Unihertz is known for making really tiny phones like their Jelly series of smartphones. For their latest devices they went in another direction and built what is likely the biggest and heaviest smartphone on the market. They call it the Tank phone and it’s the subject of my latest review.
The tank integrates an enormous 22,000 mAh battery into an Android 12 powered smartphone. The phone can run for at least a week on standby but can also do double duty as a powerbank and charge other devices.
On the back it has a large “camping lantern” LED light that can output up to 1200 lumens. It’s super bright and even warns the user not to stare into it when turning it on.
On the back it has a night vision camera with infrared illuminator, a 108 megapixel “AI Camera” and a 2 megapixel macro lens. Like other Unihertz phones the camera system here disappoints.
The high resolution camera spits out large 20+ megabyte image files but they lack the detail I expected to see from a camera supposedly north of 100 megapixels. I suspect they’re using a much lower resolution sensor and interpolating up to a higher pixel count. Video quality out of the cameras is equally disappointing as you’ll see in the video.
Performance of the phone is on par with a low to mid-range smartphone. It’s adequate for nearly every android app and game you’ll find on the Google Play store. Along with its Mediatek Helio G99 processor it has 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. It does not have an SD card option.
The Tank phone is unlocked. Here in the USA it works on TMobile and Verizon but not AT&T. Verizon customers need to activate their sim card on another device first and then move it over to the Unihertz.
All in this is another crazy phone from Unihertz. Like their other phones it’s well constructed and fills a very small niche in the marketplace. They are masters at finding these little slivers of need in the huge smartphone market!