DeWalt unplugs its power tools and charges its first-ever Android smartphone

Dubbed the MD501 — not to be confused with the Maryland Route 501 state highway or the Air Madagascar Flight scheduled to leave on April 23 — one of the smartphone’s claims to fame is its IP68 certification, which should allow it to stand up to 30-minute submersion in up to two meters of water. In addition, the MD501 should withstand extreme temperature changes and drops onto concrete, so it’s not a smartphone you should be afraid to toss around. Finally, you won’t need to take off your gloves to use the MD501’s display.

Elsewhere, the MD501 is your typical, run-of-the-mill mid-range smartphone, with DeWalt’s handset powered by the MediaTek MT6735 processor and 2GB of RAM. Continuing our peek into the inside reveals dual Micro SIM card support, 16GB of expandable native storage, and your standard array of sensors and wireless radios, including NFC, QI wireless charging, and Bluetooth 4.0. A 5-megapixel camera sits above the 5-inch, 1,280 x 720 resolution display, with the former’s rear-facing equivalent weighing in at 13 megapixels. Finally, the huge 3,950mAh battery should allow the MD501 to power Android 5.1 Lollipop all day, maybe even into the next day.

In other words, the MD501’s reason for being isn’t to pack the latest and most powerful hardware, but to give those working in rugged conditions an option for their smartphone needs. If you are one of those people and are interested in DeWalt’s first entry in the smartphone market, the company has set up a mailing list for you to join.

Unfortunately, the firm has not announced pricing or availability, though we assume DeWalt will release such details in the near future.