Quechua handset is the rugged Android smartphone you can take anywhere

By David Nield December 1, 2013

quechua handset rugged android smartphone can take anywhere — Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’re constantly worried about damaging your phone, then Quechua has just the thing: the newly announced 5-inch device, made in association with Archos, is resistant to shock, mud, water, sand, cold and snow.

Those of you leading an active lifestyle can take the new smartphone for a day on the beach or a hike through the peaks without any qualms — the handset has been designed to take just about anything you can throw at it and still keep working.

Details are scarce, and no launch date has been confirmed, but here’s what we do know: the new device is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM, and comes with 4GB of internal memory which can be expanded via microSD cards.

The unit runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and comes with a 3,500mAh battery, which should be good enough for up to 22 hours of phone calls from your latest expedition into the wild. It’ll be available at a decent price, too: the phone is listed as costing €230, which works out at around $312 at today’s exchange rate.

“There is no device on the market truly suitable for the practice of hiking and the outdoors ,” said Quechua director Christian Ollier. The brand is better known for its hiking, camping and skiing equipment, hence the tie up with Archos, presumably to manage the hardware side of things.

This isn’t a phone concerned with state-of-the-art specs — there’s no 4G and only a 5-megapixel shooter at the back of the device — but it looks it will be one of the most durable and robust handsets available when it eventually goes on sale.

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Dave is a freelance journalist from Manchester in the north-west of England. He's been writing about technology since the…

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