8849 Tank 4 Pro review: the best rugged phone for most people?

When I reviewed the Tank 3 Pro earlier this year, I compared it to carrying around a bag of sugar, due to its staggering 696g weight. The Tank 4 is lighter: technically not a lot lighter at 538g, but in practice it feels a lot more practical to carry. I'd say it's just about pocketable; assuming you have reasonably robust pockets and don't mind the distinctive bulge.

Like the Ulefone Armor 29 Ultra I recently reviewed, the Tank 4 Pro provides a heady mix of ruggedness and high performance. The Ulefone has a markedly better camera, but the Tank 4 is less than half the price, while offering many of the same benefits, as well as some unique to 8849: most notably, the projector. 

So comparisons aside, what's it actually like to use in practice? I've spent the last six weeks finding out: read on to discover what I've learned.

8849 Tank 4 Pro: specifications

8849 Tank 4 Pro: price and availability

At $669.99 (already down from the launch price of $799.99), the Tank 4 Pro slots neatly between the Tank 3 Pro at $569.99 and premium rugged competitors like the Ulefone Armor 29 Ultra at $1,099.99. It's available through Amazon and 8849's retail partners.

8849 Tank 4 Pro: build and design

The most obvious improvement over the Tank 3 Pro is how much more manageable this phone feels in daily use. While still unmistakably rugged, the Tank 4 Pro's reduced thickness (22mm versus 30mm) and weight (538g versus 696g) make it genuinely usable as a smartphone, rather than a specialized tool you grudgingly carry.

Don't get me wrong: that's still three times the weight of an iPhone 17. But it just feels less ridiculous than the Tank 3 Pro or indeed the Ulefone Armor 29's 688g. These things are all relative, I guess. As you'd expect, the build quality remains exceptional, with IP68/IP69K certification and MIL-STD-810H protection ensuring this device can handle whatever you throw at it… literally. 

Elsewhere, the button layout has been refined, with the volume controls moved to the top of the left edge and made smaller but more tactile. The customizable buttons remain, and the fingerprint sensor, integrated into the power button, works reliably once you learn its preferred touch technique. It's not the fastest implementation I've used, but it's consistent and works even with slightly damp fingers; an important consideration for a rugged device.

The back of the phone looks pretty similar to its predecessor, although the powerful camping light has been redesigned to be slightly wider and which I managed to run for between 5.5 and 6 hours in multiple tests.

8849 Tank 4 Pro: performance

The MediaTek Dimensity 8300 chip is a big upgrade over the Tank 3 Pro's Dimensity 8200, and it really shows in day-to-day use. Everything feels smoother, with few instances of the camera app lag that bugged me in the Tank 3 Pro.

The 2K AMOLED display is a big step up too, delivering the kind of deep blacks and vibrant colors that the Tank 3 Pro's LCD panel simply can't match. The 120Hz refresh rate makes everything feel fluid, while the higher resolution provides noticeably sharper text and images. For outdoor use, the display maintains excellent readability even in bright sunlight, though at around 500 nits, it doesn't match the Armor 29 Ultra's exceptional 2200-nit peak brightness.

Battery is a more mixed bag. In order to achieve the lighter weight of the 4 Pro, capacity has been haved from its predecessor's 23,800mAh to a more modest 11,600mAh. That's not quite the blow it sounds like, though, because the Tank 4 Pro's more efficient OLED display means battery life remains pretty impressive for typical smartphone tasks such as messaging and web browsing. 

However, if you're performing power-intensive activities like projector use or GPS navigation, the battery here won't last as long as on the Tank 3 Pro, so ultimately you are making a compromise in order to get a lighter and more manageable phone.

The 120W fast charging, though, is genuinely impressive, taking the phone from empty to 80% in under two hours. And just like the Tank 3 Pro, this phone can function as a power bank for charging other devices when you're out and about.

8849 Tank 4 Pro: cameras

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When it comes to photography, things are also mixed. The move from the 200MP Samsung sensor on the Tank 3 Pro to the 50MP Samsung GN1 here seems like a downgrade on paper. However, in my experience the more mature image processing on the Tank 4 Pro delivers noticeably better results, particularly in low light.

