48 reviews for 8849 Tank 3 Pro Rugged Smartphone 2024, 23800mAh Rugged Projector Phone 97dB Loud Speaker, 36GB+512GB Dual Sim 5G Android 14 Unlocked Mobile Cell Phones 6.79″ Big Screen, Camping Light/2TB Expand/OTG
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
I enjoy the camping light and easy pull-down screen access to various controls. The media audio is robust. One of my favourite features is the built-in projector: I can view photos, text, and applications on large screen in real time.
One of my main disappointments is the incoming phone call audio, which is rather flimsy for such an otherwise super and superb phone; with the receiving volume at full loudness, one can barely hear the incoming voice. Is there a built-in application to improve this? The photo quality is also a huge letdown for a photo enthusiast such as I. My cheap Samsung phone takes far more appealing photos, in terms of colour resolution, saturation, image definition, and exposure. I feel like I should receive some form of compensation for putting so much interest and trust in a phone I like so much, only to find these flaws that I have highlighted.
On 12/26, the seller reached out to me regarding my review and the defective camera. Upon seeing the image (which I have attached again since it seems missing), they did not hesitate to send me an entirely new phone. They were very friendly about the entire ordeal, and for that I have to give back one star. But, I have to leave off the last star because, even though they made right by it, swapping devices (again) is a major inconvenience. I'd still recommend this phone if you think it is right for you, and it is still my daily driver.
--- Original Review ----
The main "200mp" camera has a small line in it, as can be seen in the black photo I took of the lens being covered, in the top right, there is a 1 pixel wide horizontal line. It only seems to effect the main camera, not the other three. But for a nearly $800 phone ($769.99 at time of review) I would expect there to not be a damaged sensor out of the box. Therefore this costs it 2 stars.
The phone is heavy, like this is what a smartphone would look like in the early 90s if we had them back then. It feels like a battery pack, so imagine carrying a fat battery pack around with you everywhere. I personally don't mind it but some may.
The projector is a nice touch, but when you activate it, it returns to the lock screen. If you don't have bio-metrics set up this means you'll be putting in your pin code for all to see, since it does nothing to filter the view of the pin code being entered on the number pad (light up and fade effects of the button).
The design seems rugged but I don't see any bezel to protect the screen if it was to drop and fall face down. I drop tested this on my bed and there is no gyro or anything to flip it to fall on its back, so it definitely can and will fall on its screen.
The box comes with an additional screen protector. There is already one applied from the factory (you have to look close at the earpiece speaker to see it)
The phone charges at up to 120w, my charged at 106w over a 100w cable. The cable didn't get warm but the phone certainly did. Not "hot", but a tad warm.
---
With the cons out of the way, there are plenty of good things about this phone too.
This is actually a pretty decent mid-level phone. It seems to have the RAM and ROM it claims to, which makes it feel responsive. The settings admit that the "+18GB" is just swap space (it is off by default, I don't see why you'd need it though).
The battery life seems nice, it only lost 1% overnight, whereas my Pixel 7 would lose about 5%. This is with the same background apps.
It benchmarks pretty low compared to modern $1000+ devices but does seem capable of 30fps gaming, including Fortnite. The 3D Mark benchmark was 5983 with an average FPS of 35.83 (Wild Life benchmark).
My device came with developer mode already enabled. The security patch is March 2024, and as of this review there are no updates available. My only concern is if we will get security updates or not. I don't see any custom ROMs on XDA or anywhere.
Overall I am liking this phone so far, despite the camera issue. My AT&T SIM works in it without issues, and I set it up to be my daily driver, and haven't had any issues so far.