Sonim XP1 Blog

"Rugged, indestructible, eternal ..."

European TV science news show Galileo decided to put the world's toughest consumer goods to the test -- or as they put it "explore the myth of the rugged, the indestructible, the eternal."

The products they selected to test were:

• PET bottle
• Zippo lighter
• Swiss Army knife
• Oakley sunglasses
• and -- you knew this was coming, right? -- a Sonim XP1

After a series of tests, the judges ruled that nothing is tougher than an Sonim phone!

You can view the archived show here, but only if you live in one of the countries were the video stream is available (chances are if Galileo is available on your TV, the archived show will be viewable.) If you're one of the lucky folks who can watch the stream, click on the "Galileo vom Donnerstag, 26. Februar" link (the hamburger picture.) The "Most Unbreakable" test appears in the second segment of the program.

Thanks to Sonim owner RW in Germany for letting us know about this show!

The Quest For Ultimate Toughness

One of our retail partners, Crazy John’s in Australia, is circulating this great press release on Sonim’s new XP3 Enduro. (And yes, we've featured the Crazy John's video, above, on this blog before but it's too good to leave it languishing in the post archives.)

Crazy John's quest for ultimate toughness continues with the new Sonim XP3 Enduro Crazy John's, Australia's mobile phone experts, has scaled mountains, explored the ocean deep, battled ogres and destroyed a few rings to bring you the Sonim XP3 Enduro, the world's only rugged mobile phone that can be fully submerged in water.

The Sonim XP3 Enduro is the first phone specifically designed to endure the extremes of your lifestyle so that from ski slopes to beaches, construction sites to quarries, wherever you are, you can be sure that you have a phone that will stay tough where others would surely fail.

"The Sonim XP3 Enduro has improved on all the tough features of its predecessor, the Sonim XP1, with the added benefit that it can be completely submerged in water. This means the phone can withstand conditions that would defeat standard phones, even the most ruggedized handsets," explains Head of Marketing for Crazy John's, Matt Scriven. "So whether you are working outdoors or getting stuck into extreme sports, you won't be afraid to answer a call, even if it means exposing the phone to the elements."

When it comes to water, the Sonim XP3 wipes the floor with the competition. Unlike standard rugged phones, this beast is not just water-resistant; it is waterproof which means it is still fighting strong after being fully submerged in one metre of water for 30 minutes. Beaches and construction sites are usually out of bounds for the average phone but with body armour of injection moulded rubber and fully covered ports, the Sonim XP3 Enduro blocks dirt and sand particles from entering, earning it a IP-57 protection rating.

Sonim+Land Rover

Hot off the press:

Sonim Technologies announced today that it will embark on a partnership with Land Rover, which includes the launch of co-branded mobile phone products as well as an eco-friendly packaging.

Land Rover, recognizing adventurers’ desire for a full roster of mobile and durable products, engaged Sonim to become its licensing partner for a line of rugged cell phones that are designed to compliment the lifestyle of the outdoor adventurer.

Two co-branded phones will enter the market by mid-2009 - the Land Rover S1 by Sonim and Land Rover S2 G4 by Sonim. This will be followed later in the year by the launch of a third Land Rover phone. Sonim and Land Rover will co-market the phones to top operators, mobile retailers and consumers in a staggering 40 countries.

“In less than two years, Sonim has set the bar for engineering best-in-class rugged mobile phones for people who work and play in extreme environments,” said Bob Plaschke, Sonim’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are delighted to be partnering with Land Rover on this range of rugged mobile phones."

It's Official -- XP1/JCB Toughphone is the World's Toughest Phone

As reported by London's Metro Newspaper, the Sonim's XP1/JCB Toughphone now holds the Guinness World Record as the world's toughest phone.

The story in Metro noted:

The phone was dropped from the bucket of a JCB Digger from various heights until hitting its maximum of 3.25 metres.

Judges would only accept superficial damage to the handset and stipulated that it had to be completely operational and have no cracks on the screen.

Entrepreneur Peter Jones has previously helped test the phone's resistance to other potential sources of damage, including being run over by vehicles, put in a cement mixer and drenched by an industrial hose.

Bob Plaschke, Chief Executive of Toughphone maker Sonim Technologies, said: "From the very start we set out to make rugged phones for people who work and play in rugged environments.

"We're thrilled that Guinness World Records has recognised the JCB Toughphone as officially the toughest phone in the world."

The handset comes with a guarantee against dust, dirt and shock and as well as being fully water-resistant.

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.

Telefon.de Interview

I'd like to say a big thanks to Klaus, who did a terrific interview with me for telefon.de. (And check out telefon.de's version of our infamous XP1 torture tests too.)

Snipped from Klaus' piece:

telefone.de: We do have an outstanding demand for the Sonim XP1 in our online shop telefon.de. Was the “toughest GSM mobile phone” a brainchild of market research or rather a product of simple inspiration?

Bob Plaschke: Great to hear about your experience with our phones. It is partners like you that we seek to bring into the Sonim family and to help our product become even more successful.

(The XP1) evolved from a deep need we were exposed to while providing other communication solutions to workers in industrial, security and manufacturing environments. As we started to outline the opportunity we did research which indicated 70% of outdoor workers refrain from using their phones in the workplace because the phone might break, and 40% have broken their mobile phone in the last year, and common reasons are damage from humidity, dropping and crushing the phone.

And, from there we began development to build the best in class rugged phone.

telefon.de: What kind of technical inovations can we expect within five years time by Sonim?

