Ulefone Armor 28 Ultra is a BEAST in more than one way!

September 4, 2024

Ulefone is celebrating its tenth anniversary and eight years of excellence in the rugged device industry. To commemorate this milestone, they announced the Armor 28 series with the Ultra offering being the main highlight. In this article, we’ll look further at the Ulefone Armor 28 Ultra and also discuss its potential price in Nepal.

Ulefone Armor 28 Ultra Overview

Design and Display

Like any other Ulefone offering, the Armor 28 Ultra looks like a tank. It has a sizable heft to it along with cushioning around the phone. It appears as if it already has a protective case on. There is a chequered pattern on the back panel and looks as if it means business. Not only does it look that way, but it’s built as such too. It boasts an IP68 as well as an IP69K rating, meaning it can survive being submerged at depths of 2 metres for 30 minutes and take a hot water jet right at its face. Furthermore, it can operate in extreme temperatures of -30°C to 55°C without acting up.

The display has normally been Ulefone’s Achilles heel, however, the same cannot be said about Armor 28 Ultra. The company has taken an extra step with this phone and equipped it with two displays! Yes, you heard that right! The main screen is a 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with FHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and 2,200 nits of peak brightness. This is the first-ever phone from the brand with an AMOLED panel. Meanwhile, on the back, it has a circular screen alongside the cameras which displays time and other basic things.

Performance

Ulefone’s main concern has always been providing a tough exterior. Given that, the performance side of things has been mediocre at best. But not on this one! The company has fully embraced the idea of providing a flagship phone and equipped the Armor 28 Ultra with the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ chipset. Yes, the processor that sits atop all else in terms of performance. This silicone clocks in at 3.4 GHz and scores 2,125,715 in AnTuTu 10, which is over 2% more than the closest challenger i.e. the regular Dimesnity 9300. For reference, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 hits 2,052,774 in the same benchmarking platform.

The additional hardware on the Ulefone Armor 28 Ultra is no slouch either. It packs 16GB LPDDR4X RAM and supports a virtual RAM extension of another 16GB. Similarly, this device has 512GB UFS 3.1 internal storage which obviously can be expanded via a MicroSD card. Talking of the software, it boots on Android 14 out of the box.

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Imaging

In true Ulefone fashion, the company has a whole imaging system including a night vision camera and a thermal sensor. Let’s talk about the regular cameras, of which there are two on the back and one on the front. The primary shooter is a 50MP unit with a 1-inch Sony IMX989 sensor. The auxiliary lens is another 50MP shooter, which is an ultrawide lens with a Samsung JN1 sensor. On the front, it has the same thing as the ultrawide i.e. 50MP Samsung JN1.

Now moving on to the novelty cameras on the Ulefone Armor 28 Ultra. It has a 64MP module coupled with the OV64B1B sensor, which is a night vision camera. It can take clear photos during dark time, which other phones cannot replicate even with Night mode turned on. Likewise, the other one is a thermal sensor that with the ThermoVue Pro app can deliver thermal videos at 256 x 192 pixels. This is the highest resolution of thermal imaging from the brand so far! As if that was not enough, one can hook the uSmart Expansion connector — which is basically an endoscopy camera — to the phone and reach spaces that you couldn’t look at normally or with a regular camera.

Battery and the rest

As I mentioned earlier, the Ulefone Armor 28 Ultra has a decent heft to it which can be attributed mostly to its massive 10,600 mAh battery. This is over twice as large as the current industry standard of 5,000 mAh. Having such a large unit, and not having fast charging would not make any sense. Hence, the phone supports 120W wired and 50W wireless charging.

Other than that, it has dual SIM, 5G cellular, WiFi 6, Bluetooth v5.4, and NFC support for wireless connectivity. On top of that, it has an IR blaster too so that you can control other appliances. It has a 1.5W speaker, which should be plenty loud. One must understand that the phone’s speakers aren’t generally rated in watts, it’s done for laptops and speakers. And laptops usually pack 2 to 2.5W speakers. Lastly, you get a 3.5mm headphone jack on the Ulefone Armor 28 Ultra, which you need not utilise to listen to FM Radio, as it also has an antenna of its own as well.

Ulefone Armor 28 Ultra Specifications

Design: Rugged and hefty frame, IP68 and IP69K
Display:
- Primary: 6.67” AMOLED Panel, FHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 2,200 nits peak brightness
- Secondary: Circular, display basic things like time
Chipset: Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ (4nm)
RAM: 16GB LPDDR4X + 16GB extendable
ROM: 512GB UFS 3.1 + expandable with MicroSD card
OS: Android 14
Rear Camera: Triple Camera + Thermal Imaging
- Primary: 50MP, 1” Sony IMX989 sensor
- Ultrawide: 50MP, Samsung JN1 sensor
- Night Vision: 64MP, OV64B1B CMOS sensor
- Thermal: ThermoVue sensor, 256 x 192 resolution
Front Camera: 50MP, Samsung JN1 sensor (Centre-aligned hole-punch cutout)
Battery: 10,600 mAh with 120W wired and 50W wireless charging
Connectivity: Dual SIM, 5G, WiFi 6, Hotspot, Bluetooth v5.4, NFC, USB Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack, IR blaster

Ulefone Armor 28 Ultra Price in Nepal and Availability

This absolute unit of a phone was announced on 28 August 2024 and will be displayed at IFA 2024 being held from 6 to 10 September in Berlin, Germany. The company has not revealed its pricing just yet. Their catalogue has mostly hovered under the USD 600 mark so far. However, with the inclusion of a flagship chip under its helm, we wouldn’t be surprised if it was priced at around USD 800. Based on that, if the Ulefone Armor 28 Ultra phone ever makes its way to Nepal we expect its price to be NPR 129,999.