8849 Tank X rugged phone review: A feature-rich design built around a 1080p DLP projector and a whole lot of weight

by · TechRadar

TechRadar Verdict

If you aren’t put off by the scale and weight of this phone, there are some decent features to be had. It can take a good picture, but unless you mount it on a vehicle, the practicality of a device like this is questionable for most people. If only it were lighter.

Pros

  • +Good battery size
  • +Exceptional camera options
  • +Best projector on a phone yet
  • +4nm SoC

Cons

  • -Heavy and bulky
  • -Sacrifices plenty for the projector
  • -Noisy when projecting

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8849 Tank X: 2-minute review

For those unfamiliar with 8849, this is a sub-brand of Unihertz, and it takes its name from the height of Mount Everest in metres. Well, other than plate tectonics is pushing the mountain up, and rocks and ice fall off, so at the time of writing, it is 8,848.86 metres to be correct.

Oddly, the Tank series on 8849 has styling and functionality similar to the Unihertz Tank series, so perhaps the Unihertz brand will go away at some point.

The target demographic of the Tank X is those who need a go-anywhere design that packs plenty of battery capacity, are probably travelling to remote locations where they will want a camping light and to capture high-quality images and video.

A flagship product from 8849, the Tank X was launched in February 2026 at an early bird price of $549.99, against an RRP of $1,049.99. At that higher price, it will face serious scrutiny, but even at launch pricing, it is one of the more expensive rugged smartphones available.

The justification for that cost is a combination of headline features that most competitors simply cannot match. These include a built-in 1080p DLP projector rated at 220 lumens with laser autofocus, a 64MP night vision camera with four dedicated infrared LEDs, and a 17,600mAh dual-cell battery paired with 120W fast charging.

The MediaTek Dimensity 8200, built on a 4nm process, is a genuine step up from the mid-range chips used in most rugged phones at this price. Combined with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, the Tank X has the hardware to handle demanding tasks.

The downside to the kitchen-sink approach to feature selection seen here is that at 750g, this is one of the heaviest rugged phones around, and not something that anyone travelling on foot would choose to include in their backpacks.

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