Sonim XP1 Blog

Gizmodo takes on XP1

Yet again, the Sonim XP1 has found challengers in the blogosphere.  This time, we were featured in the ultra popular tech blog Gizmodo in Australia:

"...rather than bore you with specifications and tiresome statistics on just how tough it is, Sonim has (foolishly?) agreed to let us show you by letting us destroy it."

I have to hand it here to Gizmodo because rather than come up with their own torture test, they are asking readers to comment on ways they want to see the XP1 destroyed.  From there, they will decide what to do with the XP1 and update the post with video footage.  The only guidance provided was a forewarning that Gizmodo did not have a LHC on site.  Some contributors were especially creative:

"...why not put it through a complete washing machine cycle (while on), and call it during the spin cycle?"

or my personal favorite:

"...covering it up in blood and feeding it to a pit bull."

However grotesque, comical, or outlandish Gizmodo's torture test turns out to be, I am excited to see the footage online next week.

Click here to see entire Gizmodo Post.

Also, I invite all of you to leave comments on how to destroy our XP1. 

Linux and the XP1

I noticed a post on Houtkabouter’s Blog about some issues he had synching contacts with Sonim's XP1 rugged phone and his computer, which is running Linux. We are developing a solution to address this, which will accompany the next generation of XP rugged phones, but in the meantime I wanted to share the workaround developed by the open source community figured out, Wammu, a mobile phone manager running on Linux and other platforms allows Linux users to synch and perform other actions on their XP1 phones.

We'd also like to thank Houtkabouter for his great review of the XP1. He wrote, in part:

About 2 weeks ago I got a demo Sonim XP1  phone to test and play with. As a phone, (as in make calls and SMS) it rocks. It does not claim to be a calendar, coffeemaker or Gameboy. It is a rugged phone and just that.

Delete Before You Donate

So you've purchased a new XP1 and are considering doing a good thing and donating your old mobile phone to charity or sending it off to be recycled. Great idea, just please make sure you remove all your personal data before you hand the phone over to anyone.

The Consumerist recently ran a story about a woman who failed to delete data from her phone before donating it, and later discovered her phone had been sold on eBay -- complete with all her contacts info -- rather than being wiped and donated to charity as she'd expected. The whole incident seems like a comedy of errors on everyone's part, but if you check the comments on the Consumerist post it's obvious this isn't a fluke experience. So before you sell, trade, give away or otherwise dispense with your old phone, check ReCellular's guide to wiping out its stored data.

(It's also obvious that phones don't last nearly as long as they should -- there are several comments from people who claim to have a drawer full of phones that have outlived their usefulness after a year and a half of use. Happily the rugged XP1will provide you with years of faithful service, we guarantee it!)

XP1 Wins Tough Award

On a recent trip to the IFA trade show in Germany, Christophe and Anne from our marketing team came across this little gem in the hotel lobby.

SFT, a German magazine for video technology and gaming , gave Sonim's XP1 phone their Tough Award.  Tested against a slew of other well known tough products, the Sonim XP1 managed to come out on top.  Among other fine products, our competition included the Panasonic Toughbook, Sandisk's Ultra Cruzer Titanium jump drive, and the Plantronic's Explorer headset (which we are currently bundling with our XP1!)  With such premium competition, this award is really an honor. Click here to see video of SFT's fun and quirky testers.

Built For Action, Built For Life

The Gadget Guy is Peter Blasina, Australia's leading technology 'demystifyer' for consumers and also is the name of Peter’s excellent and super-comprehensive tech review site. Gadget Guy is running this story about Sonim’s XP1 rugged phone.

Built for action, the Sonim XP1 is designed to withstand shock, water, wind, dust, dirt and extreme temperatures and is the only certified phone engineered specifically to meet the needs of mobile phone users who work and play in demanding conditions.

 

Crazy John's has brought the Sonim XP1 to Australia to fill a gap in the market, by delivering a rugged phone to meet Australia's outdoor culture. The GSM phone features IP-54 certification, military-spec approval, bluetooth and is Push-To-Talk enabled.

 

“If you're standing on a construction site with a welding tool in your hand, or hiking in the great outdoors, you really don't need a fashion accessory or multimedia device," explains Head of Marketing for Crazy John's, Matt Scriven. “You need a dependable working tool like the new XP1 which has been built for extreme conditions."

 

What Makes Rugged Electronics So Tough?

TechNewsWorld has an interesting article that details how manufacturers engineer fully rugged devices -- and how to tell if a device is fully rugged.

The paragraphs below are snipped from the complete article, but do read the entire piece, there's lots of useful information for buyers of any type of rugged device.

Mobile devices like laptops and phones are small enough to venture outside the home or office and into the bad, wicked world of dust, heat, cold, water and concrete. In some situations, it's just not possible to keep them completely sheltered. Makers of fully rugged devices have plenty of tricks to keep them ticking after treatment that would send normal consumer electronics to an early grave.

Portable electronics like smartphones and laptops aren't generally known for their ability to withstand drops, splashes and harsh conditions. Yet the portable nature of these devices means they're often in the line of fire -- swimming pools and toilets for cell phones, dusty places like construction sites for laptops, or even dairy farms with kicking cow hooves, milk and, well, greenish-brown pies.

Some companies specialize in "ruggedizing" electronics to make them ready for harsh elements and the occasional accident, and some specialize in making their products ready for military or government use. So what goes into making a ruggedized electronic device tougher and more robust than its more fragile counterpart?

No, It Is Not a Sonim Phone

There's a new phone that has an uncanny resemblance to Sonim's XP1. In fact, it looks so much like the XP1 that tech reviewers and bloggers assumed it just had to be a Sonim phone. But the LM 801 is NOT a Sonim phone nor do we have any relationship to Condurro, makers of this phone.

Sonim is the originator and maker of the original, super-rugged XP1, which you can see on our website. (And stay tuned for the imminent release of our new models, which offer the extreme rugged engineering and high quality construction that Sonim has become known for, advanced capabilities to weather anything Mother Nature and hard use can throw at it, and some interesting new features.)

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I suppose, but as PhonesReview pointed out "Sonim has been the name for rugged tough mobile phones, so one wonders if this Condurro LM801 can actually live up to its tough appearance."