Ulefone's Armor 28 Ultra rugged smartphone with thermal camera to finally launch

Ulefone might not be the most well-known brand, but the company has built a reputation for its particularly rugged smartphones, where are also available in the US. Now, the company has once again teased the upcoming debut of two new smartphones, which are basically two model variants of the same device. These are called the Armor 28 Ultra and Armor 28 Ultra Thermal Version.

The obvious difference, which is also visible in the official marketing pictures: The Armor 28 Ultra Thermal Version is equipped with a thermal-imaging camera. Among other things, this sensor can detect wildlife at night but can also be used to inspect the insulation of houses, among other practical use cases.

Ulefone further advertises the Armor 28 Ultra and the Armor 28 Ultra Thermal Version as the best rugged smartphones of all time. Reviews will show if this is actually the case, but the preceding Armor 27T Pro did quite well in our comprehensive test back last year. Like the previous model, these two new phones are pretty bulky, but like most rugged handsets they are also equipped with large batteries.

The Armor 28 Ultra is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+, which is an SoC that doesn’t sport any efficiency cores but performance cores in form of the X4 and Cortex A520. This phone supports 5G and supposedly hits an AnTuTu score of 2,100,000. Ulefone further advertises the 1-inch Sony IMX989 camera sensor. After its official reveal at IFA 2024 and subsequent postponement, the new rugged Android smartphone with an optional thermal camera is finally about to launch this month, but exact prices are still not available.