Japanese phone maker Kyocera certainly came up with a few more tests for its
latest tougher-than-tough handset, the Torque X01.
This feature flip phone may not have many apps, but
according to Kyocera it’s the first mobile to comply with 18 separate
categories of the US military’s MIL-STD-810G procurement standards. As ever
with consumer products claiming to have passed MIL-STD-810G tests, this claim
has to be taken with a pinch of salt (the US military doesn’t certify
compliance so companies basically test themselves).
Anyway, toughness aside, the X01 is an interesting
package. It’s got a 3.4-inch liquid crystal display, good for viewing in direct
sunlight; a 13-megapixel camera with HD video recording; a loud 100 db speaker
for use in noisy environments; and large keys designed to work with heavy-duty gloves.
It’s powered by a teeny Snapdragon 1.1 GHz processor, and has a bunch of
built-in apps for reading out data like temperature, altitude, navigation,
tides, and — wait for it — “activity level of fish.”
Some of the X01’s built-in apps. The fish one is
bottom right and as you can see the rating is “excellent.” Unfortunately, it looks
like the X01 is only on sale in Japan, but, like emoji and NFC, we hope the
country’s mobile industry will export its fish-activity-measuring technology to
the West soon.
