We first heard about -- and went to town on -- Kyocera's latest smartphone toward the end of last month. Thankfully, the Torque happens to be an "ultra-rugged" device, meaning its creators didn't mind at all when we tossed it against a wall or two. The LTE-packing Ice Cream Sandwich handset was made to the Military Standard 810G standard, so you can drop it, get it dirty or even submerge it in up to a meter of water for half an hour or so and go back for a little more Fruit Ninja -- it's also been placed in the hands of Mr. Man vs. Wild himself, Bear Grylls. The handset will be tumbling onto Sprint March 8th, with a $100 price (post two-year contract and $50 mail-in rebate).
Going to be in the market for a new Direct Connect device soon, but the current offerings seem so... drab? Enter the Kyocera Torque, the latest Sprint smartphone featuring the network's CDMA-based Push-to-Talk service. The phone, which should be available sometime in early March, brings with it LTE connectivity, (mostly) stock Android 4.0, a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus processor, HD Voice, 4-inch WVGA display, 4GB internal storage and a 2,500mAh battery. As you'd come to expect on a Direct Connect device, it's also certified mil-spec 810G and IP67 and is water-resistant (it can be in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes). It's also the first on this side of the Pacific to utilize Kyocera's Smart Sonic Receiver tissue-conduction tech, a system that foregoes the traditional earpiece and transmits audio to your ear via vibration.
The Torque packs a lot of average features that would likely put it somewhere in the mid-range (we haven't been given pricing yet), but it's definitely not going to win any beauty awards -- it's still a Direct Connect device, after all. Its outer layer is dressed with Dura-Grip and the phone is plenty bulky as a result; however, it's also much more durable than your standard piece of electronics. We threw the phone at the wall, slammed it repeatedly on the table, dunked it in water and even let it sit in ice for at least 20 minutes, all without incident.
On the software side, the Torque uses a version of stock Android 4.0 with only a small amount of tweaking. Essentially, the only major change added in by Sprint and Kyocera is Eco Mode, a power management system on the Torque that blocks background data connections for nonessential apps. We've put together a gallery of pics for you below. Follow us past the break for a full spec listing and our hands-on video.
Kyocera Torque specs:
Military spec 810G and IP67-certified
IPX5 / IPX7-certified "waterproof" (up to one meter for 30 minutes)
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought smartphone leaks from Samsung and Kyocera, along with news that Rogers will take on additional colors of the Lumia 920. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of January 14th, 2013.
Rugged Samsung Galaxy XCover 2 leaks
Samsung's rugged successor to the original Galaxy XCover has emerged with a 4-inch WVGA (800 x 480) display, a 5 megapixel rear camera and Jelly Bean. The phone will also sport 4GB of internal storage, a microSD slot and a 1,700mAh battery. Specifications of its CPU are currently unknown, but we may learn more about the Galaxy XCover 2 during Mobile World Congress. [SamMobile]
Kyocera Torque tipped for Sprint debut
The crew at Unwired View have provided our first look at the Kyocera Torque, which is a rugged Android smartphone that's said to be in the pipeline for Sprint. Unfortunately, other relevant specs remain absent from the scene. [Unwired View]
Samsung Galaxy Pocket Plus emerges for Latin America
According to SamMobile, Samsung has a pint-sized smartphone known as the Galaxy Pocket Plus that's headed to Latin America. The device contains a 2.8-inch QVGA (320 x 240) display, an 850MHz CPU from Broadcom, a 2 megapixel camera and Ice Cream Sandwich. The phone will also include 4GB of built-in storage and a 1,200mAh battery. [SamMobile]
Other random tidbits
Sprint has begun work to deploy its LTE network to 28 additional cities in the coming months. None are significant population centers. [Sprint]
Rogers has announced that it'll bring the Lumia 920 in red, white and yellow to its lineup in the coming weeks. [Rogers]
Verizon has extended its LTE network to Coos Bay and Pendleton, Ore. and Yakima, Wash. [Droid Life]
We already know from our own experience that the Tesla Model S is a driver's car, with acceleration and handling you wouldn't expect from a big and quiet luxury sedan. There's still nothing like a drag race to help settle the matter. Automobile has pitted the upscale EV against one of its more conspicuous rivals, BMW's M5, with performance results that might surprise those who would expect a 500HP, twin-turbo V8 to regularly come out on top. While we won't spoil the full results of the showdown video after the break, let's just say that even the M5's relatively wide torque band can only do so much when the Model S' electric motor is always at its peak. BMW's car may be better overall for those who want to travel long distances outside of certain routes, or to enjoy a burly exhaust note -- but there has to be a certain thrill for Tesla drivers who know they can hang with the speed kings while helping the environment.
Almost without fail, BitTorrent downloads have had to spread through a dedicated client, whether it's on the desktop or a router. Thankfully, BitTorrent Torque has just come in alpha form to liberate the peer download service from its software chains. All that's needed now is a web browser that can parse a JavaScript app. Going the new route gives some freedom to enable sharing that hasn't always been practical: among the tricks in the company's Torque Labs are drag-and-drop sharing, conversion of torrents into traditional downloads and easing the burden on a server for video streaming. The alpha stage leaves Torque with awhile to go before it's ready for the limelight, but experimenters can hit the source link to start tinkering with distributed file sharing today.
