Is the Sonim Land Rover phone tough enough?

The Gadget Show  Thursday 04 December 2008

Take Chuck Norris, give him a sprinkling of Steven Seagal, and throw in some of Roy Keane’s aggression and that’s how tough this phone is

Prada phone? Not for us. LG Viewty? Too girly! We want our mobile phone collaborations to be more manly. Something like the Mustard Phone or the T-Bone Steak mobile. Land Rover phone? Now you’re talking.

Following in the phone-size footsteps of the JCB toughphone are Sonim’s two Land Rover mobiles, which by our reckoning, look just as tough as the yellow and black handset.

Makers Sonim claim that the Land Rover S1 and Land Rover S2 G4 have been designed to withstand the horrors that today’s global climate throw at us: fog, humidity, thermal shock (whatever that is) and, erm, salt. Maybe slugs will arm themselves with Landy phones from now on.

It goes without saying, then, that they’re also waterproof and can handle being dropped from a height of up to 1.6m onto tough surfaces. But, obviously we don’t recommend you do that. That would be crazy.

Why so tough? The body’s made from a long-lasting, re-useable material – XENOY – a revolutionary plastic made from used plastic bottles and film. Doesn’t sound tough, but in reality it’s tougher than a knuckle sandwich from Ricky Hatton.

Out in the middle of next year, Sonim’s still keeping schtum over the price of the Land Rover phones. Still, it should be money well spent. From the sounds of it, these handsets would survive an atomic bomb. At least then the ’roaches could use them.