Overall, I found the Tank 4 Pro provides excellent dynamic range and natural color reproduction. Unlike the Tank 3 Pro's sometimes flat images, it delivered more vibrant results without falling into the oversaturated trap of the earlier Tank 2. Low-light performance, in particular, is genuinely impressive for a rugged device. I found I was able to capture usable images in conditions that would defeat most smartphones, not just rugged ones. 

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The dedicated infrared night vision camera continues to be a standout feature, providing true zero-light photography capability. In my tests, it captured surprisingly detailed black-and-white images that could prove invaluable for professionals working in dark environments. Meanwhile, the 32MP front-facing camera performs adequately for video calls and selfies, though it lacks the resolution of the Armor 29 Ultra's 50MP implementation.

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Camera-wise, though, the big letdown is that there's no ultrawide, which I found genuinely useful on the Tank 3 Pro for landscape photography and group shots. This omission is a serious restriction on the Tank 4 Pro's versatility compared to both its predecessor and rivals like the Armor 29 Ultra.

4K video recording is supported across the main cameras, with effective electronic stabilization that produces usable results even when walking. In broad terms I enjoyed the same improvements filming that I did in still images, thanks to natural colors and better dynamic range than the Tank 3 Pro.

8849 Tank 4 Pro: projector

One of my favourite features on the Tank 3 Pro was the projector, and so I was super-happy that this has now been upgraded from 480p to 720p resolution. As you might expect, this offers a huge jump in image quality, with text becoming more readable and video content appearing notably sharper.

Also with the Tank 3 Pro, you needed to use the manual dial to sharpen the picture, but now there's autofocus. I imagine a few might miss the tactile control the latter provided, but I found that in practice the automatic system worked effectively and simplifies things a lot. The auto-keystone correction continues to work well, too, quickly compensating for projection angle irregularities.

At 100 lumens brightness, you can only really use it in the dark, where you can enjoy usable images up to about 80 inches diagonal. That makes it a fun feature to have on camping trips, if you have a power outage at home, or you just want that 'cinema feel' to watch a movie with the family. No other rugged phone maker, to my knowledge, offers this right now.

Beware though: using the projector will consume around 20-25% of your battery per hour of operation. This makes the smaller battery on board here capacity quite noticeable compared with the Tank 3 Pro.

8849 Tank 4 Pro: connectivity

The Tank 4 Pro includes a significant upgrade in the form of USB 3.0 connectivity with video output support. This means you can connect the phone to external monitors or TVs for an even larger display than the built-in projector provides, opening up new possibilities for presentations or entertainment.

5G support provides fast data connectivity where available, while Wi-Fi 6 ensures optimal wireless performance. The dual SIM slots and microSD expansion (up to 1TB) offer further flexibility for professionals and travelers. And as ever, I applaud any phone that includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, because I simply refuse to mess around with wireless headphones.

8849 Tank 4 Pro: verdict

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Overall, the Tank 4 Pro successfully addresses most of the Tank 3 Pro's weaknesses while maintaining the unique features that made it special.  It's lighter, faster, it's got a better display, and the projector is improved too. 

For anyone who found the Tank 3 Pro too unwieldy for daily use (which will be most sane people), the Tank 4 Pro represents a much more practical option. However, the reduced battery capacity will disappoint those who relied on the Tank 3 Pro's exceptional endurance for outdoor activities or emergency preparedness. If maximum battery life is your priority, the older model may still be the better choice, despite its other limitations.

Compared to the Ulefone Armor 29 Ultra, the Tank 4 Pro offers similar core functionality at a significantly lower price. The advantage of the Ulefone is its superior camera, but if that's not your priority, then the Tank will be a much better value option for you; especially if you want to have a projector on board.

In short, the Tank 4 Pro occupies a sweet spot in the rugged smartphone market: rugged enough for serious outdoor use and emergency situations, but refined enough for daily smartphone duties. It remains a very niche product, of course, but for those who need durability and special features, I'd say it's the best value rugged phone on the market right now.