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back to article Kyocera: Torque among yourselves on our unbreakable ruggedmobe

Japanese mobile phone manufacturer Kyocera is looking to re-enter the European mobile phone market with an exceptionally rugged phone called Torque. It won’t be the first time there have been Kyocera phones on sale in the UK: the company sold GSM devices here 15 years ago with the TG200 and there were dual-mode Iridium/GSM …

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  1. auburnman

    Any word on whether it's expected to be bloatware free? To commit to the rugged route it would be nice if it was stock Android - no bottleneck on software updates and no processes that you never use constantly nickel and diming the processor/battery in the background.

    3 0 Reply
    1. Rabbit80
      Reply Icon

      Not going to be stock Android with all the extra icons for gloves etc.. did you read the article?

      1 1 Reply
      1. Jim 48
        Reply Icon
        Mushroom

        "Not going to be stock Android with all the extra icons for gloves etc.. did you read the article?"

        Yeah, if only there was a way to install additional functionality on to these mobile computing devices without updating the whole ROM. I imagine they'd be called applications or even 'apps'.

        5 0 Reply
      2. auburnman
        Reply Icon

        I read "Icons are designed to be used with gloves" from which I took 'The pictures will be nice and big'. If I'm missing something there please enlighten me.

        2 0 Reply
    2. Cliff
      Reply Icon

      Bloatware

      Well, it claims to have two PTT apps preinstalled, so I guess that's the question answered. It's like a crude digital walkie-talkie system which could actually be useful in some times and places, and has a dedicated button on the device. Of course, real walkies are much more synchronous and massively better, but may work for some circumstances.

      0 0 Reply
    3. Bleu
      Reply Icon

      That will depend

      on the network provider, not Kyocera.

      My Kyocera is free of bloatware, except for the facebook and twit programs, and the obligatory ones from Google, haven't installed any.

      There is one pre-installed called 'Daily step', I think it is made by Kyocera, but I like it. Since I never switch location on, it often records time on my bicycle or in bed as time on a train, but gets it right on time walking or running.

      For the OP who says their great ceramic knives are over-priced, you can buy a set with a cutting-board and grater for the equivalent of about five pounds here. Maybe it is an import tax thing.

      Their stand at CEATEC generally has some interesting things.

      I am a bit of a fan, I still use my old phone from them for low-res. video, photos, and as an alarm clock, but getting the broken USB port fixed may be too costly.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Bleu
        Reply Icon

        Re: That will depend

        Correcting myself, Kyocera knife alone can be about the equivalent of five pounds, set I mention is equivalent to ten to twelve pounds.

        0 0 Reply
  2. DropBear
    Thumb Up

    The single thing I explicitly care about past a phone not being overly low-end - the battery life - seems rather decent, and I always had a soft spot for rugged phones, even if I'm well aware I'm deluding myself about ever being in an environment that would actually justify owning one. The thickness is fine, at least I don't have to worry about cutting my hand as with one of these increasingly razor-thin modern mobes. A pity it's probably going to be ruined for me by the price...

    9 0 Reply
  3. Philanthropic Philanderer

    To Need or Not to Need

    Not that I need one, but it looks fairly promising.

    On the flipside, given what the corners of my mobile phone looks like (after a year's careful use), maybe I do..

    3 0 Reply
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Finally..

    .. some hardware that may be compatible with my teenage son ..

    (I've been looking at the Cat phone and some other rugged ones as well, though)

    2 0 Reply
  5. Fuzz

    Kyocera

    Didn't realise they also made phones, I though they were just photocopiers, solar panels and kitchen knives

    1 0 Reply
    1. Haku
      Reply Icon

      Re: Kyocera

      Indeed, I have a small Kyocera solar panel that's over 30 years old which is still sucking up rays with only minimal drop in output power, its condition and build quality make it look like it was only manufactured last year.

      1 0 Reply
    2. Down not across
      Reply Icon

      Re: Kyocera

      And printers. Rather good ones.

