Ulefone has already made a name for itself in the rugged smartphone business. Now, it's got a sub-brand that's focused on more niche innovations for people who want more differentiated devices – and its first flagship product is quite something.
Launched last month, the Xever 7 Pro from the newly christened RugOne outfit is built tough to withstand the elements, and it's got something I haven't seen on a smartphone ever: the ability to hot-swap its removable 5,550-mAh battery.
Yup, I said hot-swap. This baby has a buffer battery built in to grant you three minutes of time to switch out a drained removable battery and drop in a charged one, without the need to turn off your device first or lose your place in any app you've got running.
How cool is that? I'm impressed by the inclusion of the built-in battery, as well as the fact that you can use removable batteries on this thing. That'll not only let you carry spares along for when you're going to be out in the wilderness and away from reliable power sources for a long time, but also extend the phone's life by replacing an aging battery after a few years' of use. Dying batteries are the most common reason why people ditch their handsets, so this approach can help people stave off a big spend and keep gadgets out of landfills a good bit longer.
RugOne includes a spare battery with the 7 Pro, and you can also get a cleverly designed accessory that can charge an extra battery. This folding charger also has a dock with pins to charge the phone at a decent 28 W (quicker than conventional wireless charger). The whole thing also serves as a desk stand for the handset, and as storage for your spare battery. Oh, and you can reverse charge other devices, like your earphones, via the phone's Type-C port too.
Beyond that, the Xever 7 Pro is a proper bit of outdoor kit. It's rated IP68/69K for dust and water resistance, MIL-STD-810H certified to survive drops from a height of six and a half feet (2 m), and it comes with a 230 lumen flashlight with its own dedicated physical button that cycles through three brightness levels.
The 7 Pro's got another neat trick up its sleeve. For this model, RugOne's partnered with FLIR to integrate a thermal imaging camera to let you "see" heat signatures in the dark, or through smoke. The Lepton 3.5 sensor operates across temperatures from 14 °F (10 °C) to 842 °F (450 °C). It can come in handy for spotting wildlife in darkness, track animal heat trails, and inspect machinery and camping gear to locate heat or detect potential fire hazards.
There's also a 64-megapixel night vision camera that works in tandem with four infrared LEDs for bright and detailed photos in the dark. The main rear snapper is a 50-megapixel affair that works underwater without extra housing, so you're sorted when it comes to documenting a wide range of outdoor adventures.
Other than that, the 7 Pro gets reasonably decent specs that don't make it a standout performer, but should be fine for everyday use in most people's hands. The modest octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 7025 chipset is paired with a healthy 12 GB of RAM and a sizeable 512 GB of storage. For the screen, you've got a 6.67-inch 120-Hz AMOLED display that hits up to 2,200 nits at peak brightness, and is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. It's packaged in a durable build that weighs in at 11.4 oz (325 g).
The phone comes with Android 15 out of the box, and should get three more generations' worth of OS updates. You'll also get a 33-W wall charger, an additional water-sealed extra back plate to switch up the phone's appearance, and a case to hold the spare battery.
The Xever 7 Pro is available at US$659.99 with additional shipping costs via RugOne's own store and AliExpress. If you don't need the thermal vision camera, you can opt for the Xever 7 at $529 that also comes with the swappable battery system.
Product page: Xever 7 Pro
