, solar radiation endurance, acid atmosphere (Venus, here we come!), transport shock, high humidity, among others.
There is a scratch-resistant glass keeping the screen safe, but it’s not the only guardian you’ll see. There is also an elevated plastic frame around the screen, as thin as it might be, which prevents the screen from ever touching the ground should the Armor 9 falls on its face. Ulefone is also shipping the phone with a bundled shatter-proof glass protector rated at 9H of hardness on the Mohs Scale, which is the first thing you should apply once you unbox the phone.
Ulefone specifies all sorts of endurances – for starters, the Armor 9 is IP68-rated for dust and water protection, and you can see the IP68 markings on its back. But just like with previous Armor phones, the Armor 9 offers even better endurance with an impressive IP69K rating. The higher water rating means resistance against pressurized water instead of deeper submersion. Does this make Ulefone Armor 9 price high?
Ulefone Armor 9 wireless charging rugged phone (review) comparison
| Ulefone Armor 9 (2020) Unlocked Rugged Phones | Ulefone Armor 7 (2020) Rugged Smartphone | Ulefone Armor 7E （2020） Rugged Cell Phones | Ulefone Armor 7E (2020) Rugged Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen Size | 6.3 inches | 5.7 inches | 6.3 inches | 6.3 inches |
| Item Dimensions | 6.62 x 3.23 x 0.59 inches | 6.53 x 3.19 x 0.53 inches | 6.53 x 3.19 x 0.53 inches | 6.53 x 3.19 x 0.53 inches |
| Item Weight | 0.71 lbs | 0.64 lbs | 0.64 lbs | 0.64 lbs |
| Operating System | Android 10.0 | Android 10.0 | Android 10.0 | — |
Ulefone Armor 9 wireless charging review
Build
The Armor 9’s exterior is rich in materials – you can see and feel metal, rubber, different types of plastics, and glass, of course. It was designed to endure all sorts of torture and accidents, and you would believe Ulefone’s claims the moment you lay eyes on the Armor 9. It is indeed wearing one heavy armor.
The back of the Armor 9 is really cool. It is made of thick and soft TPU plastic that has this rubber-like feel. It has a tiny diamond-shaped texture that makes for a very secure grip. Ulefone says the entire back panel is enhanced with aluminum alloy during the manufacturing process, and the whole thing absorbs shock in an unprecedented way.
There are a number of tiny screws on the back, a huge Ulefone logo on a separate metal plate, and you can see the giant lanyard eyehole around the bottom.The Ulefone Armor 9 has a unique frame with a ton of features all around. The four corners are the first thing that stands out – they are enlarged and enhanced with rubber, aluminum, and plastic. These seem to be four large buffers for shock absorption.
Design
The Ulefone Armor 9 has the same display as the Armor 7, at least on paper. It’s a 6.3-inch IPS LCD with 1,080 x 2,340 pixels and a droplet-shaped notch. It is protected by a shatter- and scratch-resistant glass, and you can enhance it further with an additional screen protector. The screen bezels are thick, but for a rugged phone, they are fine.
Display
The front of the Ulefone Armor 9 is all about its display. There is a 6.3″ IPS LCD screen of extended 1080p resolution and a droplet-shaped notch. There are a bunch of sensors and a tri-color (RGB) LED notification light above the screen notch and then – the earpiece grille.
Ports
The top and bottom sides are made of the same TPU plastic as the corners, and each has one rubber cap protecting the 3.5mm jack (top) and the USB-C port (bottom). A 3.5mm audio connector hidden behind a flap can be found on the top edge of the Armor 9. At the opposite end is a Type-C connector, again hidden behind a flap.
There is a long going on around the metal pieces. On the right, you’ll see the fingerprint scanner, the power key, and a long metal cap hiding the SIM and microSD tray. We are not fans of the side-mounted fingerprint reader, as it gets triggered a lot, and most of the time we had to type our PIN because of the too many (unintentional) attempts. We get why it is on the side, but its position always gets in the way. This isn’t an issue with the Armor 9 alone, though, it’s pretty much valid for any side-mounted fingerprint sensor.
Ulefone Armor 9 Endoscope review
Thanks to the special lock, the accessory is IP67-rated for dust and water resistance. Attaching it to the Armor 9 requires you to unscrew one small screw with the bundled screwdriver and then hook the end of the endoscope to the side of the Armor 9, connect the pins, and then fasten the whole thing with the integrated screw.
You may want to consider the Endoscope E1 accessory ($50). It has a 2-meters long cable that ends with an HD camera and six LEDs with adjustable brightness right via a mounted wheel around the end of the cable.
This endoscope also comes with an additional hook, one small reflecting mirror, and a magnet – depending on where and what you need to do with it.