      In fact, I can't think of anything made by Kyocera (that I've come across) that wouldn't have been very very good.

      I quite like the look of this and the specs are certainly good enough. I like the idea of overcoming hearing the phone call in noisy environments. I wouldn't say 8MP camera is sub-par unless it has particularly bad sensor or optics. Given that Kyocera has had its hand in imaging products I would be rather disappointed if it didn't do fairly adequate job.

      Its not all about the number of pixels.

      The only negative really is the non-removable battery, somewhat offset by QI charging tho as it would be easier to keep it topped up as there is no need to plug it in.

      1 0 Reply
      1. Alan Brown Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Kyocera

        "And printers. Rather good ones."

        Except when they're not.

        Having dropped £13k+ on a top end one you'd expect it not to have the colours fade out on a daily basis.

        (30+ engineer visits and counting, plus a replacement unit. There's a clear design fault they won't acknowledge)

        0 0 Reply
    3. Tannin
      Reply Icon

      Re: Kyocera

      "Kyocera: Didn't realise they also made phones, I though they were just photocopiers, solar panels and kitchen knives"

      I thought they made MFM hard disc drives. In fact I still have a couple of them.

      Guess my age.

      1 0 Reply
  6. tempemeaty

    I love Kyocera products

    Kyocera has had it's hand in cameras, copiers, Video cameras and more. In the past(years ago) I found what they make to be exceptional. I hope that has continued. Ummm can you tell I once sold their products? LOL.

    <.<

    >.>

    3 0 Reply
  7. Cuddles

    S5 Active

    Is not in any way "rugged". Copying the Sony Xperias and earlier Motorola efforts by slapping a bit of waterproofing on is certainly handy for ordinary consumers, but it is not even vaguely in competition with a phone that can survive being repeatedly dropped on the floor in the middle of a construction site.

    It's just a shame that adding that survivability to a phone adds so much to the price. £50 more than a Galaxy S5 for a two year old processor equivalent to the Galaxy S4 (Snapdragon 400 in the S4 (soem of them at least), the Cat S50 linked in the article and this Kyocera). Obviously that's worth it if you work in an environment that will destroy normal phones, but for an ordinary consumer that's quite a price to pay for a fairly dated bit of kit.

    0 0 Reply
  8. CaptainBanjax

    Kyocera

    Make excellent ceramic knives...but they are way too expensive.

    I expect this phone to be the same.

    Id like to know what would happen if you attacked this phone with thebaforementioned knife. If it blunts the knife...its clearly very tough.

    If it is both tough and reasonably priced I can overlook quite a few shortcomings. Since it exists to be tough not trendy.

    I still have a Samsung B2100 around somewhere, it wont die. I took it to Thailand so I could keep it away from thieves while I was swimming in the sea. It survived brilliantly. Its also been to Cape Town and fell quite some distance down various mountain walks.

    In my opinion though the best test for toughness is taking a device to the top of table mountain on a hot clear day and see if it still works.

    Ive been up there with various devices and experienced lots of weirdness.

    My old Sony Tablet (the first gen wedge one, S1 I think) would crash and reboot. Samsung Galaxy Nexus would lock up and various models of iPhone would glitch out. No idea what causes it. Its like gadget hell up there.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Simon Rockman
      Reply Icon

      Re: Kyocera

      Kyocera is short for Kyoto Ceramics, their history is ceramic knives. Very good ones too. I once went to Kyoto and tried very hard to find a knife shop. I ended up in a department store.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Kyocera

        nice.

        0 1 Reply
      2. Dapprman
        Reply Icon

        Re: Kyocera

        You needed to go to the old arcade - one of the two famous knife shops is in there - no ceramaic knives though. (and I decided I couldn't justify the cost of what I drooled over).

        0 0 Reply
  9. JulCasa

    Do you remeber when the rugged ones were a rarity? Hahaha… now I have seen waaay cheaper-and now better- AGM chinese models online :) .. but this was a good machine, tho

    0 0 Reply

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