Thuraya took the wraps off its first Android
smartphone, the X5-Touch. Like every other product from this company, it's a
sat phone. It's also a normal smartphone that looks nothing like a normal
smartphone.
It has a 5.2-inch 1080p IPS touchscreen, the
Snapdragon 625 chipset, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, an 8 MP rear
camera, a 2 MP selfie snapper, and a 3,800 mAh battery. It disappointingly runs
Android 7.1 Nougat for some reason.
It weighs 262g and comes with IP67 water and dust
resistance as well as MIL-STD-810 certification for being able to withstand
extreme conditions. The X5-Touch has NFC on board and it supports navigation
through GPS, BeiDou, and GLONASS.
For satellite calls a retractable antenna has been
added, and the phone has always-on dual-SIM functionality with one SIM working
on conventional 2G/3G/4G networks and the other dealing with satellites.
The Thuraya X5-Touch will be available in 160
countries for £ 999. The company says it will be out in December, though it may
only make it to certain markets (like the UK) at the end of January.
