AGM H5 Review - a good looking and reliable rugged smartphone

Design, build and controls

The AGM H5 has a classic rugged design created with attention to detail and as a result, you get a stylish device that lies comfortably in the hand. The metal frame is entirely covered with shock-absorbing TPU including additional padding for the four corners with accents in orange. It is the rear shell that's the design accent here. It is made of tough polycarbonate with a texture that's pleasant both to the eye and the touch. The textured back is created to imitate the aramid fiber - the bulletproof material used in aerospace engineering and military equipment. It prevents the device from being scratched, from slippering (either from the surface or the hand), and accentuates the overall sculpted appearance of the device. There are minor design accents in bright orange for a fresher appearance, while the overall color of the handset is black. The AGM H5 is IP68 and IP69K rated and MIL-STD-810H certified. This means it can survive drops from 1.5 meters, 99% dust, and 30 minutes under 1.5 meters of water. It can also withstand high pressure and extreme temperature environments. The MIL-STD-810H stands for the latest 810H version of the American Military Standard. It suggests the phone is protected against drops, impacts, and hazardous crashes. The H5 is 85.5 mm wide, 176.15 mm tall, 23 mm thick, and weighs 360 g. That's quite a footprint for a smartphone but a normal one for a rugged one. The thickness is higher than average due to the big battery and the speaker module. As usual, the front is dominated by the display with thick bezels and a waterdrop notch for the selfie camera. The side and top bezels are 3 mm thick and the bottom one - 7 mm thick. The waterproof receiver is outlined with а bright orange color and placed between the display and the frame. The bottom frame has an accent orange line in the middle with a bare bezel above it. You can choose from on-screen gestures or on-screen buttons for navigation. The textured rear shell is dominated by the camera-speaker module. In the center, there's the loudest (in AGM's words) smartphone speaker - 109 dB. The module itself is quite large with a diameter of 33 mm. If you can't imagine what 109 dB is like, we can share that normal conversation is about 60 dB and a motorcycle engine running is about 95 dB. Jackhammers, power saws, and symphony orchestras reach 110 dB. The big round speaker has an RGB LED light circle around it. Whenever you play music, receive a call or a notification - it lights up. This function can be disabled. The three rear cameras and the LED flash are placed in the four corners of this module with the dual IR lights for the night vision camera positioned between the two cameras on the right-hand side. The module has two vertical orange accent lines and an AGM logo in the middle of the speaker. Below the module, there's the fingerprint sensor, followed by another vertical orange line the AGM logo, pressure relief hole, pogo pins, and two other orange accent lines. The pogo pins are used for the 10W dock charging. The top frame has a waterproof secondary microphone. The bottom one houses the USB Type-C port, 3.5 mm jack, and the main microphone. The USB Type-C port and the 3.5 mm jack both are protected by a single cap that can be opened from both sides. If it is ruined, AGM provides a replacement in the package. The same applies to the protective cap of the hybrid, dual-SIM tray positioned on the left frame. Its cap has a replacement, too. Below the tray, there's a customizable physical button in orange color. On the right frame, the Volume and Power buttons are located.