KYOCERA DuraForce Pro: Rugged, action-cam smartphone
The first SLR camera I owned was a Yashica F-series purchased in 1992 for my photography classes back in my art college days and I always remembered the tiny Kyocera logo on the Yashica. How that sticker got on the camera was when Kyocera purchased Yashica in 1983. Another technological benefit was acquiring Yashica's prior licensing agreement with Carl Zeiss.. But in 2005, the company discontinued all film and digital camera production. Kyocera entered the mobile phone market in 2000 when they acquired the mobile phone manufacturing operations of QUALCOMM Incorporated to form Kyocera Wireless Corp. Then in 2008, Kyocera acquired Sanyo Mobile, the mobile phone division of Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., and its associated operations in Japan, the United States and Canada culminating in the launch of their first smartphone the Zio in 2010.
So, this revered ex-camera manufacturer is no newcomer to optical tech and smartphone development, the DuraForce Pro is their first serious contender in the rugged smartphone world and comes with the latest associated tech trends for smartphones like dual-camera lenses. Previously they had produced the almost-gimmicky DIGNO, what they called the world's first hand-soap washable smartphone. In May of this year, they launched the DuraForce XD with a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon and no dual-cam tech. The recently announced DuraForce Pro however will run on the Android 6 Marshmallow operating system, features a 5-inch full HD touch-screen display (1920 x 1080 resolution), a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8952 octa-core processor, 2GB of memory, 32GB of built-in storage and a microSDXC slot that accepts additional storage cards up to 200GB. Also included is a 3,240mAh non-removable battery, wireless and quick charging ability, a fingerprint sensor and WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, Near-field Communications and mobile hotspot connectivity. The phone uses FIPS 140-02 encryption for security. Product video:
The ruggedised handset is shockproof, drop-proof and dustproof, meeting IP68 standards for waterproofness for up to 30 minutes in up to 6.5 feet of water, and also meets Military Standard 810G certification for protection against dust, shock, vibration, temperature extremes, blowing rain, low pressure, solar radiation, salt fog, humidity, immersion, temperature shock and icing/freezing rain. The handset also features a side-mounted Push-To-Talk (PTT) button that can alternatively be used as a programmable button for a desired function. The coolest part of the DuraForce Pro, is three built-in cameras—a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, as well as a rear-mounted wide-angle 135-degree HD camera with fixed focus. Looks like this could be a rival to the octa-core Blackview rugged smartphone but only if Blackview delivers on their 18-megapixel camera promise.
