Ulefone Armor 22 Review

Design, build and controls

Ulefone Armor 22 has the classic appearance of a rugged smartphone. What makes an impression is that the smartphone is wider than usual. Indeed, among all smartphones with a 6.5-6.6-inch display and a 6000+ battery capacity, this is the widest one measuring 84.9 mm, even compared to the rugged smartphones from the Bison series of Umidigi, which are one millimeter narrower. The model is also the tallest with 176.8 mm in height and the thickest with a depth of 15 mm. Still, it feels thinner and lighter than most rugged smartphones in general. Ulefone Armor 22 is IP68 and IP69K rated meaning it has advanced protection against water, dust, dirt, sand, humidity, salt mist, and other unfavorable conditions of the environment. The model can survive submersion in water of up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes and drops from 1.5 meters of height onto concrete. The MIL-STD-810H certification ensures the device is properly tested to survive drops on its front, back, sides, corners, and edges. The front is dominated by the display with 3.5 mm side bezels, a 5 mm top one, and a 7 mm bottom bezel. There's a V notch for the 8MP selfie camera. The light/proximity sensors are placed to its left and the LED notification light is positioned to the right of the camera on the top bezel. The receiver is placed right between the display casing and the frame. The device supports both on-screen gesture navigation and navigation with virtual buttons. Both options can be customized. The rear shell is quite minimalistic. It is covered with a shock-absorbing TPU with a diagonal relief pattern and the Ulefone logo postined in one of the diagonal dents at the bottom right corner. The top of the rear shell is occupied by an octagonal camera module that has a silver-colored metal frame. The two rear cameras are horizontally aligned and the two IR lights with LED flash are positioned below the lenses. The top frame houses a 3.5 mm headphone jack protected by a sealing cap and an IR blaster. The bottom frame is the home of the USB Type-C port, also protected by a sealing cap attached with a visible screw to the frame, a microphone, and a bottom-firing speaker. The bottom right corner has holes for a lanyard string. The triple-slot SIM tray is placed on the left frame with a customizable physical button placed below it. The right frame is the home of the Volume rocker and the Power button with an embedded fingerprint sensor on it. The side frames are covered with a metallic-looking material in silver color with decorative bumps and visible screws.