A former favourite makes a noteworthy comeback but is it too little too late?
Kitchen sink is what came to mind when we first heard of the AGM Glory, a rugged smartphone that aims to offer as many features as possible. Its most obvious feature is the massive speaker that adorns its back and is the most powerful we’ve heard on a smartphone. It justifies AGM’s decision to “go large” with the Glory and deliver a product that’s about three times the thickness of your average high end Android device. Add in 8GB of RAM,256GB onboard storage, wireless charging, a two year warranty, a battery that can sustain very low temperatures (and still be operational), an IR camera and a laser rangefinder and you’ve got a pretty compelling outdoor smartphone whose only real achilles’ heel is the relatively slow Qualcomm 5G processor. The Glory is radically different from its more elegant predecessors, the X1, X2 and X3 that we reviewed over the past five years. Its looks will divide opinions and we have to admit that we’re not big fans of the current design philosophy. The X3 was – to some extent – the precursor of slim rugged smartphones like the Nokia XR20 or the Kyocera DuraSport 5G. AGM’s latest handset takes a completely different approach. AGM has finally given in and adopted the same utilitarian (some might say brash) design of its peers with plenty of rubber (AKA double injection plastic with TPU protection), a dash of (red) color and the sort of pattern, especially at the back, that you’d expect to see in a sci-fi movie. Let’s start there, shall we? The first thing you notice when you take the Glory out of its box is a huge speaker at the back. We often complain how most vendors tend to stick with one tiny one, usually hidden behind an equally inconspicuous grill. Well, this one is the exact opposite; the speaker grill is huge, about 33mm, in diameter and hides a driver of the same size. It has a maximum output of 3.5W which is probably one order of magnitude more than what your average entry level portable Bluetooth speaker can deliver.
