AGM H5 Pro Review: Is The World's Loudest Phone Tough Enough?

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Back in 2007, the original iPhone revolutionized the world of personal communications. Ever since that game-changing smartphone hit the shelves, most other phones have emulated it to some degree. A touchscreen interface has become the norm, and the phones themselves are as much fashion accessories as they are life-changing personal computers. This leads to issues when you're looking at something a bit more specialist, as comparing it to an iPhone — or any number of smartphones built to work in a city, rather than the rugged wilderness — is a bit unfair.

The AGM H5 Pro is one of those specialist phones. This phone is for hunters, hikers, and folks that work on construction sites. As such, I've tested how the H5 Pro responds in harsh environments — along with a few basic, everyday drops from pocket height. The H5 Pro also has a fairly impressive party trick — according to AGM, it has the loudest built-in speaker of any commercial smartphone. While trying it out, I got a good idea of just how loud the H5 pro actually is, and the quality of audio AGM's speaker system can provide

There's a chunk of the smartphone market that buys a slim, exquisitely designed flagship device and immediately slaps it in the most durable looking Otterbox they can find, turning their aluminum masterpiece into a plastic brick. The H5 Pro cuts out the middleman and incorporates a very durable case into the body of the phone. 

The corners are raised to give the device's insides a bit of extra padding. The screen itself is recessed, with the edges of the case providing a small amount of protection against flat surfaces. Like a lot of extra cases, both the charging port and the SIM card slot have their own plastic flaps — minimizing any risk of water getting into the device itself.

The back of the device has a sort of Kevlar-like pattern, which gives the phone a bulletproof appearance. It's worth pointing out this is just a pattern, the phone's case isn't made of kevlar or any other ballistic weave — it's made of plastic. The back of the phone's case has four pogo-pin contact points, which allow it to charge with its included charging dock. This is a nice feature and means you don't have to pry open the charging port cover every time you want to top the device up. 

One of the key selling points of the H5 Pro is its speaker. AGM claims it is the loudest phone speaker on the market, capable of belting out a whopping 109 decibels. To put that in perspective, HEARsmart says it's as loud as an ambulance siren and may damage your hearing if you listen to it without protection for more than two minutes. The speaker is also fairly noticeable. It's not a couple of holes AGM has poked into the bottom of the device, it's a huge bulging disc protruding from the back.

As a dedicated tech journalist committed to testing things out so you don't have to bother, I put my body on the line and listened to a four-minute-long song on full volume. I can confirm it is unpleasantly loud and made my eardrums quite uncomfortable. It's the least fun I've ever had listening to David Bowie. I don't think my hearing health was actually at risk though, as while it may be 109 Db at the point it leaves the speakers, the noise level has dropped a bit by the time it hits my ear, several feet away at least. 

In terms of audio quality, it's a bit tinny, especially with the volume cranked up. I've heard worse, but it's nowhere near as good as your average portable Bluetooth speaker or a decent set of headphones.

Attached to the AGM H5 Pro is a 48 Megapixel main camera, a two Megapixel macro camera, and a 20 Megapixel selfie camera, all of which are perfectly adequate for most situations. You aren't going to be taking the professional-looking snaps a modern iPhone or Google Pixel phone is capable of, but you're not going to be taking grainy, low-res, shots either. The lack of an optical zoom is a notable omission, so expect image quality to decline rapidly the further you are from your intended photo subject.

For your viewing pleasure, I've included a picture of a supermarket's fall display to illustrate the camera's color range and level of detail. If you look above, you'll see a slightly grainier shot of a pair of little pigs I encountered on a roadside. If you look closely, you'll see the second one is far less detailed, and that's due to the limitations that come with digital zoom. Had this photo been captured with a device with any sort of substantial optical zoom, those snouts would have been picked out perfectly.

This is a fairly significant flaw — or maybe an oversight — on AGM's part. According to the phone's Amazon page, you can buy the H5 Pro "unlocked" but the "unlocked" version still limits you to two networks. If your plan isn't with AT&T or T-Mobile then you're going to need to find another phone. AT&T customers also need to activate their SIM cards on another phone before popping it into the H5 Pro, which again seems like a huge inconvenience. We tested this model with a T-Mobile SIM.

Given that the phone has some pretty significant outdoors applications — and AGM bills it as a rugged phone perfect for camping, hiking, and various other kinds of adventures — a more powerful antenna would be a pretty obvious addition. If you could pick up a signal where normal phones couldn't, the AGM H5 Pro could become a literal lifesaver. 

So naturally, I wandered into the middle of nowhere and watched the signal on my Galaxy S21 peter away to nothing. Then I pulled out the SIM card and worked the fiddly little piece of plastic (the SIM card tray's protective cover) into the H5 Pro without dropping it into a puddle. This was the H5 Pro's chance to shine, but unfortunately, it couldn't get a signal either. It's worth highlighting this isn't an extensive test, and numerous factors go into a phone getting a signal. But it plainly isn't a satellite phone, or a phone with an emergency satellite feature — nor was it claiming to be.

The H5 Pro comes with a built-in protective case with a kevlar-like pattern. The ports are shielded from moisture by a set of plastic flaps, and the corners have a lot of extra padding. But appearances can be deceiving, so this wouldn't be a thorough review unless the phone was subjected to a bit of abuse.

As far as waterproofing goes, I lobbed the H5 Pro into a stream — and got it wet more than a few times — and it still functions perfectly well. A small amount of moisture seemed to work its way into the infrared camera's lens, but the overall function of the phone was not impacted in any way. 

AGM has a picture of the phone being lobbed into a fire on their website, but we're not about to test fate. We all know what happens with most plastics when fire gets involved. 

The real test is how it responds to knocks and drops. AGM claims their phone can survive repeated drops from just under five feet. So I spent a bit of time dropping it onto a variety of surfaces and recorded the results. The first test didn't bode well, a couple of drops from shoulder height onto relatively smooth concrete saw a small chip appear on the screen and a corner get scuffed. However, further drops onto gravel and asphalt didn't result in any catastrophic damage. The phone's screen did not crack beyond the chip, and it still functions just fine. The large protruding speaker was dented by the gravel, but the audio it produces isn't any worse than it was before the damage.