Late last year, Chinese rugged device maker 8849 unleashed a beast of a tablet called the Tank Pad that boasted a powerful camplight and built-in pico projector. Now the Unihertz sub-brand has followed up with an adventure-ready power brick phone.
The Tank 3 Pro is perhaps more pocket-friendly than its larger cousin, but it’s still a chunky monkey at 179 x 86 x 29.8 mm (7 x 3.38 x 1.17 in). Much of the girth is due to its durable design – including shockproofing, and IP68 dust- and water-resistance – but there’s also a sizable power brick included.
Though not as capacious as Oukitel’s WP100 Titan, 23,800 mAh is nothing to sniff at and is reckoned good for “week-long battery life.” Top-ups are brisk too, with 120-W fast charging getting the battery to 90% capacity in just 90 minutes. As well as powering the device itself, other mobile gadgetry could benefit from taking charge from the Tank 3 Pro’s reserve while out and about.
8849
MediaTek provides the processing brains in the shape of a Dimensity 8200 octa-core chip, supported by up to 18 GB of RAM (plus the same again in the virtual bank) and 512 GB of storage, which can be expanded to 2 TB via TF card. The rugged handset also features a dedicated cooling fan for optimal performance in the heat of the night, and boasts a 4-in-1 navigation setup that’s built around GPS, GLONASS, Beidou and Galileo systems for “precise positioning even in complex urban or remote environments.”
Like its tablet-sized family member, the Tank 3 Pro sports a camping light to the rear – but this one gets bumped to 1,200 lumens and offers three brightness modes as well as emergency signaling. This LED array is positioned below the handset’s quad-lens camera array, with a 200-megapixel AI main module and a 64-MP “super night vision” unit leading the imaging charge.
8849
At the top edge is a 100-lumen DLP projector for providing some big-screen entertainment at camp. This offers auto image correction and manual focus, as well as 460:1 contrast, and a throw ratio of 1.2:1. It’s obviously not going to output super high-quality visuals, but could keep the kids amused while you name the constellations overhead.
The Tank 3 Pro runs Android 13 out of the box, and features a 6.79-inch Full HD screen with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. 8849 has pre-loaded in a bunch of useful apps to help with the wilderness adventure, including a compass, pedometer, elevation barometer and magnifier.
The tech-packed rugged phone is available now direct from 8849 starting at US$599.99, or can be had with Unihertz branding from Amazon for $629.99.
Product page: 8849 Tank 3 Pro