Google announced their latest quarterly earnings yesterday, and the company had another good three months in the black, earning a revenue of $14 billion, with $3.35 billion of that as cold, hard income. However, Google’s recently-acquired Motorola Mobility is struggling, losing $271 million, but Google CEO Larry Page seems to have big plans for the subsidiary, and teased some of the features we may see on upcoming devices.
During Google’s earnings call yesterday, Page discussed Motorola and mentioned that he has seen some of the company’s upcoming products, saying that he’s “really excited to see the potential there.” He discussed the problems with current hardware, such as short battery life, shattered screens, and phones breaking when users accidentally drop them.
Page notes that these things simply just shouldn’t happen, which means that Motorola’s upcoming devices could come with improvements to these three categories. We’ve heard a lot of rumors about a possible “X Phone,” which is said to currently be in the works over at Motorola, and it’s possible that the phone will come with a type of ruggedness unlike what we’ve seen before.
This means that the X Phone could be classified as a rugged smartphone, but it won’t be bulky and thick like most rugged phones are. Instead, it could come with a toughened exterior along with an unbreakable type of glass for the display, as well as large battery similar to what’s in the DROID RAZR MAXX HD. As far as when we might see a phone like this come to the public, it could be later this year in time for the holiday season, but we’re not counting on that 100% just yet.
I used to think that Bluetooth speakers were pretty superfluous, until someone gave me one. From then on, I’ve used one almost every day. The Urchin is a rugged new Bluetooth speaker and features interchangeable silicone skins, giving it a distinctive look.
Its design also makes it shock and water resistant, so it’ll be fine in the rain or even in the shower. I like how it’s got a carabiner so that you can hook the Urchin on a belt loop or backpack and keep the music going no matter where you’re going. It even comes with a suction cup attachment to stick it to the tiles in your bathroom, as well as a screw mount for your car.
It also has a built-in microphone, so it works as a speakerphone. The Urchin comes in blue, red, or black and retails for $149.99(USD) from the Boom Movement shop.
Rugged phone cases are bountiful. But, while they may offer some additional thermal protection, they’re not built for true extremes. For that, you’d need either piles of insulation (too bulky) or some way to control the temperature inside the case. ThermoShield, one of over a dozen student-run companies vying for attention at Northeastern University’s Husky Startup Challenge, went the latter route by slipping a Peltier element inside a slim plastic shell. The current prototype was built on a 3D printer and clearly created for an iPhone, but plans for the initial model should be simple enough to port to any handset. A standard watch battery powers the small plate and by controlling the voltage across it you generate either small amounts of heat or produce a slight cooling effect. A simple switch or slider would be used to manually control the flow of electrons. Trekking through the arctic tundra? Simply crank up the heat to keep your phone from freezing to death. Meandering through the Sahara? Take advantage of the Peltier’s thermoelectric cooling properties to keep the Gorilla Glass from melting.
According to one of the creators, Hannah Bialic, it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to add automatic temperature control. Though, development costs could significantly drive up the price of the ThermoShield. The hardware could all be baked directly into the case itself or an app could be created that would automate everything. Obviously, though, relying on software would limit the case to working with a single device (and let’s be realistic, it won’t be your beloved Nexus 4). There’s no telling when or if you’ll actually be able to pick up one of these variable temperature shells, but you can add your name to the mailing list at the more coverage link.
The Casio G’z0ne Commando has been a rather quiet option on Verizon’s network, but for those wanting a rugged and tough smartphone on Big Red’s network, the Commando is a very safe bet. It’s even a better option now because a new version of the phone was seen making its way through the FCC, equipped with Verizon’s blazingly-fast 4G LTE.
Formally called the Casio G’z0ne Commando 811, the new handset comes with an all-new look on top of the brand new LTE chip. Of course, it’s not the most beautiful phone to look at, but if it’s protection from rain, dust, drops, etc. that you’re looking for. the Commando 811 may be the phone for you.
It’s very similar to our recently-reviewed Kyocera Torque, only this newer version is getting a bigger screen, a front-facing camera, and possibly an upgrade to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean based on the new navigation-key arrangement at the bottom of the device. And of course, it’s got the black and red color scheme that Verizon is notorious for on its Android handsets.
