I don’t know why anyone would need a rugged smartphone to be small, but here we are, witnessing the handier version of the 8849 TANK series of rugged smartphones. I guess it looks kinda cute and offers assurance to clumsy hands yearning for a tighter package. Perhaps the novelty is in the smallness, which draws us to it after more than a year since it was launched. Yes, it is not a new phone. But it’s not a bad thing that we are this late in learning about it, because it’s now way cheaper than it was—at least from what we read. More on that in a sec.
Expect all the rugged goodness of the regular-sized TANK. It’s impervious to rain, sand, and dust, protected against drops, falls, and shocks, and it can handle extreme temperatures, high humidity, high altitude, and even a dip in the water (while recording video at that). It’s IP68 and IP69 rated, btw.
Under the hood, this little tough guy runs on a MediaTek Helio G99 chip, a 5,800 mAh battery good for 490 hours of standby, a 60 Hz 4.3-inch TFT LCD, a 100 MP rear camera, a 32 MP selfie cam, fingerprint and face ID, plus a built-in camping light that cranks out 1,000 lumens.
It’s offered with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage (expandable to 1 TB via TF card). Virtual RAM support adds another 12 GB, bringing the total to 24 GB. Despite being small, it’s no featherweight at 240 g, but its 58.8 mm width makes it handy enough.
Other features include a stainless steel back, an IR remote, reverse charging, two programmable side keys, dual SIM, a built-in 40 m rangefinder, and yes, a 3.5 mm jack.
If you’re game, the 8849 TANK Mini is just US$239.99, which is many dollars less than the original US$459.99 asking price. Keep going to find more images of this tiny rugged phone.
Images: 8849.
