Sonim, a phone maker you might not be too familiar with, is an expert in making devices that are damn near apocalypse proof. They can withstand pretty much anything you throw at them, which is why they’re popular with soldiers, security personeel, and construction workers. Those folks need devices that take a beating and last forever on a single charge. Sonim’s latest device, the XP1301, continues the Sonim tradition, but brings near field communication to the table. For 355 Euros (roughly $485) you’ll get a device that can be used in temperatures as low as -20 centigrade and as high as +55 centigrade, a device that can be submerged in 2 meters of water for up to 60 minutes, and a device that can be dropped from 2 meters on concrete and not blink an eye. As for battery life, if you keep NFC on constantly, that is you supply power to the chip at all times, you can read 20 NFC tags per hour and send data to a server for 5 days straight before needing to charge this badboy up. Turn NFC off and you get up to 24 hours of talk time and 800 hours (33+ days) of standby time.
We don’t have the exact specifications for the thing, but make no mistake, this isn’t a smartphone. This is a work phone for people with jobs that fall into the “high risk” category, and for those folks … Angry Birds isn’t a real priority. That being said, if you do want this thing then be prepared for an extremely bulky device. If you want a more rugged phone, but don’t want to deal with the bulk, then you should be looking at the Motorola Defy or the Sony Ericsson Active. Both run Android, so you’ll be able to do the things you’ve already been enjoying with the smartphone you have right now.
If you do pickup a Sonim, feel free to send us a video of you trying to break it and totally failing.