Nothing is official yet, but we should be hearing from Verizon and Casio with an official announcement sometime soon. It just cleared from the FCC, so it should only be a matter of time before those that need a viable option for a rugged smartphone equipped with LTE will be able to grab the Commando 811 from Big Red.
When you grab a Pelican case for your electronics, you know good and well that you’re trusting your most precious bits of metal, plastic, and glass to the best. What you’ve got available to you today is a couple of iPhone 5 cases that’ll keep you from essentially any kind of damage – toss it down a flight of stairs into a bucket of water if you want! One of these two cases is pretty darn amazing, the other is undeniably top-of-the-line.
With the Pelican ProGear Protector you’ll be working with a shock-deflecting outer shell packed with an elastomeric interior lining. You’ll be protected from scratches as well as basic impact, and you’ll be seeing this device in several color combinations, too! This little monster is available right this minute for MSRP $79.95 from a sweet Pelican retailer near you.
Then we’ve got the boss. Pictured above and below, the Pelican ProGear Vault will protect your iPhone 5 from a drop of 72 inches above the ground. You’ve got both insulating elastomeric shock and impact protection inside, a durable screen cover you can touch through but also offers high-grade anti-scratch technology, and some sweet flush-fitting stainless steel hex-head machine screws to hold it all together. With hex-head screws, you’ll never get in again (without a hex-head screwdriver, included in the package, of course), and you’ll be fashionably fit, too!
The Pelican ProGear Vault is one we’ve seen before – it’s been coming out since CES 2013 and is just now ready for full action! You’ll be able to pick one up now for a cool $79.95 MSRP this week – and make sure you know what you’re getting into – your kids will want to start tossing your phone more than ever! Have a peek at our Pelican ProGear Vault hands-on and hit up the timeline of Pelican products below as well – stay rugged!
With the Fuji XP200 you’ll be blasting forth with so much ruggedness in a camera so compact that you’ll want immediately to jump out of your front door into a puddle full of rocks to test it out. This camera works with a 16 megapixel 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor able to run up to ISO 6400 and has wifi connectivity so you’re all ready for instant uploads galore. And yes, you can toss it down a flight of stairs, too.
The XP200 has waterproofing down to 15 meters below the surface of the sea, is resistant to cold temperatures – down to negative 10 degrees celsius, and will take on drops of up to 2 meters if you like. This beast is shockproof, dustproof, and is ready to roll out with the rest of your beastly rugged gadgets with the newest in fashionable beast-mode aesthetics. That means it looks nice, too.
The lens is one you’ll also find to work with 5x zoom, that is 28-140mm range, and there’s a lovely dedicated Burst Mode ready for your snappage as well. The back of this device also contains a 3-inch LCD display on the back so you’ll be able to see what you’re doing, and you’ll be able to take some slo-mo video as well. Video can be captured with this camera at Full HD 1080p at 60fps – and you can capture at 360fps as well if you want to go… so… super… slow.
This fabulous little monster will be available for 229 pounds in England starting at the end of April, and we’ll likely see it in the USA as well – soon and very soon! Have a peek at the timeline below of Fujifilm bits and pieces to put the whole puzzle together. And start shooting now!
Rugged smartphones meant for the trailblazer and the survivalist in all of us certainly aren’t rare, but it’s not very often that we get to review one. Kyocera recently announced the Torque, a mid-range smartphone that’s encased in a thick hard plastic shell that can absorb energy when dropped. It’s also water resistant and impervious to dust, and while the average hiker could easily take advantage of the device, the company also targets it towards construction workers and even parents who have small kids that can be more than a little rough with toys. Oh, and did we mention it’s Bear Grylls-approved?
Hardware & Design
The first thing you’ll notice with the Torque is its rugged look. It has a textured hard plastic Dura-Grip casing that protects it from drops, and every port is covered with a flap to keep water and dust out. The battery cover can come off, however, and it’s held on with a rather large screw that only requires a quarter turn to “unlock” it, so to speak. The cover is made out of a slightly-flexible rubber material to make it easy to pop off. Underneath the rear plate is a 2500mAh battery that powers the show, and it’s a slightly larger battery than we initially expected, but seeing how the Torque is meant for the adventurer, it’s critical to have a phone that can last all day.
