Like many ADVers, I’ve taken to using my smartphone for many roles on my travels—camera, navigation, music streaming while banging out the highway miles. If you wanted such luxury 15 years ago, most of us were hauling along two or three separate gadgets for all of this. Now, a pocket-sized gadget can do it all, and a lot more, all the while keeping you in touch with home.

However, many of us have found that while a smartphone is useful on the road,it’s no good if it breaks. This is where the idea of a so-called “rugged phone” comes into play; (seelast year’s reviewof the Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G for an example).

A few months back, AGM (see the company’s storyhere) contacted ADVrider to see if we’d be interested in reviewing a similar phone from its lineup, the Glory Pro 5G. Here’s what I’ve found out about this equipment, after running it all spring through widely varied conditions. The test results are listed below; skip to them, if that’s all you want, but a quick read through the specs below might be useful.

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Specs

A big, bad brute

The first thing you notice opening the AGM Glory Pro’s box is—this thing ishuge. The screen is 165mm across diagonally (equivalent to a 6.5-inch phone), and the phone’s plastic chassis extends slightly beyond that in every direction. This isn’t a sleek, screen-to-the-edge phone that fits nicely into your hipster jeans, especially when you consider it’s 23 mm deep at its thickest part. This is because there’s a massive onboard speaker there, along with a large flashlight LED array.

AGM says the whole phone weighs 370 grams, or 13 ounces—almost a full pound. Where’d all the weight come from? From the phone’s ruggedization treatment, apparently. AGM claims IP68/IP69K water resistance, which means it’s supposed to resist pressure washing and steam cleaning! It carries a MIL-STD-810H impact resistance rating as well. AGM also claims the phone’s 6200 mAh “Arctic battery” is good for a full day’s power in temperatures of -27 Celsius.

I didn’t pull the phone apart to examine its electro-guts, but I presume that all this weatherproofing and ruggedization is the reason this phone is so large, you could use it as a self-defense weapon, clubbing a would-be mugger to senselessness. It’sheavy.

Unique features

It’s a big phone with impressive ruggedization claims, but the AGM Glory Pro also has other interesting features. That LED flashlight is supposed to be the brightest you can find on a cellphone; I had no way of testing this claim, but I can attest that it’s far, far brighter than any other phone I’ve used in my life. I would have no worries about using this as my only phone on a camping trip.

There’s also a built-in 3.5-watt speaker on back. I can say it’s much louder than any other phone I’ve used, and practically speaking, it worked just as well as an auxiliary Bluetooth speaker for evenings listening to music while I work in the garage.

There’s also an infrared camera function! I have no idea why an ADVrider would need this, but for contractors and other tradesmen (traditional rugged phone buyers), it could be valuable, so I presume that’s why it’s included. As far as I was concerned, it was just a cool gimmick for the first few days, and I haven’t needed it since. Maybe if you were camping in the deep dark woods, you could use it to detect tentsite intruders?

The Glory Pro comes with wireless and USB-C charging capabilities, but can also be set up with a proprietary AGM four-pin charger, and there’s a user-assigned multifunction button on the phone’s side. Supposedly, both these features are intended for fleet usage.

Other specs

The AGM Glory Pro 5G comes with 8 gb of RAM, and 256 gb of onboard memory, which can be expanded to 512 gb via the SD slot. As the name implies, the phone has 5G wireless capability. There’s a 48 mp main camera, sourced from Sony, with 2 mp macro capability. The rear-facing camera is 16 mp resolution. There’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 5G / 8nm Octa-core chipset and Qualcomm Adreno 619 GPU. Android 11 comes pre-loaded, with no word on whether it will carry on with future updates. There’s a 3.5 mm headphone jack on bottom of the phone. The LTPS TFT, 16.7-million color screen has full HD/2340×1080 resolution. There’s a fingerprint reader on the back of the phone, which you can use for biometric ID.

One major bonus: AGM ships this phone with stripped-down apps, none of the bloatware that so many other Android manufacturers include.

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So how did it work?

The spec sheet for the AGM Glory Pro is impressive, with many interesting features, but I think ruggedization is what would attract most motorcyclists to this phone.

Protection that works

Some of the weather-resistance is of little use to riders. A phone battery that resists sub-zero temperatures is of little use to most riders, who would be tucked away warm at home long before the mercury hit the freezing point. However, the extreme water resistance is非常如果你曾经有一个电子设备的吸引力ruined by rain. Here, I can say the AGM Glory Pro passed testing with flying colors. While on a bike tour in early spring, I was trapped in one of the worst downpours I’ve ever been caught in. I figured that, at a minimum, the speaker’s performance would be diminished afterwards. Not so! It’s as loud and as ever.

