Ulefone Note 18 Ultra Smartphone Review
Ulefone Note 18 Ultra Smartphone Review – It has been a long time since we saw a decent Ulefone Note smartphone. But, recently, the smartphone makers introduced the Note 18 Ultra phone in its mainstream segment. The phone is a successor to the Ulefone Note 17 Pro, which brings a fabulous design. However, it looks like something completely different when you look at the new Ulefone device. However, we all know that the company releases average mid-range phones.
The same goes for the Ulefone Note 18 Ultra as the company has not offered anything extraordinary. But, still, we don’t recommend you to judge a phone by the initial specifications and hardware configuration. The company is trying hard to offer an attractive design with a durable material on the back panel. Now, let’s look at the following highlights before we dive into the Ulefone Note 18 Ultra review.
Ulefone Note 18 Ultra Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The device is equipped with a standard 6.78-inch IPS LCD panel with a 90Hz refresh rate.
- As for the software interface, you will get Android 13 customization support.
- The hardware configuration of the Mediatek Dimensity 720 chipset offers decent performance.
- The Ulefone Note 18 Ultra will feature a 50MP dual camera setup with a 32MP selfie camera.
- Lastly, the device is powered by a 5450mAh battery with regular 18W wired charging support.
Design and exhibition
The Ulefone Note 18 Ultra comes with a striking design with three distinctive color variations. It includes Lustrous Black, Moonlit White, and Titanium Gray paint. All of them look pretty good and beautiful. But if you are looking for something out of the ordinary, you should consider buying the Moonlite White. It comes with a matte finish with a premium design. There is no doubt that other colors are not that bad and you can choose any option as per your needs.
On the other hand, the build quality of the phone is quite good as it features a thick side panel and a curved body. With this, the gripping experience will be improved to a certain level, while it does not feel that heavy. The reason for this is the massive battery capacity under the hood. Anyway, the company added a fingerprint scanner on the power button, which increases the security and privacy of the user.
However, the bezels are noticeable on the front 6.78-inch IPS LCD panel. Like most average phones, you get the standard 90Hz refresh rate that can improve touch response, while Corning glass adds to the protection. Through this display, you can easily view FHD+ content with vibrant colors and contrast control. However, the Ulefone lacks proper brightness support.
Memory and internal
Under the hood, the phone houses a Dimensity 720 chipset with an average processing speed. To be more precise, the device will only provide a cloaking speed of up to 2×2.0 GHz. It is considerably low if you want to enjoy daily activities on this phone. Usually, this hardware can perform well if you are not gaming. The reason behind this would be the slow GPU performance.
While users can play a bit of games through this phone, the phone will struggle to maintain the same level of performance throughout the game. As far as customization is concerned, the software interface is based on the Android 13 skin, which will bring the standard apps, tools, widgets, and wallpapers. Yes, you can modify the layouts and install your preferred apps and tools from the Playstore.
However, you cannot freely change the look and feel of the UI as there are plenty of bloatware apps and software that make customization difficult. At the same time, it is not clear whether the phone is covered by major Android updates. Even so, smartphone makers have been providing constant security patches for almost three years now. Apart from this, the device brings 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage with a RAM configuration of 6GB. In addition to this, you can also rely on the shared storage drive to boost the limits.
Camera
The camera aspect defines whether users like the phone or not. That’s why many smartphone manufacturers introduce new modes, custom filters, and improved software to attract new users. With the Ulefone Note 18 Ultra, you get an interesting 50MP dual camera setup. Both the main and ultra-wide lenses feature two different 50MP lenses. Photo results with the main lens are good as you will notice accurate colors and contrast.
Additionally, the ultra-wide-angle lens offers a dynamic range of colors and allows for beautiful photos every time. Daylight photos are excellent and have decent color management, while low-light photos have noise in the background. Portraits aren’t too bad, but could have been improved a bit more. Video recording is disappointing, though, especially by mid-range phone standards.
As for the front camera, it features a 32MP selfie lens. It offers above-average photo quality, with accurate colors, contrast, and vibrant photos. You can also use the native camera app to capture immersive photos and share them directly to your social media accounts. But, as far as video recording is concerned, the Ulefone Note 18 Ultra can record videos up to 1080p. Still, it’s much better than the entry-level quality.
Battery and others
You will get a 5450mAh Li-Po battery setup with support for 18W wired charger. There are not many phones that surpass the 5000mAh battery benchmarks. Hopefully, the phone does and offers up to 6+ hours of screen-on time for normal activities. Yes, the screen-on time will be low when you are gaming, especially during online games. Also, you don’t have to wait for that long as the battery will recharge in an hour and a half.
The device offers average sensors, mediocre sound output, and communications. However, it is good to see that the company has added a 3.5mm jack port. However, it does not mean that you get decent support for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Despite this, the communication ends will be slightly downgraded. Still, the phone supports 5G connectivity to some extent. Last but not the least, the Ulefone Note 18 Ultra is priced at $180 (Rs 15,090 in India) approximately.
Pros and cons of Ulefone Note 18 Ultra
Detailed specifications of Ulefone Note 18 Ultra
Below you can see the Ulefone Note 18 Ultra Smartphone Full Specifications.
Budget | Ulefone Note 18 Ultra |
Grid | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
Announced | May 2024 |
SIM card | Hybrid Dual SIM |
Dimensions | 6.65 x 3.02 x 0.35 inches |
Weight | 211.6 grams |
Size | 6.78 inches |
Show | IPS LCD screen 90 Hz ~396 PPI density |
Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass |
Resolution | 1080 x 2460 pixels |
Operating system | Android 13 |
Chipset | 7nm: Mediatek Dimensity 720 |
UPC | Octa-core 2x 2.0GHz Cortex-A76 processors 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55 processor |
GPU | Mali-G57 MC3 |
Card slot | microSDXC (uses shared SIM slot) |
RAM | 6 GB |
Internal | 256 GB UFS2.2 |
Camera | 50 MP (wide angle), PDAF 50 MP (117˚ ultra-wide angle) LED flash, HDR, panorama Max: 1080p@30fps |
Selfie | 32 MP (wide angle) High dynamic range (HDR) Max: 1080p@30fps |
Loudspeaker | Yeah |
3.5mm connector | Yeah |
Wireless network (WLAN) | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual band |
Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE |
GPS | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS |
NFC | Yeah |
Infrared port | Yeah |
Radio | No |
USB | USB Type C 2.0 |
Sensors | Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, accelerometer, proximity and compass. |
Battery | 5450mAh lithium polymer battery 18W with cable |
Flag | Glossy Black, Moonlit White, Titanium Grey |
Expected price | $180 (Rs. 15,090 in India) approximately |
Conclusion
After looking at all the aspects, I found that the phone did not sound like “Ultra” to the prospective buyers. The Ulefone Note 18 Ultra is undoubtedly a great option as an affordable 5G phone. But the phone had nothing special to offer. The device did not excel in photography, hardware, or gaming. But the main strengths would be the display, battery life, and 5G connectivity. Apart from this, there are only a handful of things that make this phone attractive.
There are plenty of options available in the market, you are not limited to trying this phone. For instance, the Xiaomi Poco M5 and the Realmie C65 are some entry-level smartphones that are worth waiting for. Still, if you are thinking of buying the Ulefone Note 18 Ultra phone, we will not stop you. We always want you to choose a decent phone according to your needs, and if the Note 18 Ultra meets your requirements, then go for it.