It is not that easy to navigate the endoscope in vents, shafts, service boxes, and whatnot, but with some practice, you should be able to get the job done. It obviously isn’t a professional-grade endoscope, but it is a nice thing to have for when it matters. And as it turns out – even if this is not our line of work – we still found ourselves needing such device on a couple of occasions.
The endoscope accessories have been around forever, but this OEM one promises more reliable connection and water resistance – things the $10 ones from AliExpress can’t match.
Ulefone Armor 9 Camera review
The Ulefone Armor 9 packs a dual camera on its back for your regular photos and videos. It has a 64MP primary snapper and a 2MP depth sensor. A powerful quad-LED flash is also around, but it will be used much more as a flashlight and far less as a camera flash.
One useful mode of the camera app is fire detection – this is a special mode that searches for electrical or otherwise fires within inaccessible areas, such as walls.
At the front, you’ll find an 8MP camera for selfies that’s using the Sony IMX134 sensor with 1.12µm pixels and f/2.2 lens.
The 16MP photos, which you should have been getting by default, are nice but nothing impressive. They are free of noise and have good resolved detail everywhere but in foliage. The dynamic range is average and so is the contrast. The colors are warmer than they should be and you can tell that immediately. The sharpening is a bit excessive at times, but it’s not a real issue.
The FLIR camera is thoroughly interesting and even if you are not a professional, you should still be able to enjoy it and find a way to put it to some useful work in a variety of situations.
The FLIR system on the back of the Ulefone Armor 9 has two snappers – a thermal and a regular (2MP) one, which work together to provide a more detailed image of what you are seeing. The thermal one captures thermal images only (duh), while the regular snapper enhances those with contours from the objects you see.
Naturally, the FLIR camera supports temperature measurement and it has a couple of different modes – via a temperature bar or by chosen spots. You can also get averages, too.
The Night Mode takes about 2 seconds and produces excellent shots – they are a bit soft sometimes, yes, but quite bright, low on noise, and with good contrast. Oddly, those are saved in 12.5MP instead of 16MP.
Memory and storage
First, the relatively big disappointment has to be the fact that there’s no 5G. Ulefone has already confirmed that there will be a 5G phone coming later this year, the Ulefone 8 5G, which will use a Mediatek Dimensity SoC. For now, the Armor 9 sports a Helio P90 SoC which packs eight CPU cores and an IMG PowerVR GM9446 GPU cluster.
That is paired with 8GB of RAM, 128GB storage, a big 6,600mAh battery, a 6.3-inch full HD display with a 2340 x 1080 pixel resolution, a triple rear camera setup (64-megapixel, 5-megapixel and 2-megapixel), a front 8-megapixel sensor, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0.
We also received an 18W (9V,2A) charger with a tempered glass screen protector, an OTG cable and an adaptor inside the box. Optionally, you can purchase a back clip, a sling, an arm band or a holder to carry the Armor 9 around.
Ulefone Armor 9 wireless charging rugged phone performance review
This is how the Ulefone Armor 9 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
- Geekbench: 396 (single core); 1486 (multi core)
- PCMark (Work 2.0): 9590
- Passmark: 5589
- Passmark CPU: 14958
- Androbench (sequential): 308 (sequential read); 245 (sequential write)
- Androbench (random): 75.1 (random read); 30.9 (random write)
- 3DMark Slingshot: 2130
- 3DMark Slingshot Extreme: 1183 (OGL) 1472 (Vulkan)
- HWBot Prime: 5383
Alternate of Ulefone Armor 9 wireless charging rugged phone
if you are looking for a rugged Android smartphone with a FLIR camera, then there’s at least three you should consider.
You may want to check the Armor 7, which has similar ruggedness but is a bit lighter due to the “smaller” 5,500 mAh battery. It has the same 6.3″ display and the same Helio P90 chip, but you will find a 48MP primary, an 8MP telephoto, and a 16MP night camera on its back.
The Blackview BV9900 Pro uses the same Lepton 2.5 sensor as Ulefone’s flagship model. It matches the Armor 9, almost feature for feature but is lighter, cheaper and has a much smaller footprint (which might also explain the much smaller battery).
For $110 less, you can get the Blackview BV9800 Pro which runs on Android 9, has a weaker processor but features the all-important FLIR camera. Its main rear camera has 25% fewer pixels while its selfie camera has twice as many pixels as the Armor 9. It even almost matches the latter when it comes to the battery capacity.
The CAT S62 Pro also has a FLIR camera, one which uses the superior Lepton 3.5 sensor. It is far more expensive than the Armor 9, has less system memory and a worse camera. However, CAT has aftersales support in more than 50 countries and has already confirmed that the S62 Pro will come with Android 11.