Ulefone Power Armor 13 review

Android 11 with a no-nonsense Ulefone UI

The Ulefone Power Armor 13 comes with Android 11 out of the box. The maker advertises it as a pure version of Android, but that is not really the case. It offers a clutter-free Ulefone launcher that is not that far from what you'd get with the vanilla 11.

The software indeed looks a lot like the vanilla Android, minus the icons. The home screen, lock screen, notification shade, and the recent apps menu resemble those of the stock Android.

Android OS on Ulefone Power Armor 13

Looking deeper into the Settings menu reveals the changes that Ulefone has made - there is AI app launch acceleration, various gestures, nav bar settings, among others. You can also assign up to three different actions on the PTT key - one upon the short press, another one - on long press, and the third option is when you double click it.

Various settings

There is no app drawer available on the Power Armor 13, but if it's a must - there are plenty of custom launchers.

The app package is pretty straightfo rward. The default Android apps are pre-installed, so you have a gallery, a media player, and a file manager. There is also an FM radio app by Ulefone, a custom Notes app, and a Toolbox app.

The FM radio doesn't require a wired headset to work - the phone has an integrated FM antenna inside.

FM radio • Notes • Toolbox

The Toolbox is probably the most powerful app you will find on Armor 9.

It offers Compass, Level tool, Flashlight, AR level for paintings, Height meter (seems like a gimmick), Magnifier, Alarm bell, Protractor, Noise meter (uses the microphone), Pedometer, Bubble level, and Plumb bob.

Toolbox

Finally, there is also the Rangefinder app, which uses the integrated laser distance measure. It's rather easy to use - just tap on the Measure key - once to activate the Laser, and a second time for the actual measuring.

You can change the way of measuring to include or not to include the phone. You can also use advanced modes for calculating area or volume.

Rangefinder app

We tried the Power Armor 13 next to a regular entry-level laser meter, and we found the Power Armor 13 isn't as accurate - it usually deviates by 0.5-1.0cm. We suspect this is because of the curved bottom, which gets in the way when trying to measure perpendicularly off a wall. This is some seriously bad design decision, and it is beyond us how this was overlooked.

There are no ads across the UI whatsoever, so you can be sure you won't be bothered by unwanted spam here and there. And that pretty much covers the Ulefone Power Armor 13 starter package.

Performance and benchmarks

The Ulefone Power Armor 13 utilizes the MediaTek Helio G95 chipset. It is a popular SoC for mid-range purposes and is fabricated on the 12nm FinFET manufacturing process from TSMC. The Helio G95 packs an octa-core CPU with two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores ticking at 2.05GHz and six energy-efficient Corext-A55 cores working at 2.0GHz.

There is a Mali-G76 MC4 GPU, which should provide adequate performance for the class.

The Power Armor 13 is available in only one memory configuration - 8GB LPDDR4X RAM with 256GB storage. A microSD memory expansion is available via a hybrid-SIM slot.

The Helio G95 is far from flagship-grade silicon, but it offers decent performance that's enough for both crucial and entertainment-related tasks.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  2792
• OnePlus Nord CE 5G
  1812
• Infinix Note 11 Pro
  1800
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  1780
• Poco X3 NFC
  1777
• Infinix Note 10 Pro
  1644
• Ulefone Power Armor 13
  1610
• Ulefone Armor 9
  1498
• Ulefone Armor 7
  1476

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  814
• OnePlus Nord CE 5G
  641
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  569
• Poco X3 NFC
  568
• Infinix Note 11 Pro
  520
• Infinix Note 10 Pro
  510
• Ulefone Power Armor 13
  502
• Ulefone Armor 9
  401
• Ulefone Armor 7
  380

While gaming isn't what the Ulefone Power Armor 13 was meant to do, it can still do it adequately well. Its screen response isn't ideal, though, which may be a problem in shooters. Occasional lag and stutter do happen, despite having a capable GPU. We blame the poorly optimized software.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  57
• OnePlus Nord CE 5G
  30
• Ulefone Power Armor 13
  29
• Infinix Note 10 Pro
  28
• Poco X3 NFC
  27
• Infinix Note 11 Pro
  20
• Ulefone Armor 7
  18
• Ulefone Armor 9
  17

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  38
• Ulefone Power Armor 13
  18
• Infinix Note 10 Pro
  17
• OnePlus Nord CE 5G
  17
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  16
• Poco X3 NFC
  16
• Infinix Note 11 Pro
  11
• Ulefone Armor 9
  7.9
• Ulefone Armor 7
  7.5

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  4224
• Infinix Note 10 Pro
  1506
• Ulefone Power Armor 13
  1487
• OnePlus Nord CE 5G
  1103
• Infinix Note 11 Pro
  1100

Then AnTuTu also says the Ulefone Power Armor 13 is a good mid-range performer and should be a reliable smartphone whatever the task.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  512164
• OnePlus Nord CE 5G
  318672
• Infinix Note 10 Pro
  310342
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
  295442
• Ulefone Power Armor 13
  294194
• Infinix Note 11 Pro
  290797
• Poco X3 NFC
  283750
• Ulefone Armor 7
  216770
• Ulefone Armor 9
  197000

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• OnePlus Nord 2
  598022
• OnePlus Nord CE 5G
  391770
• Infinix Note 10 Pro
  365490
• Ulefone Power Armor 13
  351678
• Infinix Note 11 Pro
  343527

Finally, we ran the two stress tests we always use - CPU Throttle and 3D Mark Wild Life.

The Ulefone Power Armor 13 did okay on the CPU Throttle test by keeping 63% of its maximum performance during an hour of 100% CPU usage. Then it scored 88% stability on the 3D Mark Stress Test - an excellent result.

CPU stress test • GPU stress test

The Power Armor 13 offers good stability and long-lasting gaming performance. It may get warm when using 100% of its resources but never hot.

The phone does offer adequate performance, and it should provide a stutter-free experience, though that's not the case. Sometimes the Ulefone launcher's poor optimizations get in the way; other times - the slow screen response rate.