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Ulefone are right up at the top of this market segment. Their devices look cheap, but they are generally very durable and they work really well. They have figured out VoLTE and VoWifi connectivity globally and they shift a LOT of units. Cameras are pretty decent but share the same caveats as everyone else here. Battery is generally stellar and they should last you a good couple of years. BEWARE the tick, tick, tick, TOCK cycle. They release a lot of underspecced garbage and it can sometimes be difficult to tell what is their actual flagship. Their warranty SUCKS, but you shouldn't need it unless you abuse your device. Extra points for making them impossible to kill on the software front too. When unlocking bootloader, rooting or flashing custom firmware Ulefone have baked in a hardware level safety net that can bring a device back from the absolute brink of death. Scenarios that would guarantee a brick on many other devices, you can ALWAYS flash back to factory state with an Ulefone. They're the kings in that area.
CAT I would not bother with at all. You are paying for the brand, but underneath it is the absolute bottom of the barrel hardware dressed up in a premium image. They're shite, and they fall apart to boot.
Blackview is a weird one. I have major trouble picking which of their releases are decent and which are not. They HAVE released some stellar devices over the years, and they have been around a long time but they have had some massive failures and then failed to provide any warranty or support for those that got unlucky. Screens spontaneously cracking, bits falling off, screens coming unglued, failed waterproofing etc etc. And then next quarter they will go and release something with zero flaws. Too much of a risk for my liking, but I have been tempted by their recent small form factor rugged phone. It looks great.
Doogee, Umidigi, IIIF150, Unihertz I would not touch again with a ten foot pole. I would not be at all surprised if these brands turn out to be subsidiary of one of the more successful manufacturers where they use their poorly binned chips and scrapped body designs. They're cheap as shit, but they are pretty disposable. If you want a cheap bag of problems, that nobody will help you with...go for it.
AGM is an interesting case. I own their current flagship offering and I've described that experience in detail above. They have traditionally positioned themselves as the premium offering in the rugged space. Snapdragon processors, extremely high quality body manufacturing and a generally very premium feel with a price to match. They do not shift as many units as Ulefone, but they offer a physically far higher quality product. That lack of scale comes with a few issues on the software side, but in reality it is rare to see a major version update from any of these manufacturers and AGM have actually addressed several release issues via firmware updates. It's tricky business for AGM. They have recently joined the rest in releasing low BOM devices to allow them to keep producing a true halo product when they can. When they do, the price tag at first glance makes them seem completely unappealing: why pay double the price when the feature set seems comparable to Ulefone or Blackview? It's not the same experience. AGM actually have a real warranty which I have used, and they have real customer support agents. They worked directly with Qualcomm to build me a firmware that would get VoWifi working! You will not get that from any of the others, and it won't feel the same when you pull it out of your pocket either. They are certainly not without issues, but it's the best experience I've had to date and seems to be the only rugged brand dealing with Qualcomm. Be warned. They are steadfastly against unlocked bootloader, root or any other software mods. I doubt it will ever happen, their stuff is locked down HARD.
If you are in the USA, it would also be worth looking at what Kyocera and Sonim are up to. Both are priced relatively high, and for Kyocera I think they occupy much the same space as Samsung with the xcover line: not quite fully ruggedized, but certainly good enough for most people. I had a Kyocera back when 3G was sufficient and it was a GREAT phone. These days with VoLTE and VoWifi basically being essential, it's not really an option for me anymore but if they entered the market here in Aus I'd jump ship. They're great. Sonim tend to be pretty far behind on specs and super expensive, but they are pretty much impossible to beat for signal and durability...again same issues with IMS features internationally.
Well, that's about all I have to say about that.
I really appreciate your write-up! I'm based in the north of Sweden, camera isn't much of a priority but humidity, temperature, impact resistance and battery are the important parts. I think I'll go for Ule for now and if that won't fit my use case I'll take your advice on the AGM. Which specific models of those brands would you recommend?
AGM's current flagship is the G2 Guardian, and it really does feel like a flagship.
Ulefone have a huge variety of options over the last 18 months. They release phones every 5 minutes. There's big differences between them though, especially in battery capacity and device size, which are obviously directly related. It's impossible for me to know what will suit you. They have models like the Armor 12 5G which are closer to standard sized phones but with only 5180mAh battery, right up to devices with 13,000+mAh for some of their larger offerings.
I had the Power Armor 13 and it was way too big and heavy. 13200mAh battery. I could go almost 2 weeks without charging! Entirely too big though, it pulled my pants down.
If I were buying a new phone tomorrow the Power Armor 18T (with FLIR sensor), or the Power Armor 18 look like the best combination of features recently. Remember what I said about their release cycles! The Dimensity 900 is a better chip all round than the G99. The fact that the older PA 18 costs more than the PA19, 20 and 21 tells me what I need to know. Power Armor 18 looks like it was their most recent flagship and specs confirm this.
Power Armor 18 or 18T both weigh about the same as my G2 Guardian. I don't find this to be too much. They fit in my normal pants pockets but they ARE going to be significantly larger and heavier than you are used to. Anything more than that is just getting ridiculous but even 400g is a major adjustment and not for everyone.
That battery will change your whole user experience. You just don't need to think about charging. Camera should be good, great refresh rate, super fast charging and even on the standard version it has a built in laser thermometer. You decide if the thermal cam is worth the extra 170 dollars to you. Anything with a FLIR brand sensor has a premium on it. Very cool feature for me, but maybe not for you.
The G99 chipset in some of their non-flagship models is still ok and would save you a lot of money. It is still significantly faster for most tasks than what you had in the Xcover pro, but it would annoy me in daily use. I'd prefer the Dimensity 900 any day, or a snapdragon.
Stay away from their "X series" line. Same cases, shitty hardware.