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!

"Oh ... it still works...."

CNN's Adrian Finighan talks with me (Sonim CEO Bob Plaschke) about our super-rugged phones. I challenged Finighan to try and break the XP handset by smacking it with a hammer, flinging it into the air, and dumping it into a fountain.

Torture-Testing Sonim's XP1

Ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure we proudly present the newest (and even more excellent)adventures of the world's toughest phone, the rugged Sonim XP1.

In this spine-tingling installment the XP1 has a close encounter with a bulldog, experiences the brief but glorious life of sausages, enters the deep freeze, briefly flies through the air before the inevitable hard crash landing, is run over by construction equipment and is then run through a car wash, and enjoys a steamy shower with a lovely lady -- and much more.

Will the XP1 survive? View the video and find out.

XP1 -- The Live Torture Test

The Mobile Gazette, Cnet and Gizmodo all have stories about our latest XP1 torture test happening now over at Test and Destroy.com

Gizmodo says:

The folks at Sonim have done just about everything in their power to convince potential customers that their XP1 is the world's toughest phone. That includes running over it with cars and dunking it in beer baths. Their latest stunt involves hitting in with a hammer 24/7 until it breaks—and you can watch the entire thing go down online.

You can even send it text messages to test whether or not it is working. Visitors can also wager a guess on how many blows it will take before the phone breaks—with the closest guess earning a freebie XP1. Currently, the counter stands at over 33,500 hits—but my guess is that it will take quite a while before it finally gives in. I mean, it's not like that hammer is really wailing on it. Keep in mind that the XP1 is only available in Europe, but interested parties in the states should be able to get their hands on the updated XP3 version in rural areas starting this March.

CNET says:

The Sonim XP1 has been lauded as a "tough and strong" phone. CreativeFeed, a digital marketing agency, has decided to put it to the test.

It's launched a Web site that features "The Destroyer"--a machine-operated hammer that will pummel the phone 24 hours a day live over the Intertubes until it breaks.

Visitors to the Web site have a chance to win the Sonim XP1 handset if they can correctly guess how long it will take for the phone to break/crack/explode, and how many hits it will take before that happens. The site includes a hint line that you can call to get tips on how high you should place your bets.

The Mobile Gazette says:

Sonim are proud of just how tough the XP1 is and sometimes come up with demonstrations to prove it.

This latest test has involves a machine called "The Destroyer", basically a large hammer which repeatedly hits the XP1 to see how long it will take to destroy. Visitors can see the "experiment" live, and can win one of the handsets by guessing how long it will last and how spectacularly it will fail. As we go to press, the XP1 has been hit 33,000 times.

Once the XP1 has met its maker, Sonim are open to suggestions as to what to destroy next. Quite a few people have suggested the iPhone.. we suspect that it will take rather less than 33,000 hits to smash that.

It's a bit of silliness we suppose, but it is worth noting that Sonim also have an upcoming XP3 which promises to be even more impressively macho than the XP1. Presumably they'll need to lob an atom bomb at it or something.

Test And Destroy!

U.K. newspaper The Guardian published an article today on Test and Destroy, a new torture test devised to gauge the level of abuse our rugged XP1 phone is capable of withstanding.

Snipped from the article:

Manufacturing firm JCB is aiming to prove the toughness of its mobile phone with an online campaign that allows skeptics to pummel it with a machine-operated hammer at the click of a mouse.

The campaign, developed by agency CreativeFeed, aims to prove the aptly named JCB Toughphone is practically indestructible.

CreativeFeed has set up a website - testanddestroy.com - that features the phone hooked up to a device designed to smash it to pieces.

Doubters can watch the device, a machine-operated hammer called The Destroyer, pound the phone every eight seconds.

Visitors are encouraged to make bets on how long the phone, which will be battered 10,000 times a day, will take to break. To prove the test is live visitors can also call the phone and see it ringing.

JCB licenses the rights to name the phone, which is known as the Sonim XP1, in the UK market.

Once the phone is broken, visitors can watch other objects being demolished by The Destroyer, which took four weeks to make, and suggest other objects that could be put to the test.

