'ZDNet Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

ZDNet's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.

When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNet nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNet's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.

Every so often I receive a phone to review that, at first blush, looks less like something consumers might want and more like something better suited for niche use cases. Some of the devices I receive will clearly never succeed in a market already flooded with low-to-mid-range devices from companies desperate to make a splash.

And then there are devices, like the AGM Glory G1S , that somehow exist within the apex of that complicated Venn diagram of users and use cases. 

Also: The 6 best rugged phones: Your adventure (phone) awaits

When I received the AGM Glory G1S, my first thought was something along the lines of: "Okay, this phone is way too heavy for consumers." This device weighs probably twice that of my Pixel 6 Pro . It has roughly the same size screen, but it's wrapped in a protective case that is reported to withstand drops of up to 4.7 feet and can take photos underwater at depths of (surprisingly enough) 4.7 feet.

Of course, I had to put that to a test (more on that in a moment). First, the specs.

A quick glimpse of those specs and, all of a sudden, my interest was piqued -- not because of the CPU/RAM/Display (which are all quite serviceable), but because of the extra features that you won't find on most Android phones. 

Take, for instance, the case (Figure 1). This thing feels indestructible. And even though it adds considerable heft to the phone, the protection it offers is remarkable.

The Glory G1S phone case is not to be trifled with.

If you are prone to gravity testing your phones, you'd have a hard time damaging the G1S with a simple drop. 

Next up is the infrared camera. This camera allows you to snap both IR photos and videos and is amazingly good at detecting heat (Figure 2).

My hand as seen from the IR camera of the Glory G1S.

Although the G1S camera won't be besting the Pixel 6 Pro, it's not too far behind. A quick photo of one of my wife's many garden splendors (Figure 3), and you can see how impressive the camera is on the G1S.

A little hydrangea photo action with a not-so-standard aspect ratio.

The odd thing about the camera is the default aspect ratio is set to 4:3, instead of a more traditional 16.5:9 (as is with the Pixel). You can easily change that from within the camera settings, which most people will want to do.

Finally, I couldn't help but test the ability of the G1S to survive underwater. So I did a quick video inside of my 55-gallon freshwater fish tank to see how well it would survive. Clearly, it survived the test with aplomb (Figure 4).

The Glory G1S is swimming with the fishes.

As far as performance goes, although the G1S doesn't stand up to my Pixel 6 Pro, it's not far off. And given the price tag is $699.00 (around $300.00 cheaper than the Pixel), it comes closer than you might think. Apps open quickly, web pages render very fast, portrait mode photos render almost instantly (actually slightly faster than the Pixel 6 Pro) and are not too shabby (Figure 5).

A scruffy-looking me standing outside the house

Even with a fairly good amount of apps running, the G1S still performs like a champ. I performed one quick gaming test with Diablo Immortal; compared to how it performs on my Pixel 5, the G1S can stand toe-to-toe with it. Of course, the Pixel 5 doesn't have the most powerful CPU, but it's still no slouch. The game installed and played flawlessly (without the same near-overheating I experience with the Pixel 5). 

As far as the sound is concerned, it blows the Pixel 5 out of the water. Where I have to run the Pixel 5 at max volume to hear the game, the G1S has to be turned down to around 50% because it's way too loud.

If you're looking for an armored Android device that can take a beating and still perform well, the AGM Glory G1S is a heck of a bargain. If this phone is of interest, you can buy one directly from the AGM website  or fromAmazon .