It was back in December when Bell added the Push-to-Talk (PPT) Kyocera DuraForce to its lineup of smartphones and now it is Telus’ turn to add the heavy-duty work smartphone to its own network. It has been said that the DuraForce puts function over form, but it is one very sharp looking smartphone. Designed to withstand water, drops and a whole lot more, however, Kyocera has really kept the design very crisp and eye-catching. Telus will be selling the DuraForce for only $50 on select two-year plans and $530 if purchased outright.
The Kyocera DuraForce has a 4.5-inch HD IPS with a very acceptable resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels for this size of display and type of device and it has a high-impact resistant touchscreen that can be used even when wearing heavy work gloves or if the display gets wet. This feature is always on so there is no special setting needed to turn to access it. The DuraForce features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz. The DuraForce is packing 2GB of RAM, 16GB of on board internal memory and a microSD card slot for adding an additional 32GB of memory. It is sporting an 8MP main camera with a 2MP front-facing camera (FFC) and a 3100mAh non-removable battery. Because of its Miltary Standard 810G rating, this rugged device can work in an extreme temperature range of -30º C to 60º C and dust, shock and blowing rain will not faze the DuraForce. It is not just water resistant, but waterproof with its IP68 certification and can withstand 1.8 meters of water for up to 30 minutes.
It is running Android 4.4 and offers LTE connectivity and there is a dedicated PTT button on the side for quick bursts of communication. When you need to use the DuraForce in noisy environments, there is a heavy-duty dual front-facing speaker to pump out the sound up to 100db…the sound of a jackhammer at 6.5 feet away. The Smart Sonic Receiver means you’ll be able to hear where you never could before. The entire touchscreen acts as a speaker. When it’s pressed against your ear, sound transmits as vibrations that go directly from your screen into your eardrum – bypassing background noise and enabling call clarity. There are also dual microphones for noise cancellation so the user can be heard in noisy work areas. It measures 136.8 x 70.5 x 13.9 mm and weighs in at 200 grams.