Ruggedized smartphone won’t make the headlines, but if you dig around a bit, you’d find that most are designed for professionals in the field of oil industry, military and the likes, and with professional features that you probably never going to use – that’s if you are able convince them to sell you one. It is not to say there aren’t any ruggedized handsets for consumers; there are, but they’re probably just not ruggedized for extreme active lifestyle. Rugged or mishandling in urban settings is probably ok for those, but probably not for bashing through the woods, ploughing through snow, crashing into waves and such. With that in mind, Sonim introduces the XP7 Rugged LTE Android Smartphone, a truly ruggedized handset that everyday consumers like you and me can acquire, and most importantly, it does not look like a beast and we thank Sonim for that.
Protection aspect, the XP7 goes beyond military specs’ shock and impact resistance, capable of sustaining drops from 6.5 feet onto concrete ground at any angle, standup to sudden shocks of up to 30G and vibration of between 5Hz and 500 Hz. It is IP68/69 rated, meaning it is sealed against dust, fully submersible to 6.5 feet of water for up to 30 minutes, and is totally resistance to high temperature pressure wash. The handset is also operable in extreme temperatures, ranging from -4o Celsius to 131o Fahrenheit, while a hardened rubber molded housing enables it to withstand up to 4J of impact energy and is at the same time, resistant to petroleum oils, as well as corrosive nature of cleaning solvents. In fact, Sonim is so confident of the XP7’s toughness, the outfit is offering a 3-year comprehensive warranty which also covers accidental damage. Now, that’s what we call extreme confidence, considering that no manufacturers would even go there.
Power comes from a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, backed by 1GB of RAM. Other mentions include glove-friendly, sunlight readable 4″ WVGA touch display, 16GB storage, a 8MP AF main camera with 1080p video recording and LED, a 1MP front-facing camera, a non-removable 4,800 mAh battery offering up to 1,000 hours standby time and 40 hours of talk time, LTE radio, WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 LE, plus the usual garden variety of sensors. Sonim has taken the XP7 Rugged LTE Android Smartphone to Indiegogo, where it is looking to raise $150,000 in backing to make it a mass product. It has 38 days to go and is already 77% funded, but that’s not of any concern, cos’ it is on flexible funding, which means regardless of the outcome of the funding, the product is a go. You can pre-order yours now for as low as $529, unlocked.
