If the RugOne brand doesn’t ring any bells for you, we won’t blame you. It’s a brand-new “exploration brand” by the rugged phone veteran Ulefone that they debuted at last year’s IFA 2025 with their first device, the Xever 7. Today, six months later, we get their second device – the RugOne Xever 8, which we have for hands-on today. We also have a short video about the Xever 8 on TikTok too.
Ulefone sees a space in the smartphone market where young people are looking for a rugged smartphone (hence the name RugOne) with an appealing yet eco-friendly design. Surely, the phone is also equipped with a ton of useful features that come in handy to outdoorsy users and/or people working in construction or doing any type of fieldwork.
RugOne Xever 8 still comes with a familiar aesthetic; however, the company offers a slightly different spin on the rugged smartphone category. The Xever 8 feels more premium than your average rugged handset.
RugOne Xever 8 specs at a glance:
- Body: 168.0×80.0x14.0mm, 320g; Gorilla Glass 3 front panel, metal, rubber and plastic body; IP68/IP69K dust tight and water resistant (high pressure water jets; immersible up to 2m for 30 min), Drop resistant up to 2m, MIL-STD-810H compliant, Dedicated flashlight (230 lumens).
- Display: 6.50″ IPS LCD, 120Hz, 680 nits (peak), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 405ppi.
- Chipset: MediaTek Helio G200.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 2.2; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
- OS/Software: Android 16, up to 3 major Android upgrades.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 64 MP, f/1.9, 1/1.7″, 0.8µm, PDAF; Night vision: 20 MP, f/1.8, 2 infrared lights.
- Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.5, (wide), 0.7µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 1440p@30fps, 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 4800mAh removable battery; 18W wired, 10W reverse wired.
- Connectivity: LTE; eSIM; Wi-Fi 5; BT 5.2; NFC; Wireless FM radio; Infrared port; 3.5mm jack.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); stereo speakers (117 dB).
RugOne Xever 8
When it comes to the “boring” side of specs, the Xever 8 features a 6.5-inch LCD with a 120Hz refresh rate, a Helio G200 chipset from MediaTek, 128GB of internal, expandable storage and 8GB of RAM, so it’s more or less a lower-midrange spec device. The choice of chipset also means it’s a 4G-only device.
The cameras are three in total – 64MP main unit on the back flanked by a 20MP “Night Vision” camera and a 32MP selfie shooter on the front. IR sensors aid the night vision camera. That Night Vision camera is also one of the Xever 8’s unique features – we’ll show you a few camera samples further down.
A 4,800 mAh battery supplies everything with power, and it’s swappable – something we haven’t seen in a while. The Xever 8 takes things a notch further with the battery being hot-swappable, as you can change the battery with a fresh one while the phone is running.
Unboxing the RugOne Xever 8
The Xever 8 retail package is a generous one. In addition to a compatible 18W charger and USB-C to USB-C cable, RugOne has also included an additional swappable battery in its own protective case, two back covers, and a pry tool that makes the battery change a tad easier.
RugOne Xever 8 unboxing
But that’s not all, the box also contains a tempered glass screen protector, a lanyard and a 4-in-1 charger that connects to the phone via pins and can charge the spare battery and the handset simultaneously.
Design and handling
Right off the bat, you can feel that the RugOne Xever 8 isn’t like most rugged phones. This one feels not just sturdy in the hand, but also somewhat nice to hold, too, with a more rounded shape than usual.
The iPhone-esque camera island is wrapped in metal with chrome-like accents while the rubber and plastic used for the rest of the body feel soft, smooth and pleasant to the touch.
Speaking of touch, RugOne paid special attention to the buttons as well. All the keys around the frame have some metal accent and feature different tactile feedback, so when you get used to them, you know which button you are pressing without looking.
RugOne Xever 8
RugOne Xever 8
You have a total of four on the right side – two for volume control, one power button and one additional shortcut key to which you can assign different apps or features.