Bob Plaschke: We are always researching new techniques that will make the phone even more rugged, as an example we are looking at a new material that absorbs the impact of a drop. We are also looking at software functionality such as GPS and other useful ‘field’ applications. Our phone design is also quickly evolving and the new phones we launch next year will certainly have a signature Sonim design to them. Our new phones are being designed by a top designer, Scott Wilson, who has a clear and unique vision with regard to consumer design. He is really applying a unique philosophy to our phone design that everyone will find very exciting when we launch next year.

Toughest Phone In The News

Snipped from a review in The Warsaw Business Journal:

Take Sonim Technologies' Xtreme Performance I (XP1), for example. If this apparently sturdy little gadget were a person, it would probably be a cross between John Wayne and Johnny Knoxville - an emotionally distant, chaps-wearing adrenaline junkie. Of course it's not - it's just a phone - but it still seems like the kind of phone that would wear chaps.

Sonim hosts a number of inspirational videos on its XP1 website, www.toughestphone.com, which demonstrate ways to test the phone's alleged mightiness. In these videos the XP1 survives being run over with cars, showering and sauna'ing with a dodgy-looking guy, as well as being put in a freezer and submerged in milk and beer (not at the same time, though). It can also be used as an impromptu soccer ball or junior-league hockey puck, struck with a baseball bat or a golf club, used to hammer a nail though a board or put through a cement mixer - it endures all of these things with the good cheer of a well-medicated New York socialite.

The XP1 is not totally indestructible, however. As some gumptious Scandinavians went to great lengths to prove, shooting the XP1 with an airgun, a Rugar 10/22 semi-automatic rifle, a 9mm Glock 17 and, finally, a Remington 700 rifle, is guaranteed to end in telecom tragedy.

In more techy terms, the XP1 is an IP-54 certified GSM phone with Bluetooth. Its battery allows for five-hours of talking time in temperatures ranging from -20C to +60C. Feel free to test that for yourself, by the way, and if you survive please send some pictures our way.

And from IntoMobile:

Just a quick post on a handset that isn't especially new (i.e. it's been visible on the interweb for a little while), but has suddenly popped on to the radar of a number of UK phone-vending websites!

This beast amongst phones is the JCB Toughphone, which is actually the Sonim XP1 ruggedised phone under another guise. The 'kewl' part is that JCB is part of many peoples' memories from when they were smaller - if you lived near any building sites like I did, you will be VERY familiar with the logo, and banana-yellow colouring!

On a marginally more serious note, the specs of the handset are impressive ... operating from -20°C to 60°C, and obviously being able to withstand serious 'drop/throw/kick/stamp/bang' abuse

Live From Barcelona

We had a great time showing off the XP1 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and got some nice press from the event. Thanks to everyone who wrote about the invincible XP1!

Mobile Burn wrote: The Sonim XP1 is a completely indestructible handset being shown off at the 2008 Mobile World Congress, where attendees are invited to attempt to destroy the device. Available now in yellow, black, or grey, the XP1 is low on features, but the rugged construction makes up for it. (The XP1 really isn't low on features, though, we just incorporated only the features that our target user groups want.)

In an article titled "Sonim Shows Off World's Toughest Mobile -- Spaniards Have Fun Trying to Break It"
VNUnet wrote: A bus has been touring round Barcelona during this year's Mobile World Congress trying to get locals to break a mobile phone. Sonim Technologies claims that its XP1 is the world's most robust handset and meets the military IP-54 specification for toughness, water-proofing and dust-proofing. The phones have been hit, stamped on and driven over, but still work..."

And TechShout kindly quoted me in their piece: “If you’ve been watching the videos on YouTube, you’ll have seen the Sonim shot with a Glock 9mm by Mobil magazine and a Remington rifle by Metro, the largest paper in Sweden. You’ll have seen the Sonim kicked around, pushed around, put in the oven, put in the freezer and still surviving. I’d like to invite you all to have a go and see if you can finally break it,” said Bob Plaschke, CEO of Sonim.

Sonim XP1 Svenska Dagbladet Review

A colleague in Sweden just emailed me the following, which definitely made my Monday morning much brighter.

Just picked up the morning papers and found an almost full page very positive review on the XP1 with a nice color photo in Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden's second largest nationwide morning paper.

Here’s a quick translation of the gist of the article:

Headline "Unusually Rugged".

"The test kit (that accompanies the XP1) recommends throwing the phone from fourth floor, using it in the shower or running it over with a fork lift. That's rather unusual marketing, which gets even more interesting as Sonim backs up its claims with a three year unconditional guarantee, no questions asked."

Thank you for the excellent review, Adam Erlandsson from Svenska Dagbladet. We’re glad that you really liked our phone and are very pleased that you found that the XP1 lives up to all of our marketing claims.

AT&T, SIM Cards and The XP1

Back in November, Verizon announced it was opening up its network to all compatible devices, news that was widely reported and applauded by the media and many bloggers. At the time AT&T also piped up and that its network was already the most wide open network in the US, but hardly anyone paid attention.

While it’s been true for a long time that anyone can use any unlocked wireless phone on AT&T’s network, you had to have an AT&T SIM card in your phone to make this work. And virtually any phone that had an AT&T SIM card was a phone that someone purchased from AT&T, with a service contract.

But now AT&T is actually offering 3G SIM cards a la carte, so anyone that has a 3G unlocked phone can buy the card, pop it into their 3G phone, and use it on AT&T’s network.

The AT&T 3G SIM card is priced at $10 on AT&T's website (currently there is a $5 discount if you purchase online). The cards are 3G-ready, with 64 K of onboard memory. You can pay as you go or choose a monthly fee plan.

So, for all of the folks who have been emailing and calling and asking about getting our XP1 phone for use in the US – it may happen sooner than we expected. Stay tuned, and sign up for our mailing list to ensure you get updates as they happen.