The Torque comes with a 4-inch IPS display with a 800×480 resolution. Of course, that’s not really all that impressive, and those looking primarily for a top-quality display will want to look elsewhere, but otherwise it gets the job done, and most people who would need a rugged phone most likely won’t even care about the display’s quality in the first place. The screen is covered with a pre-installed screen protector as well, but it makes the screen look slightly blurry. We’re not sure what kind of screen protector is on the phone, but we could definitely tell that it made text and small icons a little blotchy.
As for the internals, the Torque comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz accompanied with 1GB of RAM. Sadly, it only has a measly 1GB of storage, but the phone has a microSD card slot that accepts up to 32GB of additional storage. The Torque sports a 5MP camera on the back, with a 1.3MP front-facing camera — more about that later.
As for ports and buttons, the Torque doesn’t rely on touch-based soft buttons. The phone consists of all physical buttons, including the three navigation buttons on the front. On the right side, there’s a dedicated camera button that acts as a shutter button, but it won’t open up the camera app itself. On the right side, there’s a volume rocker and a big yellow button for push-to-talk communication. On the top is the power button and a toggle button for turning the push-to-talk speaker on and off. Also on the top is the headphone jack in the middle. Then, on the bottom you have the microUSB port and the microphone.
The Torque also sports front-facing speakers, which is quite a rarity nowadays, and we were surprised to see that on a phone like this. The device houses the speakers at the bottom right below the navigation buttons, and I found it to be quite nice not having to cup my hand from the rear in order to get the sound to direct to the front, so having front-facing speakers is a small, but huge feature on this phone. As for the earpiece, it’s actually built into the glass display, and it relies on vibrations to deliver sound to your ear. It’s a weird concept, but Kyocera claims it makes voice calling quality better, especially in loud environments, like at a concert.
As for how rugged the Torque is, Kyocera claims it to be a pretty robust beast. The device meets Military Standard 810G, which applies to protection from dust, shock, vibration, temperature, rain, low pressure, solar radiation, and immersion in water for up to 30 minutes in up to 1 meter of water. I ended up dropping it a couple of times on my kitchen’s tile floor at different angles and it didn’t scratch it one bit, and it made more of a “thud” sound rather than a high-pitched cracking noise that you would get with most other smartphones. I even brought it in the shower with me and it was fine the whole time. However, Kyocera notes that the phone is inoperable while the screen is wet. We’re not sure if the phone disables itself somehow to avoid damage, but the phone stays on — you just can’t use it. In the end, you probably don’t need to worry too much about damaging the phone, which is something that most other smartphone owners can’t say about their precious toys.
Software
The Torque runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and the interface looks to be mostly stock, although there are a few pre-installed apps that may get in your way. Other than that, though, it looks like Kyocera mostly left the user interface alone, which is a huge plus for those wanting a true Android experience. However, those wanting the latest operating system will be disappointed for now, but Kyocera plans to upgrade the device to Jelly Bean within the next few months.
However, there are still a couple of Kyocera-exclusive features within the software, including a modified lock screen, that allows you to swipe the unlock circle in any direction to unlock the phone, and there’s also a camera icon that does the same thing. The icons at the bottom of the home screen are also just slightly changed up, with an ID app to the far right that allows you change the theme of the user interface.
Camera
The camera on the Torque isn’t the best, to put it simply. Even with adequate lighting, photos turned out to be really noisy, and white balance wasn’t working too well in most situations. Low-light capabilities weren’t too bad, though, but there was still a lot of noise in the photos, of course. I noticed that the camera would only focus the frame after I pressed the shutter button, meaning that as I was lining up my shot, the frame would remain blurry until I took the picture. At that point, the camera would quickly focus the frame and snap the photo. It only appeared to be doing that specifically with macro and other close-up shots, though.
Video quality was subpar as well. Automatic exposure and white balancing were average, but it would take a few seconds to refocus if I moved the camera around. As with the photos, ISO and noise were apparent, and while the camera is capable of shooting in HD, the quality isn’t too great, and it mostly looks like a standard-definition video that was blown up to HD standards, which as you know, doesn’t have good results. Overall, if you’re going hiking and are planning to do some sightseeing, you may want to bring a dedicated camera to take photos of that beautiful sunset over the canyon.