The left houses only one button, which by default launches the flashlight, but you can assign different functions. It’s joined by a SIM card and a microSD card slot. The phone supports eSIM as well.
RugOne Xever 8
As we already mentioned, part of the back panel is detachable. Even though RugOne provides a prying tool to make it easier, you don’t really need it to replace the battery. You have to flip the latch located below the cover and pry it out with your fingernail, for instance. It comes off easily.
The device comes with two back cover styles to choose from.
RugOne promises that the Xever 8 is built to last, featuring IP68 and IP69K certifications against water and dust, which means it can withstand high-pressure water jets and can be immersed at up to 2 meters for 30 minutes under water. The handset is also compliant with the MIL-STD-810H military-grade standard, ensuring it can survive harsh conditions and serious drops.
Hardware and features
The Xever 8 is built around a 6.5-inch IPS LCD display with 120Hz refresh rate, protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The phone also relies on a Helio G200 chipset, which will be good enough for your daily tasks. There are two storage options – 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB. Memory card slots and 3.5mm audio jacks are a rarity these days, but the Xever 8 has both.
The camera setup is quite simple, but RugOne touts one of the cameras as being Night Vision. The main 64MP camera with a fairly large 1/1.7″ sensor is joined by a 20MP f/1.8 shooter dedicated to shooting in the dark. It gets help from two infrared light sensors.
Here are a couple of sample photos to see the night vision in action. It turns pitch-black environments into recognizable and fairly detailed scenes.
Low-light vs. Night vision
We also have a bunch of daylight photos with the main camera at native 1x crop.
Daylight camera samples
The Xever 8 helps you see in the dark in more than one way. It has you covered with a powerful built-in torch (230 lumens). It has three light modes, one of which can be used for signaling SOS.
When it comes to battery, capacity may not be the biggest in its class, but the easy replacement and the hot swap functionality make the Xever 8 quite unique. The Swappable Battery 2.0 is a feature that allows you to change the battery without powering off the device. You’ve got two minutes to change the battery, which gives you plenty of headroom, and you can do it even mid-call or while browsing, for example.
Replaceable battery
Also, the charging stand that ships with the phone can charge both the phone and the spare battery at the same time. The charging power, however, is limited to 18W, which means it’s not very fast.
4-in-1 charging stand
The Xever 8 also boasts a rather loud speaker setup. It has dual speakers with the larger 26mm speaker driver hiding behind the mesh on the back, right next to the camera sensors. The other 20mm one is at the bottom part of the frame. RugOne advertises 117dB peak output, which is quite impressive.
The speakers are not just for convenience and multimedia, they can be practical, too. They can get 2.6x louder in SOS mode, increasing the chances of you being heard when in distress.
The Xever 8 offers a bunch of useful tools, including an underwater camera mode (which allows you to control the camera using only the hardware buttons on the side frame), a compass, a barometer, tools for all kinds of measurements and a loudness meter. You can also connect to another RugOne phone via Bluetooth and use them as walkie-talkies.
Android 16 comes preinstalled out of the box, and RugOne promises 3 years of software updates for the device.
Home screen • Quick toggles • Toolbox • Toolbox
Last but not least, the device features a built-in IR blaster so you can control your TV, air conditioner and pretty much all electronics that use a remote control at home.
Wrap-up
The RugOne Xever 8 isn’t your ordinary rugged phone. Even though it’s a lower midrange device, visually it punches above its weight as it feels premium in hand. It also offers a few unique features which might be hard to come by in regular rugged phones like the night vision camera, the additional shortcut keys and the user-replaceable battery.
Speaking of battery, the Xever 8 is perhaps the phone with the most generous retail package we’ve received in a while. You get two batteries and a charging stand that can refill the phone and the extra battery simultaneously.
RugOne Xever 8
The Xever 8 is available for purchase today, and it’s $50 off until June 26. This brings down the launch price of the base 8GB/128GB variant to $379.99. As for the 8GB/256GB configuration, its promotional launch price is $409.99. You can find the Black and Sand Dune colors at all major retailers.
