It’s been rumoured to have been coming since April, and yesterday we ran an article that had more details about it being available from Verizon at some point, well today we can confirm that the rugged Kyocera Brigadier is indeed available and can be purchased today via the Verizon website. For $99 you get a two year agreement with the handset, or you can choose Verizon Edge with the cost of the device split into 20 installments of $19.99. If you just want the phone with no strings attached its $399.99 for the handset itself.
Apart from the Kyocera Brigadier being endorsed by Bear Grylls (Gallery below), what are you getting for your money? For starters, you are getting the very first production handset to reach the U.S. with a Sapphire Shield display. That means that the Brigadier is virtually scratch-proof, with tests having shown that it more likely to survive a screen-first drop than your regular strengthened mobile display. Kyocera claim that they have 41 years worth of experience synthesizing Sapphire in everything from electrical components to LED lighting (video below). The Brigadier has a 4.5-inch 720p display that can be used in the wet or by someone wearing gloves, something that is always handy when you are out in the wild (or if its winter). Being a rugged phone the Brigadier also carries an IP68 industry rating, meaning that it can withstand dust as well as being immersed in 6 feet of water for up to 30 minutes. The Brigadier also meets US Department of Defense standards (Military Standard 810G) because the exterior has been reinforced to protect against vibration, extreme temperatures, rain, salt fog, water immersion and solar radiation.
On to the innards of the Brigadier and here we have a Snapdragon 400 Processor clocked a 1.4GHz providing the muscle, with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage included that can be extended via the included Micro-SD card slot. The front-facing camera is a 2MP affair, with an 8Mp camera on the rear along with a flash that pulls double duty as a torch. A 100 decibel apeak is included on the front of the device, that means you’ll be able to carry on a conversation in a nightclub or perhaps a sporting event. The Brigadier is running Android version 4.4 Kitkat out of the box. Finally, a non-removable battery with a more than decent 3100 mAh capacity is included, along with wireless charging.
The Kyocera may be a chunky phone, but its meant to be rugged able to be thrown about some and it carries some decent hardware within as well as the latest version of Android. If you are in the market for a rugged phone, does the Kyocera Brigadier turn your head at all? let us know in the comments or at our Google Plus page.
http://youtu.be/xCs7UE7dtxA?list=UUoSTg7FYDRLQEm2_DzFH9Fw