Performance & Battery Life
We ran the Torque through our go-to benchmarking apps, Quadrant and AnTuTu, and the results were a bit better than we expected. In AnTuTu, the Torque scored a 10,500, which is right on par with the Samsung Galaxy Note and the Galaxy S II, while just lagging behind a bit from the ASUS Transformer Prime. In Quadrant, the Torque scored just under a 4,200, which puts it on par with the Transformer Prime and almost up to snuff with the HTC One X, which is quite impressive.
As for battery life, knowing that the Torque had a 2500mAh battery, I was expecting to go longer than usual with this phone, and that’s exactly what happened. Streaming Netflix TV shows and movies non-stop on the Torque ended up lasting eight hours before the battery even reached 25%, and with normal use, it was easily lasting a couple of days without a problem. Of course, the large battery mixed with the low power requirements of the internal components makes the Torque one of the few smartphones on the market that can last a long time on a single charge.
Wrap-Up
In the end, while the Torque probably won’t win any awards in the looks department, it certainly gets props for being an extremely rugged smartphone. There’s definitely some things that could be better if it wants to compete with the flagship devices currently on the market, so you’ll definitely have to make some sacrifices in the performance department if you’re wanting something rugged. Although, we’d almost just rather get a better phone, slap on an OtterBox case, and call it a day.
With a similar-sounding name to John Rambo, the Chinese-made Runbo X3 is one tough and rugged Android phone. Sporting a look that is more walkie-talkie than phone, Runbo X3 is encased in a waterproof case with IP67 rating, which should make it water resistant for up to three feet and protect the internal components from dust. It also sports walkie-talkie feature that is functional for up to 6 miles away from each other, useful for when trekking in thick jungles where cellular signals may not be available. (more…)
If you’re the type of person who’s constantly dropping their phone on the ground, or just like to participate in lots of outdoor activities, you might want to check out this new rugged Android phone, that’s designed to take a licking and keep on talking.
The Chinese-made Runbo X3 definitely looks like something you’d keep in your hiking pack or toolbox – owing more of its aesthetics to a walkie talkie than smartphone design. It’s wrapped in a waterproof case that’s rated at IP67, which should protect it from water up to 3-feet-deep, as well as keep pretty much all dust out of its innards.
Speaking of walkie talkies, the Runbo X3 sports a walkie talkie mode, for easy communication with others who have the same phone, at distances up to 6 miles away from each other. It’s also got a built in laser pointer, which might come in handy if you’re planning a rave or blinding airplane pilots while out in the jungle.
In terms of phone specs, we’re not looking at anything too fancy. It’s got a 1GHz dual-core CPU, running Android 4.0, along with 3G quad-band networking. Wi-Fi supports 802.11 b/g/n, and it’s also got Bluetooth and GPS aboard. One thing that looks nice about this phone is that it’s got a massive 3800 mAH battery pack – which should give you up to 25 hours of usage on a charge – something that’s nice to know when you’re lost in the woods or dangling from a cliff somewhere. The dual SIM slots and wireless hotspot capabilities don’t hurt either. I also like that it’s got a physical keyboard.
Its rear camera offers an 8MP resolution, while the front-facing one is just 0.3MP. And its 4.3″ screen offers just 800×480 resolution, which isn’t much to write home about by today’s standards. That all said, you’re buying this phone for its durability, not because of its top-of-the-line tech.
You can find the Runbo X3 rugged phone over at Chinavasion for about $350(USD). While that’s expensive compared to some smartphones, you have to remember this one is totally unlocked, so you can use it with any network of your choice.
How many times have you dropped your smartphone? I’ve dropped mine plenty of times, especially when I’m tired. Thankfully, I use a case that helps alleviate any damage that my phone might incur. That being said, check out this über-rugged Android smartphone from Caterpillar – designed to be durable right out o the box.
The Caterpillar CAT B15 is the successor of last year’s CAT B10. It’s built to outlast you. Its case combines aluminum and rubber so that the phone can survive drops as high as 5.9 feet onto hard surfaces. It can also stay immersed in 3.3 feet of water for 30 minutes before things go wrong. Plus, it can withstand temperatures from -4°F to 122°F.
The CAT B15 runs a super-clean, stock version of Android Jelly Bean (4.1.2), has a 4-inch WVGA screen, dual-core 1GHz Cortex A9 processor, 512 MB of RAM, and a 5 MP camera. It will release in the UK and Europe later this month for £299/€299 (~$454 USD). There’s no word yet on pricing or a release date for other countries.
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