So head on over to Test and Destroy, make a guess about how the XP1 will respond to the incessent hammering, suggest other things we can break, and call in to activate some additional options.

Sonim XP1 Meets The Destroyer

What does it take to wreck the world’s toughest phone -- Sonim’s rugged XP1? Bloggers around the world, the media and the Sonim team has torture-tested the XP1, and the phone has survived being stepped on by an elephant, used as a hockey puck, hammer and a football, being strapped to a rocket, tossed into a working cement mixer, flung off roofs and down stairs, dragged behind a boat, dropped into a fish tank, frozen, baked, driven over by multi-ton trucks, and dumped it into tubs of beer and soda … and much more.

But what will happen when the XP1 meets The Destroyer -- an infernal machine created specifically to pound on the XP1, round the clock? We don’t know. But you can watch the Destroyer at work on testanddestroy.com and submit your guess as to the outcome of the XP1’s toughest-yet torture test. Will the XP1 explode/fall apart/burst/quietly crack into pieces or vanish mysteriously in a puff of smoke? Maybe, just maybe, it’ll never break -- for all we know the XP1 might destroy The Destroyer.

Guess correctly and you 're in the running to win a free Sonim XP1 rugged cell phone, engineered to meet the needs of people who work and play in extreme environments.

XP1 Olympics

If there is ever an Olympics for rugged mobile phones, this is what it will probably look like: fling the phone from high places onto hard surfaces, crush it under heavy vehicules, use it as sports equipment in games that involve a lot of fancy footwork, and pummel it with fast-moving bits of metal. This is part 2 of the torture tests that the XP1 was subjected to by the Danish magazine "Mobil."

XP1 Toss Torture Test

Admittedly, this is one of the least complex of the many torture tests the XP1 has been subjected to (other tests included being stepped on by an elephant, used as a hockey puck, hammer and a football, being strapped to a rocket, tossed into a working cement mixer, dragged behind a boat. frozen, baked, used as a dog toy, driven over by multi-ton trucks, and dumped it into tubs of beer and soda.)

In this one, the XP1 is simply tossed out a window. But there's something about this video that we really like. Maybe it's the way the tester says "bye bye" as he tosses the phone out the window, maybe its the way the other tester then saunters in from offscreen and cheerfully steps/slips on the phone before he picks it up to see if it's still working.

Buy Your Dog a Bone

Sonim Technologies' XP1 has had many excellent adventures since we challenged the media to try and break the phone. The World's Toughest Phone has survived dozens of creative torture tests including being stepped on by an elephant, used as a hockey puck, hammer and a football, being strapped to a rocket, tossed into a working cement mixer, dragged behind a boat. frozen, baked, thrown off roofs, driven over by multi-ton trucks, and dumped it into tubs of beer and soda.

But the folks at Digital Living have figured out how to break an XP1 -- let a determined dog use it as a chew toy. In the interest of fairness we're posting the video here with all of the XP1's triumphs. We really don't suggest you try this at home -- we've been assured no dogs were harmed in the making of the Digital Living video but rubber squeaky toys and bones and the random shoe are way better toys for your pet. That said, if Rover should manage to get his teeth on your XP1, remember Sonim's 3-year no questions asked guarantee.

PCWelt: Torture Testing the World's Toughest Phone

Technology news and reviews portal PCWelt made a very funny video about the trials and tribulations they inflicted on the World's Toughest Phone. And we have to say that we've rarely seen a journalist who was having such an obviously great time reviewing a product.

From the intro to the video:

Sonim Technologies claims it has built the "World's Toughest Phone" and to prove it the company urges journalists to "Destroy this mobile phone", and they didn't have to ask us twice. We put the XP1 into the the most adverse situations: Once we forget it in the deep freezer, then we dropped it -- quite by chance -- in boiling water. Then a horde of children in the sandbox somehow got their hands on the XP1. The test course even included a a whirl in the washing machine. Whether the Sonim XP1 met with a happy end, you will learn in the video.