Ulefone Armor 22 Review

OS, UI and software

Ulefone Armor 22 runs on Android 13 with the familiar Ulefone customizations that are very delicate and the overall feeling of using stock Android is preserved. The Lock Screen is based on periodically interchanging wallpapers with a Time and Date widget on the top of the screen and a shortcut at the bottom right corner, which opens a second Lock Screen with four quick access options - sound recorder, torch, calculator, and alarm clock. There's also a Lock Screen wallpaper for when you plug in the device to charge its battery. The Home Screen has a classic layout with a Remote Control app and the Service Center app added to the usual favorites and docked apps.

Desktop shortcuts are supported and Ulefone has added a beautiful background blur when the dialog comes up on the screen. By default, App Drawer is activated and you can see the apps listed in alphabetic order with a list of the most used ones on top below the app search bar. The Task Manager lists the app previews horizontally with an option to access the app info and enter the split screen mode. There's a Clear All button at the bottom of the screen. The Google Discover app is accessed after a swipe to the right from the Home Screen. The Notifications have a classic design and layout and so do the Quick Settings toggles which are listed on two pages. There's an edit option, as usual, to add/remove toggles from the list. A long press on an empty space on the Home Screen opens the customization picker. It contains a list of widgets to choose from, a list of screen transition effects, Wallpaper & Style settings, and Home settings. The last two are also available from the Settings app. The Wallpaper & Style menu reflects the typical Android 13 options for customizing the Lock and Home Screen. You can change the wallpaper, set up the color scheme, switch to Dark Theme, use Themed Icons, and set an App Grid. The Home settings contain the usual notification dots, Google Discover toggle, options to customize the app name, icon, and icon size, an option to change from an app drawer launcher to one with consecutive desktops, a toggle for the Easy launcher, and others. Ulefone Armor 22 has a standard set of pre-installed applications found on almost every modern rugged smartphone we've reviewed with a couple more that are not unusual. The pre-installed list of applications comprises Assistant, Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Children Space, Chrome, Clock, Contacts, Drive, Easy Launcher, Files, Find Device, FM Radio, Game Booster, Gmail, Discover, Maps, Meet, Nessages, Mobile Guardian, Outdoor Tools, Phone, Photos, Play Store, Remote Control, Safety, Service Center, Settings, Sound Recorder, Theme, YouTube, and YT Music. The Children Space app lets you set up a virtual environment that's safe for your kids when using the smartphone. The Easy launcher is intended for the elderly or other people who need only the very basic phone features. The Mobile Guardian is an app that combines in one place features such as clearing cache, clearing background apps, app lock, notification management, power saving, and phone traffic control. The Game Booster is an environment that lets you enjoy your favorite games undisturbed. The Outdoor Tools contains a compass, height meter, gradienter, and other useful tools. The Remote Control app works flawlessly and quickly detects known TV models. The Settings app has a layout that's typical for older Android versions as the different menus are grouped visually. Each group lists the menus on white rectangulars with rounded corners that pop up from the general light gray background. Of course, the first group is about connectivity. It lists on the first access level the Wi-Fi settings, Connected devices, Android Auto, SIM cards, Mobile network, Hotspot & Tethering, and additional network and connection settings. The second logical group is about managing main device properties. The first is the Display allowing you to adjust the brightness, night light, lock screen options, LED notification lights, screen refresh rate, color mode, and other display properties. The second menu in this group is about personalization and wallpapers. The Navigation Bar is third in the second group with customization for the on-screen gestures and the virtual navigation bar. The Sound & Vibration settings are next and include all the standard options plus Live Caption settings and Hi-Fi Mode enhancements. The last two menus are Apps and Notifications, which are quite standard. The third group is related to privacy and security. The first menu is Privacy with all the standard menus such as dashboard, permission manager, Android System Intelligence, autofill service, and others. It is followed by the Security menu with all four security branches on top, app lock, children's space, and biometrics. Finally, there's the Safety & Emergency menu that relates to the Safety app and Wireless emergency alerts, allowing you to add medical information, and emergency contacts, set up your emergency SOS, crisis alert settings, etc. The fourth group of settings is about various types of customizations. For starters, there's the Custom Key menu from where you can assign an app or function to the physical button placed on the left frame. Then there's the Special Function menu which contains plenty of additional features that you can activate such as additional fingerprint sensor functions, three-finger screenshot, sensor calibration, lift to wake, accessibility features, magazine lock screen, app cloning, etc. Smart Touch is an already familiar tool that serves as an alternative way of navigating. Battery and Location are also parts of this group and don't need any explanation. The fifth group of settings is about managing the passwords and accounts on the device, System, and About phone. The last group contains the standard Digital Wellbeing menu, Google settings, and DuraSpeed.