What about impact resistance? I’ve managed to drop this phone a few times from varying heights and have not broken or even cracked the screen yet. Given the rugged plastic chassis, I don’t see how you could break this phone without taking a hammer to it. If you’ve ever bought something like a Lifeproof case for your Samsung/Apple/whatever, then the easiest way to explain the AGM’s impact resistance is this: The Glory Pro essentially has its impact-resistant case already built-in. That’s why it’s so bulky. And boy, is it bulky; it barely fits in a pants pocket, and it’s too big for the pockets on at least one of my riding jackets.

The built-in case also seems to also work well against vibration; I had no problems with my camera’s lens, unlike other smartphones on the market, and that’s after many hours mounted to thumper handlebars, and miles of tough backroads. I was actually surprised the phone never fell off the handlebars; because of the shape of the back of the phone, I wasn’t able to properly mount a universal stick-on QuadLock. Too bad—it would have been highly useful when combined with the phone’s wireless charging capability. Instead, I jammed it into a claw-style RAM mount. First, I used the smaller-sized RAM mount with no elastic retainer; the phone barely fit into this mount, and it seemed a very sketchy arrangement. I bought the larger-sized claw mount, and this easily swallowed the phone. However, the phone is so large that it quickly snapped the elastic retainer on this

山,所以如果你想安装它handlebars this way (I think it’s the only practical way), then buy some extra elastics, or be ready to ride without that safety cushion.

One area that isn’t ruggedized: The screen. The screen isn’t much-respected damage-resistant Gorilla Glass; I’m not sure what they used, but AGM ships the screen with a screen protector already installed. It’s already scratched up; thankfully, this accessory is already available through the Internet (as far as I can tell, it’s the only add-on you can easily buy for the phone, though!).

That screen protector works against the AGM Glory Pro when you’re trying to use it in direct sunlight, where the display tends to get a bit washed-out. I would not want to rely solely on visuals if I was using the AGM for navigation mid-day, with overhead sun blazing away. If you’re set up with turn-by-turn audio cues in your helmet, you should be OK. Following GPS tracks in the desert on a bright day would definitely be a problem. On slightly darker days, it was fine; I used the OsmAnd app with this phone for woods navigation, and had no issues seeing the screen or following the track.

Getting the job done

至于相机功能:它工作得很好,一个lthough sometimes I found the camera app a little slow to load. To me, photos didn’t look as good as they did on my old Samsung S9, and I wouldn’t expect the AGM Glory Pro to hold up against the latest-gen Apple/Google/Samsung flagships. But, it’s not made to, either, and most consumers won’t really notice the difference.

While the camera worked well, I did notice some occasional glitchiness with my Instagram app, as well as GoPro Quik. I’ve noticed this with other Android phones as well, so I don’t think this is a dealbreaker. Just keep in mind that this phone might not be for the content creator who wants to edit IG reels or other multimedia productions.

As for the massive speaker on back: I loved it, for speakerphone calls. I did not, however, love the phone’s built-in mic. While holding the phone, I found it easy to move the mic to a position where it barely picked up my voice. At least I think that was the problem; it could have been a software issue. Either way, I increasingly relied on the speakerphone the longer I used the Glory Pro.

Battery life was sufficient; it lasted me a couple of days easily. Charging was slower than I’m used to with Samsung flagship phones. As for using with a gloved hand, I didn’t really try it, as I don’t like fidgeting with my phone mid-flight and I usually remove my gloves at a stop. Having said that, I was able to use the screen with gloves on as long as they had the fingertip inserts for that purpose.

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Summary

The positives: This phone boasts unique features, some of which are useful to riders, and some that aren’t, but may be fun or nice to have (the speaker, for instance—if you’re a “music at the campsite” fan, then you’ll appreciate the volume). After three months of regular usage, I must say I’m incredibly impressed with how rugged this phone is, in stock format, with no case or other protection. The software and hardware, while nothing spectacular, are certainly adequate for most users. I think this phone is ideal for the traveler who wants something that’s super-tough, and isn’t as fussed about processor and camera performance. If you prize physical reliability, this phone has got it.

The negatives: The screen should be brighter, I’d like to get to the bottom of the mic issues, and the phone is just too big. If you’re keeping it in a purse, or perhaps an external gear pocket, it’d be fine, but I would not want to travel the world with this in my hip pocket. Now, some other better-known phone companies like Samsung are getting into the rugged phone market, and if their phones are smaller and more flashy, they’ll likely tempt away some of the broad Chinese rugged phone market. Perhaps that will drive the Glory Pro’s price down a bit; in fact, I think that trend is already starting, with eBay prices now under $600, $250 less than the MSRP.

Find more details on the AGM Glory Prohere.