ZDNET’s key findings

• The Ulefone Armor 25T Pro is available at Amazon for $420.
• Packed with features that will delight engineers and outdoor enthusiasts, yet not as bulky as your average rugged smartphone.
• Battery life isn’t the best and the memory can get overloaded under heavy workloads.

While I can’t imagine replacing the iPhone as my everyday device – I’m so entrenched in the Apple ecosystem now that there’s no hope for me – that doesn’t mean I don’t have a second Android phone. And my favorite Android phones are the ones aimed at engineers. You know, phones with built-in thermal imaging and night vision.

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Lately I have been using the Ulefone Armor 25T Proa 5G smartphone running Android 14, and it has proven to be a fantastic and versatile mobile phone, packed with features that iPhone users can only dream of!

Technical data of the Ulefone Armor 25T Pro

• Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 6300 6-nanometer SoC (2×2.4 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) and Arm Mali-G57 MC2 GPU
• 6.78 inches, resolution 1080 x 2460, refresh rate 120 Hz, density ~396 pixels per inch, with Corning Gorilla Victus glass
• 12 GB storage (6 GB RAM + 6 GB virtual RAM) with 256 GB internal storage (expandable up to 2 TB with microSD/TF card)
• 50-megapixel wide-angle camera on the back, f/1.65 aperture and 1/1.31-inch ultra-large sensor with 1.2 µm pixel size
• 64-megapixel night vision camera with f/1.8 aperture and two infrared LED illuminators
• ThermoVue thermal imaging sensor, up to 160 x 120 high resolution, up to 25 Hz refresh rate, up to 1000 m measuring range, -20 °C to 550 °C range
• 6,500 mAh battery (478 hours standby, 48 hours talk time, 16 hours video playback)
• 33W fast charging
• Reverse wireless charging
• Integrated infrared and NFC
• Water and dust resistance according to IP68/IP69K and MIL-STD-810H
• 177.4×81.4×12.5mm
• 326 grams

The Armor 25T Pro comes in two parts; let’s look at the smartphone side of things first.

Looking at the specs of the processor, display, battery and camera, it can certainly be classified as a mainstream mobile phone and you can feel where some compromises have been made. For example, while the processor, GPU and RAM are enough to keep the handset running smoothly most of the time, there are rare occasions when things feel a little slow. I suspect this is mainly due to the 6GB RAM + 6GB virtual RAM configuration, which is sometimes not enough.

In a direct duel against the Blackview BL9000 Prothe Blackview wins every time thanks to its faster processor and extra RAM. But that handset costs hundreds more.

Nevertheless, the performance of the Armor 25T Pro is sufficient for most of the time.

The same goes for the cameras. They are packed with megapixels and the output is OK, but not on par with the iPhone Pro Max or Galaxy Ultra.

But again, for most people it is more than enough.

Does this phone need a 50MP main camera and a 32MP selfie camera? Probably not, but megapixel counts help sell, and as sensors get cheaper, megapixel counts will continue to rise.

To build a phone that doesn’t feel like a brick in your pocket, Ulefone had to decide what was important. At 6,500 mAh, this battery is on the small side for rugged phones, but it’s good enough.

Also: I’m adding this iPhone thermal imaging camera accessory to my toolkit (especially at this price)

But let’s be honest: Nobody is buying the Armor 25T Pro for the display, the processor, or the battery life. People are buying it for the thermal imaging camera and night vision.

This brings us to the second part of this handset – the superpowers!

The excellent ThermoVue thermal imaging camera is fast, has a very good frame rate and a high level of accuracy.

Thermal imaging cameras have a wide range of uses, from finding the hiding place of a house rat in the bedroom to identifying a faulty component on a circuit board. Yes, they really are that versatile.

I’ve said it before: a thermal imaging camera is an indispensable tool for diagnosis and repairs, just as important as a screwdriver, a multimeter or a soldering iron.

I always thought night vision was a gimmick, but when you’re crawling around in a pitch-black attic looking for an electrical component, night vision is invaluable.

And using IR night vision is much better for your eyes than shining a flashlight around.

Yes, this tool also has its place in the engineer’s toolbox.

Buying advice from ZDNET

Ulefone is one of my favorite Android smartphone manufacturers. The company never fails to impress with its range of rugged handsets, managing to build devices that are perfectly tailored to the lives of engineers and outdoor enthusiasts.

The Ulefone Armor 25T Pro is no exception. It uses common smartphone components and adds useful features like a thermal imaging camera and night vision. These aren’t features for the masses, but if you need them and know how to use them properly, they’ll be tremendously useful.

And it’s one of the few armored smartphones that doesn’t feel like a tank in your pocket.