I switched to a 4.7-inch Android phone for a week, and it felt like a blast from the past

Ulefone Armor Mini 20 Pro

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Ulefone Armor Mini 20 Pro is disposable present for $350.
• This candy bar-sized smartphone is simply a blast from the past with a ample artillery and precise bully durability.
• Its tiny show takes immoderate getting utilized to.

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Over the past decennary oregon so, smartphone makers -- I'm looking astatine you, Apple -- person conditioned america to deliberation that a smartphone needs to beryllium a large slab of glass. "If the surface isn't astatine slightest six inches successful size, it's not a existent smartphone!" While activities specified arsenic web browsing, contented consumption, and gaming surely payment from a larger screen, not everyone needs a tablet-sized phone. 

Sometimes smaller is better.

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The Ulefone Armor Mini 20 Pro goes backmost to the days of the tiny screens and candy bar-shaped handsets that gaffe easy into a pocket. And I person to accidental that there's thing to beryllium said for having a smaller phone. Especially due to the fact that tiny doesn't mean fragile, arsenic this telephone goes to show.  

The Armor Mini 20 Pro is 5.26 inches successful magnitude and 2.49 inches wide, which makes it look tiny adjacent to the iPhone. That is, until you prime it up and recognize it's 0.98 inches heavy and 10.6 ounces (over fractional a pound) successful weight. It's a hefty lump for sure, but it has to beryllium erstwhile you spot what's inside.

It features a 4.7-inch IPS show with a solution of 720 x 1600 pixels, a 373 pixel-per-inch density and a 90Hz refresh rate, which makes it precise casual connected the eyes and comfy to use, contempt being precise overmuch connected the petite side. 

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Inside is simply a Mediatek Dimensity 6300 chipset featuring an octa-core 2.4 GHz processor and Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. Supporting this is 8GB of carnal RAM (preconfigured to adhd different 8GB of virtual RAM) and 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage. If you request much storage, the TF-card slot volition judge microSD cards up to 2TB.

This mightiness beryllium small, but its chunky!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

The portion was shipped with Android 14, but Ulefone pushed an Android 15 update to it, which made it consciousness smoother and faster. This was a bully touch.

Powering everything is simply a 6,200 mAh battery, which is simply a important compartment for specified a compact handset, and this supports 33W wired charging and has enactment for 15W wireless charging. It tin besides enactment arsenic a 5W powerfulness slope acknowledgment to the reverse charging feature. The telephone tin browse the web of play movies for 22 hours connected a azygous charge, and has a monolithic 14 time standby. 

The 50-megapixel main camera is amazingly good, and cleanable for societal media snaps, photos for reports, and scanning documents. 

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On the backmost is simply a 50-megapixel, f/2.0 camera powered by Samsung's Isocell GN1 representation sensor that's cleanable for capturing memories, taking photos for reports, and scanning documents. Alongside that is simply a 64-megapixel Omnvision OV64B nighttime imaginativeness camera implicit with 2 infrared illuminators, which is simply a large add-on for those who person to prowl astir acheronian places arsenic good arsenic adventurers oregon engineers. 

Turning to the front, there's the obligatory 32-megapixel selfie camera powered by Samsung's GD1 sensor, a large photograph and video camera, and is amazingly bully successful low-light conditions. 

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This mentation does not person a thermal camera, but if that's a diagnostic you crave, you request the Armor Mini 20T Pro, which adds a FLIR Lepton 3.5 thermal micro-camera to the lineup.  

The LED airy connected the rear packs a retina-searing punch!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Surrounding the camera is simply a almighty 130-LED ringing airy susceptible of a maximum of 500 lumens, and alongside this are a brace of reddish and bluish LED informing lights. The LED airy is insanely agleam astatine the maximum output, and thankfully is adjustable. 

Remember I said that tiny doesn't person to beryllium fragile? Well, the Armor Mini 20 Pro is built to instrumentality a beating. It meets MIL-STD 810G standards and repels h2o and particulate wholly acknowledgment to IP68 and IP69K levels of protection. 

Port covers forestall harm to the USB-C and 3.5mm audio jack.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Thanks to rugged polymer, pugnacious Corning Gorilla glass, and larboard covers for the USB-C and 3.5mm audio jack ports (yes, this handset has the quality to instrumentality wired headphones!).    

And if you deliberation it's unusual that it has an audio jack, you amended beryllium down earlier you work the adjacent spot — it besides has an infrared emitter that tin beryllium utilized arsenic a distant control! Yes, this means you tin power your TV oregon AC portion each from your smartphone. An old-school feature, but a utile one.

I've taken the Armor Mini 20 Pro with maine connected a fewer hikes and besides utilized it arsenic my main handset erstwhile it comes to reviewing outdoor gear. I emotion its compact form, on with the information that I tin accidentally driblet it oregon permission it extracurricular successful the rainfall arsenic a capable airy for photography, oregon hide it connected the extortion of my motortruck and find it frozen solid, I cognize it's going to beryllium OK.  

ZDNET's buying advice

There's thing refreshing astir going backmost to a candy barroom smartphone. It fits neatly successful the manus and the pocket, and offers capable surface existent property to get worldly done. Yes, the icons are a spot tiny, and the narrowness of the show takes a small getting utilized to, but I was amazed however rapidly I got utilized to it. 

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This is not a smartphone for those who unrecorded connected TikTok oregon privation the biggest surface they tin find. It's besides not a smartphone for those who privation benchmark bragging rights oregon the champion camera connected the market. Where the Armor Mini 20 Pro shines is erstwhile you instrumentality it retired of the location oregon bureau and instrumentality it retired into the store oregon store oregon into the woods. This is simply a pugnacious handset built to service. 

Best of all: the Ulefone Armor Mini 20 Pro isn't expensive. Priced astatine $350, it comes with a precise middle-of-the-road terms tag, making it cleanable arsenic a secondary telephone for work.