My tests revealed that Ulefone ditched portability for a projector with the Armor 34 Pro

Ulefone Armor 34 Pro: 30-second review

This review is out of order. Not in the sense of an elevator with a ‘do not use sign, but in that Ulefone has a brother design of phone, the Armor 33 Pro, that, for whatever reason, was delayed to market.

Therefore, the 34 Pro is available to purchase, whereas the sibling 33 Pro isn’t.

What these two designs share is a chassis, SoC, memory and storage model, and a huge 25500 mAh battery. Actually, other than the battery, this is the same underlying phone as the Armor 30 Pro, the original device in this series.

The problem with having a large battery is that it has increased the weight of this phone to 825g, which is something you probably don’t want to carry if you are on foot.

That said, if you do put up with such a heavy and bulky device, it has sufficient power to run for at least three entire days of constant use, and this phone could easily last a week or more if managed properly.

The special trick of the 34 Pro is that, in addition to having ample memory and storage, it also features a built-in 150-lumen projector. Therefore, if you preload some movies onto the 512GB internal storage, and you have a sheet to use as a projection screen, you can take Hollywood into the great outdoors for those foolish enough to accompany you.

And, the phone also has a 1100-lumen light for navigating in the dark.

As amazing as it is that Ulefone managed to pack all this technology into the Armor 34 Pro, and make it for an affordable price, the physical scale of this phone makes it more suitable for vehicle mounting than for carrying.

And, the feature set is too idiosyncratic for inclusion in our best rugged phone round-up.

Ulefone Armor 34 Pro: price and availability

• How much does it cost? $550/£399
• When is it out? Available globally
• Where can you get it? Direct from the maker or via an online retailer

Ulefone appears to have got its ducks entirely out of order, and has launched the Armor 34 Pro before releasing the 33 Pro, confusingly.

Ulefone is one of the Chinese brands that sells its products through AliExpress, but it also offers the Armor 34 Pro directly from its own worldwide shop by clicking here.

It's also on Amazon.com, where the asking price is $699.99, and £600 at Amazon.co.uk, but it can be found cheaper. AliExpress retails the phone for $639.99 or £444.11, but you can get a deal on a Molle hoster or a uSmart E1 camera with it from the manufacturer's site.

This is a significant price increase over the 30 Pro from the maker, but the price can be made more acceptable elsewhere.

• Value score: 4/5

Ulefone Armor 34 Pro: Specs

Ulefone Armor 34 Pro: design

• Solid but heavy construction
• Projector
• No headphone jack

By now, I’m assuming that the engineers at Ulefone are on a high-protein and iron-rich exercise regimen, where a phone weighing 1.8lb / 825g seems like nothing to them.

Because to anyone else it feels like a house brick, although in this case a nicely shaped one that doesn’t leave marks when it pins your hand to the desk.

This is also one of those designs where a few rugged phone makers are trying to start a design revolution by placing the volume rocker on the left, but leaving the power button on the right. Not sure I like this, but be aware it's not a conventional layout.

Other diversions from the norm include the removal of the headphone jack that was in both the 30 Pro and 33 Pro at the top. The reason it was removed was that this phone has a projector built into the top, and its inclusion has changed various other details of this design.

Because within a minute or so of turning the projector on, a distinct fan noise starts to emanate, and above the power button on the left is a slotted vent for hot air to be ejected.

Just to say, this phone is still IP69K/IP68 and MIL-STD-810H rated for water and dust, so water entering this exhaust port shouldn’t cause the Ulefone Death Star to explode.

The positive side of this design is the quality of the construction, which is exceptional. And the obvious downside is that this is another phone that has the mass of Thor’s hammer, should you be unworthy.

As this phone doesn't have dual displays, Ulefone gave it a camping light that's so bright it might give you temporary blindness if you look at it directly. You can make it less likely to damage you, or even send an SOS message.

Given the unusual specification, the design is not unreasonable, but it's certainly not for everyone.

Design score: 4/5

Ulefone Armor 34 Pro: hardware

• MediaTek Dimensity 7300
• OLED display
• 25500 mAh battery

The Dimensity 7300X is a capable system-on-chip (SoC) featuring 5G connectivity and a competent Arm Mali-G615 MC2 GPU, along with a neural processing unit (NPU) for those interested in AI capabilities. This level of performance meets the needs of most Android users, and it delivers solid video performance, even handling exceptionally resource-intensive games.

One of the standout features of the 34 Pro is its eye-catching 6.95-inch OLED main display, which is safeguarded by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. This seems identical to the one on the 33 Pro, and it delivers remarkably saturated colour.

However, it does have a glossy finish, which can create significant reflections in bright outdoor settings. For outdoor professionals, some form of anti-glare coating or film would be beneficial.

While the SoC and screen are impressive, the more compelling feature of this model is undoubtedly its robust 25500 mAh battery capacity, which is nearly double the 12800 mAh featured in the 30 Pro. This provides exceptional running time away from charging, allowing you to operate off-grid for more than a couple of days.

