Kyocera DuraForce is joining AT&T’s portfolio, the carrier has announced. The rugged device comes with an endorsement from Bear Grylls, who will reportedly be using it in his adventures. Or not, this could be nothing more than a marketing gimmick.
In any case, we’re talking about a rugged, mid-range smartphone here, one that meets Military Standard 810G specifications, and also happens to be IP68-certified for dust and water resistance.
The DuraForce is very similar to Verizon’s Kyocera Brigadier but it doesn’t have the scratch-proof sapphire display; or at least AT&T hasn’t mentioned anything like that in its announcement. Specs wise, it comes with Qualcomm’s quad-core Snapdragon 400 chip clocked at 1.4GHz, 4.5-inch 720p HD screen, 16GB of expandable storage, and a 3,100 mAh battery. The device is also compatible with AT&T’s Enhanced Push-to-Talk (EPTT) service that should make it great for certain industries.
The Kyocera DuraForce will start selling online on November 7 alongside few other devices such as the HTC Desire EYE, HTC One (M8) for Windows, Nokia Lumia 830 and the Motorola Moto 360; it will hit the stores a week later (on November 14th). AT&T will ask $49.99 for the device on contract, $389.99 sans any strings attached, or $0 down with an AT&T Next plan ($19.95 per month on Next 12, or $16.63 per month on Next 18).