Sturdy

Review: Ulefone Armor Pad 4 Ultra - Rugged Tablet with Extra Features

Ulefone Armor Pad 4 is a solid piece, but not quite as massive as its predecessors.

Published 23 January 2025 - 17:00

Ulefone is best known for its rugged phones in the Armor series. They come in many different variants and with various gimmicks. But they also make rugged tablets, and here we have reached the fourth generation. They have added an Ultra at the end of the name for unclear reasons, as there is no model that is less ultra. The chipset in the tablet, Mediatek Dimensity 6300, can be described as decent mid-range performance, and it is used by a number of other Ulefone devices that are not called Ultra. The only two variants of the Ulefone Armor Pad 4 Ultra are with or without a thermal camera, and the one we are testing is with the thermal camera.

For a rugged device, you expect something more than just waterproof, as regular more expensive tablets are too. This one not only has an IP rating of 68 but also 69K, which means it can withstand high-pressure washing and thus also truly take a dip in water. The tablet can also withstand being dropped from a height of two meters onto a concrete floor without being damaged.

Easier than expected to hold

Durable phones with these features are usually thick and heavy in return. The Armor Pad 4 Ultra is too, but not quite as bad as the previous tablet I tested from Ulefone, the Armor Pad 2. With its 835 grams, it is actually not so many hectograms heavier than a regular larger tablet model. The difference in user experience is noticeable, I don't get as tired in the hand from holding the Armor Pad 4 Ultra as I did with the Armor Pad 2.

Here I am helped by the fact that there is a plastic leather handle in the package that I can screw onto the back of the tablet with an included screwdriver. The handle allows me to comfortably hold the tablet with one hand without a cramped grip, and it also makes it easier to use the tablet standing with it strapped to one hand. The reason the handle is not screwed on from the start is that it blocks the NFC sensor. This sensor may be useful for certain professional applications, but for most of us, it is mainly used for tapping payments, and that's not something you directly do with this chunk, so for me, the handle is an easy choice.

One reason why the Ulefone Armor Pad 4 Ultra is just over two hectograms lighter than the Armor Pad 2 is that the battery is not quite as massive. Therefore, the battery life settles for being among the better for tablets rather than exceptional as it was for the Armor Pad 2. When we play video at maximum brightness, we get almost ten hours of playtime.

Good enough

The most important thing on a tablet is the screen, as a large screen is the main feature that distinguishes it from a mobile phone. On the Ulefone Armor Pad 4 Ultra, you don't get an OLED screen and no increased refresh rate, but given that, it's a perfectly okay LCD screen with decent brightness. The screen has fairly thick black frames around it and is recessed in the rubber casing.

On the sides and back of the tablet, you find a lot of details and features, and in fact, I can't even identify all of them. For example, there are pins for no less than three different expansion ports. One is for Ulefone's series of endoscopes, cameras on a wire that can be used to photograph and film inside pipes and other tight spaces. One is for a boombox-like speaker that can be attached to the back, and one is for charging in a desktop stand.

Here, of course, there is an on and off button, with a built-in fingerprint reader, slots for both memory cards and SIM cards, a headphone jack, and two extra buttons. One button turns on the flashlight on the back. And we're not talking about a small photo light here, but a substantial LED panel that can easily illuminate a room. The other button can be programmed for a function of your choice, such as starting a voice recording, launching an app, or sending an SOS message with the light.

The thermal camera in the tablet is not from FLIR this time but another brand called Thermavue. The function is the same; in thermal camera mode, you see silhouettes of your surroundings and different colored fields indicating the temperature of the area. However, I feel that the thermal camera is less accurate than the FLIR camera found in the Ulefone Armor Mini 20T Pro that I tested recently. Anyway, it's a feature you probably won't use very often in everyday life, and it's perhaps mainly if you've got a water leak in a pipe in the wall that it can be useful.

Ulefone Armor Pad 4 Ultra meets my expectations for a durable tablet. The screen and performance do not stand out but are good enough, the durability is faultless, and the tablet does not feel too heavy or cumbersome to use, the handle definitely helps here. If you are looking for a rugged tablet, this is a good choice.

Questions & Answers

How is the screen resolution? With 2000 x 1200 pixels, the resolution becomes a bit pixelated up close, but it's not disturbing.

Can I use the tablet without wifi? Yes, it has a built-in sim card slot.

Can you watch movies with it? Yes, the speakers have substantial sound and the screen is fairly large, but for streaming, I sometimes find it seems to load slowly, making the movie pixelated.