AGM Glory Pro Rugged Smartphone Review – An Absolute Unit

The AGM X1 was released with Android 5.1 and it did not get an update to the v6.0, although there was a custom ROM available that brought the smartphone to the newer software. The AGM X2 used Android OS v7.0 out of the box and it stayed that way, with no updates to a newer software. The AGM X3 had Android v8.1 installed and, as you may have already guessed, there was no plan to go to the v9.0. Lastly, the AGM A10 has Android OS v9.1 and it’s still stuck on that version. So, yes, the AGM Glory Pro will most likely not receive any upgrade to future Android installments. And that, unfortunately, is a common behavior for manufacturers of rugged smartphones. This also brings the question of the warranty and overall support offered by AGM. The phone will apparently be repaired by AGM only up to a year after it was received by the user, but I am curious how does that apply to the EU-wide mandatory 2-year warranty. Very much enforceable, I am sure. In any case, one year for a flagship-level cost shows that AGM doesn’t have that much faith in the ruggedness of the device.

The Cameras

AGM has equipped the Glory Pro with a 48-megapixel main camera that has a Sony IMX582 sensor and an f/1.79 aperture. There is also the mandatory 2-megapixel macro camera which does help a bit with some difficult close-up shots, but it’s nowhere near as useful as the remaining two cameras, one 20-megapixel night vision camera that makes use of 2 infrared LEDs and the thermal imaging camera.

The main 48-megapixel camera supports a resolution of 8,000 x 6,000 pixel if you want to capture photos, but the maximum resolution for filming is 1902 x 1080 pixels at 30 fps. I took a few photos of a blossoming tree (yes, in January) with the sky in the background. And it does have that effect of blurring the background and putting the near object into focus. The sky is not overblown, some details do get lost after zooming, but nothing too dramatic and the colors do feel a bit contrasty and not as natural as on an iPhone.

I took a few close-up photos to check the macro camera and it’s not too bad. As you can see from the photo, the flowers do have enough detail and the colors are also rendered properly. But, a few very close flowers got blurry and, even if I manually tried to push the focus towards objects that are nearly touching the lens, the camera still needed a few inches to properly adjust the focus. Moving objects or insects (bees) were blurry, so the AGM Glory Pro is not suitable for dynamic photos or for sports events.

And that’s perfectly fine for a mid-range-level camera. The videos are alright, but you do need to get a gimbal because the image stabilization is not that great. As you can see, from the video I got from the beach, the lens handled the sunset really well, the colors were fairly natural and the sound was well rendered as well (a dedicated microphone would do it more justice, but even the built-in one is alright for random video recording).

During the night, you got two options, either user the night vision algorithm or rely on the IR LEDs for black and white captures. I have used a Pixel 2 XL for a bit (before the hardware kicked the bucket after a year) and the software-based night vision was phenomenal. AGM isn’t really there, so the photos during the night (almost total darkness) aren’t that great.

But, after switching to the black and white mode, the Glory Pro did put some dedicated night vision security cameras to shame. Everything was clear, so the two IR LEDs worked wonders.

The Thermal Camera

I admit I was a bit disappointed when I saw that AGM removed the laser measurement tool, but I was still quite excited to see how well the thermal camera worked. CAT has been proudly flaunting its IR thermal camera for years, so it’s great to see that other manufacturers have decided to add this amazing feature as well. The CAT S62 Pro had a fairly decent performance – the camera was fast and the temperature rating wasn’t that much off from the real-life values.

The AGM Glory Pro uses a thermal camera that has a resolution of 256 x 192 pixels (25Hz refresh rate) which is higher than the 160 x 120 pixels of the CAT S60 Pro, but Bullit relies on the FLIR ViviIR imagine processing tech to enhance the image and it shows. The thermal images captured with CAT S62 Pro are a bit better, especially the videos. The AGM Glory Pro can be better, but it needs to do a bit more post-processing. I noticed that the live view and the photos look good, but the video seems to experience a drop in quality. Also, I wish to see the temperature values horizontally as well, not only vertically (again, some software tweaks will help).

The Call Quality and Connectivity

It doesn’t matter if a smartphone has the latest SoC or the best build quality, if it can’t perform its main reason of existence and that’s to be a phone. Some manufacturers have forgotten about this (even the flagship S21 horribly uses the microphone if you’re in a conference call), but the AGM Glory Pro seems to fare decently well. My voice was clear on the other end and I could hear the caller as well, although the speaker is really awkwardly placed and, despite being very loud, would muffle the sound a bit if I put the phone on a desk with its screen up during said call. The smartphone is 5G and will work as intended if you’re in the range of the antenna.

In my case, I mostly got 4G and LTE, and had no problem with the signal, the same as with the other smartphones that I am currently using. In terms of WiFi, the AGM Glory Pro can connect to either the 2.4GHz or the 5GHz band and it supports the 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax-ready standards (MIMO 2×2). What exactly does ax-ready mean? That it technically supports this standard, but apparently needs some additional hardware? Not entirely sure, but I have a WiFi 6 router and, after connecting the AGM Glory Pro to the 5GHz network, it seems that it supports only up to the 802.11ac standard (WiFi 5).

The Battery Life

The rugged smartphone is equipped with a 6200mAh non-removable battery and, considering the 1080p resolution and the efficient SoC, it will last for a very long time. With the screen brightness set to 50%, I was able to get 2 days of battery life of medium use (including some light gaming), but I know most will wonder about the screen-on time (SOT).

Again, with the brightness set to 50%, the AOT was 17 hours and 50 minutes which is an awesome score, but remember that this smartphone does not have a higher refresh rate than 60Hz. I already mentioned that AGM has added a QC 3.0 charger in the box which is excellent, but I also saw that the AGM Glory Pro supports wireless charging. That’s right, you can use a third-party wireless charger to charge the smartphone (10W). And it’s a fairly rare addition for a rugged device, since I have not seen it on any other such smartphone so far (kudos to AGM).

Conclusion

The rugged smartphones have always been an interesting niche because, while most people want to have and use a tough smartphone, not that many want to compromise in terms of looks and design. Even so, construction workers and, overall people that work in harsh environments cannot use a regular smartphone for long, so devices such as the AGM Glory Pro can come in handy. In terms of ruggedness, I would have made the lip surrounding the screen deeper, but other than that, this is one of the most rugged devices out there (it even survived my own extreme temperature test). Everything else is what one would expect from a midrange smartphone. You can play any game, the UI is responsive, the cameras are good and the battery life is amazing. The price tag is a bit elevated, but AGM justifies it by adding a welcomed thermal camera (to become a proper competitor to the CAT S62 Pro), the night vision IR camera, 5G support and the wireless charging. Whether that’s enough, it’s up to you to decide, just bear in mind that most likely this smartphone won’t see an update to the next Android version.

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