Included in the box is a 66W charger; however, due to the large battery capacity, it takes approximately five hours to charge from a completely discharged state.

In summary, while the battery and its associated weight significantly impact the overall experience, they offer an excellent alternative for users prioritising battery life over other features.

• Hardware score: 4/5

Ulefone Armor 34 Pro: cameras

• 50MP, 64MP and 50MP sensors on the rear
• 32MP on the front
• Four cameras in total

The Ulefone Armor 34 Pro has four cameras:

Rear camera: 50MP OV50H primary, 64MP OV64B Night Vision , 50MP JN1 Ultra wide-angle
Front camera: 32MP Samsung GD2

This camera setup is identical to that of the 30 Pro. In summary, while the sensors in this device are not top-of-the-line, they perform adequately. You can indeed capture decent photos with this phone. Notably, the excellent JN1 sensor is designated solely for ultra-wide shots, whereas many competitors use it as their primary camera, which speaks volumes about the design priorities applied here.

The only issue I've noticed with this camera cluster is that at a specific angle to the sun, it creates a bloom within the primary sensor's optics. It doesn't happen all the time, but one of my examples demonstrates the halo effect it has on the image.

However, there’s a safety concern regarding one of its camera features. This device is waterproof up to 2 meters for 30 minutes, and it includes a mode for underwater photography. My concern arises from the weight of the phone as it might hinder the buoyancy of a child or elderly user in deep water scenarios. Though it does come with a slot for a wrist strap, which could enhance security, using one might not be advisable in this case, even at the risk of losing the device.

It should also be mentioned that, in terms of density, this phone is much heavier than the water it displaces. Therefore, if you drop it in the water and the depth is greater than 2 metres, the water pressure will probably force its way inside.

Overall, the cameras on this phone aren't amazing, but they're much better than most rugged phone designs.

As with other recent Ulefone models I’ve evaluated, this phone offers Widevine L1 video encryption, allowing for high-quality streaming from popular services like Netflix and Disney+.

Ulefone Armor 34 Pro Camera samples

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• Camera score: 4/5

Ulefone Armor 34 Pro: performance

• Decent SoC
• GPU is game-friendly
• Massive battery

To emphasise that this phone is essentially the Armour 30 Pro, but with a significantly larger battery and the projector included, here are the benchmarks comparing them.

In either context, this is a powerful phone with a good SoC that can deliver an excellent user experience.

Where things obviously diverge is with the battery capacity, with the 34 Pro having almost double the amount, and lasting almost twice as long running the PCMark battery test.

But this isn’t all good news, since it makes the phone another 314g heavier, and all that extra capacity takes much longer to recharge.

One of the things not covered by our standard benchmarks is the projector, so I ran it for 30 minutes, running YouTube at maximum brightness. The battery capacity was 73% when I started, and it decreased to 66% after 30 minutes.

That result hints that watching a two-hour movie would make a substantial 28% dent in the battery capacity. Probably not something you might want to do if keeping the phone powered for a long time is the objective.

• Performance score: 4/5

Ulefone Armor 34 Pro: Final verdict

The standout feature of this design is the projector, which isn’t something that you often see on a phone or tablet. The issue here is the use case, because most hotel rooms have a TV you can stream video to, and there are plenty of assumptions to be made to use this feature for a presentation. While I can’t deny it works, it does impact battery life and finding the ideal situation to use it might prove challenging.

Having seen the 30 Pro, 33 Pro, and this 34 Pro, I’ve come to the odd conclusion that the projector and the massive battery might distract from some of the core features of these designs that people will use and like.

The SoC is excellent, there is plenty of memory and storage, and the cameras are decent. So if you don’t want the massive battery or a projector, then probably the Armor 30 Pro is a better bet.

If the battery is a must-have, then you can choose this or its 33 Pro brother, when that finally arrives, depending on whether you’d like a screen on both sides or the projector.

I think both of these extra features are gimmicks, somewhat, but your needs might differ.

If you do choose either the 33 Pro or 34 Pro, just be aware that a phone weighing this much won’t easily stay in a pocket if you are moving and could be problematic if you end up in deep water.

Making the Armor 34 Pro a practical option is a problem you will need to resolve, somehow, but without mounting it to a backpack or vehicle, it's hard to imagine using this on a daily basis.

Should I buy a Ulefone Armor 34 Pro?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also Consider

Ulefone Armor 30 Pro

This is the same spec as the 34 Pro, but with half the battery capacity, making it substantially lighter and decidedly more practical. Much less of a boat anchor.

Read our Ulefone Armor 30 Pro review

Oukitel WP300
A dual-display phone, but with this one, the small second screen is detachable and becomes a smartwatch. It costs a similar price to the Ulefone Armor 34 Pro, but it has a smaller battery of 16000 mAh. A much lighter and more practical everyday phone.

Read our full Oukitel WP300 review

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