Ulefone Armor 26 Ultra review: A heavy duty powerhouse

Ulefone is part of a group of Chinese phone makers focused heavily on the rugged device market, offering Android phones and tablets. The Ulefone Power Armor 16 Pro is already considered one of the best rugged Android phones, with its feature-rich designs and inexpensive hardware. Based purely on specifications, the Ulefone Armor 26 Ultra is the flagship for a new generation offering even greater power and features.

The Armor 26 Ultra is a ruggedized phone design in the purest sense, not a budget design with waterproofing added. Ulefone poured many desirable things into the Armor 26 Ultra, but can these offset the monstrous scale of this cellular Godzilla?

Price, availability, and specifications

Big price differences depending on where you order

As a Chinese brand, Ulefone’s primary outlet is always AliExpress, but this phone can be found on Amazon, too. There, it currently costs $660, though a $80 coupon brings it down to $580. That seems a plausible price for the technology in this phone, but depending on offers through AliExpress, it can be found for $300 less.

It’s also worth noting that only the phone is available on Amazon, whereas on AliExpress, various deals are bundling some of Ulefone’s accessories. They also have a special version of the Armor 26 Ultra with enhanced walkie-talkie technology that costs about $50 more.

I should also mention that this phone’s 5G modem is designed for genuinely global use, covering many countries and a selection of US service providers. These include Sprint, T-Mobile C spire, AT&T, Google Fi, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless, Cricket Wireless, and GCI Wireless.

What’s good about the Ulefone Armor 26 Ultra?

Overflowing with features and performance

Rather than breaking down specific features that make this a phone you might want, the overall package and the parts used provide the main selling point. Many rugged phones are revamped budget designs, but the Armor 26 Ultra was designed from the ground up to shoehorn as much technology into this almost-indestructible chassis as was feasibly possible.

A design priority was the battery capacity, and with 15600mAh inside, that necessitated the inclusion of a 120W charger in the box. You can charge it with a conventional phone charger or use 33W wireless charging, but it will take much longer to reach total capacity. This battery is huge by normal smartphone standards, but compared to the 22,000mAh that the Uniherz Tank offers, it still has some way to go.

A nice touch is the Pogo pins, which enable it to charge at 33W without disturbing the rubber plug on the USB-C port using a Desk Charging Dock that Ulefone designed for it. That rubber plug is critical for the phone to maintain its IP68/69K water and dust rating in the longer term since that port is where ingress is most likely to occur.

The camera options include settings for underwater photography, although this phone will sink if you let go. I’d avoid that feature unless you’re in water shallower than the maximum immersion depth of 1.5m.

Unsurprisingly, the target audience is adventurers, with the Armor 26 Ultra ticking all the boxes for resilience, battery life, and the ability to capture the great outdoors in stunning photos or videos.

It sports five different sensors, with the primary option being the Samsung HP3 sensor, which can take enormous 200MP (16320 x 12240) images. When using lower resolutions, it uses pixel-binning technology to deliver output that’s relatively artifact-free and well-saturated.

The camera features are comparable to a premium phone with three other rear sensors: Ultra-wide angle, night vision, and a telephoto lens with a 3.2x optical zoom. If those aren’t overkill, the front-facing selfie sensor is 50MP.

My only reservation about the rear cameras is the sensors are widely spaced, causing the viewpoint to shift subtly when it automatically transitions between them. With a less powerful phone, these cameras might challenge the CPU to keep up, but the Armor 26 Ultra uses the same powerful Dimensity 8020 SoC that Blackview used in the BL9000 Pro.

Thankfully, that curious phase where Chinese phone makers tried to turn their backs on Google is consigned to history, and the Armor 26 Ultra uses a mostly vanilla Android 13 platform.

By default, all the important Google applications come pre-installed, along with a few phone-specific tools like a radio and a small app selection entitled ‘outdoor toolbox.’ The lack of bloatware on here is much appreciated, and with only a Google account active, the Armor 26 Ultra only uses 19GB, a fraction of the 512GB available.

I should also mention that this phone’s 5G modem is designed for genuinely global use, covering all the major US service providers.

What’s bad about the Ulefone Armor 26 Ultra?

Doubles as a sea anchor

As with any phone, some things should have been different, and others are limitations created by the designers’ paths along the development trail.

The biggest issue with the Armor 26 Ultra is that, at 1.33 pounds (600 grams), it’s a substantial chunk of metal and gorilla glass that could easily be used to knock fence posts into the ground. It needs to be placed in a large, zipped pocket to avoid being launched by sudden movements, and its sheer mass makes it a less-than-ideal companion for a long hike. Reducing the battery capacity would have made it lighter, but the battery is one of its star features.

Some mitigation to its bulk can be found with the Ulefone Armor Holster, which enables the phone to be clipped to a backpack. An option preferable to having this much weight constantly pulling on your belt.

If you’ve ever had a phone like this, you probably know that rugged phone makers often add one of two features: a speaker or a powerful light. Ulefone opted for a 121 dBA speaker in the middle of the camera cluster.

As those numbers suggest, this can be an exceptionally loud phone that, if not on vibrate, will invariably get you ejected from the opera. While camping, it might alert wildlife within a five-mile circumference to your precise location, acting as a practical dinner bell for any hungry bears.

That’s not to say this isn’t a feature some would find useful, but others in your party might wish you had bought a phone with a bright light instead.

Should you buy it?

A powerful phone for those with strong wrists

The ideal place for this phone is mounted on a vehicle, which is odd considering that Ulefone failed to offer the car mounting kit it badly needs. When combined with some inexpensive accessories, this phone could be handy for those in the automotive trade or machine repair. The extensive camera features make it suitable for capturing events and dramatic scenery, and the water and dust resistance offers dependable durability.

It’s less compelling as a daily driver, though, because it’s decidedly heavy, making it unsuitable for anyone with wrist issues.

In the end, what’s striking about this phone is how many high-quality parts Ulefone put inside and the generally high-quality construction it uses, especially given the relatively low price. With designs like the Armor 26 Ultra entering the market, the prices asked by some premium brands are even harder to justify.