Skip to main content

The DuraXV LTE is a sturdy flip phone bound for Verizon’s airwaves

duraxv lte
Jonathan Weiss/123RF
The iPhone 8 has a lot of bells and whistles, true, but not everybody needs them. Its all-glass design makes it prone to scratches, dents, and other unsightly battle scars. For folks who prefer a simpler, durable handset, there’s the Kyocera DuraXV LTE, a ruggedized flip phone that’s built to withstand the elements.

The DuraXV LTE is the third addition to the DuraXV family and the direct successor to the DuraXV Plus. This device supports Verizon’s 4G LTE and 2G CDMA networks, plus enterprise extras like Push to Talk Plus and corporate email accounts. That is in addition to HD Voice, which delivers crisper-than-average phone calls; Wi-Fi Calling, which supports over-the-internet phone calling; and mobile tethering, which shares the DuraXV LTE’s internet connection with other devices.

duraxv lte
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In terms of aesthetics, the Dura VX LTE has a thick clamshell design that would look right at home in a belt holster. An outward-facing LCD screen shows the time and date, cell signal strength, and battery level, and a single 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with an LED flash handles photo-taking duties. The DuraXV LTE’s hardened plastic body is Military Standard 810G for a long list of elements and conditions, including dust, shock, vibration, temperature extremes, blowing rain, salt, fog, and humidity, and it’s rated IP68 for water immersion up to 6.5 feet for half an hour.

The Dura VX LTE’s tech specs aren’t anything to write home about, as you might imagine. Inside the phone’s flip-up plastic shell is a 2.6-inch QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) powered by a low-range Qualcomm system-on-chip and 256MB of RAM. There is 512MB in onboard flash storage for your favorite apps and music, but if that is not big enough for your music collection, the DuraXV comes with a swappable 4GB microSD card and a card reader that supports up to 32GB.

You won’t be playing Candy Crush or Angry Birds on the DuraXV LTE’s tiny screen and underpowered processor. And at $11 per month or $264 full retail, it’s not exactly a steal — the excellent $280 Moto G5 Plus packs a 5.5-inch HD screen and zippy processor, and the $280 Moto E4 Plus has a long-lasting battery that lasts well over two days on a charge. But if you’re set on a flip phone and can’t be bothered a new smartphone’s ins and outs, the DuraXV LTE might be worth a look.

Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
Apple Intelligence is right around the corner, with a few absent perks
Apple Intelligence update on iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Back in September. Apple announced that its suite of next-gen AI features would make their way to supported hardware in October. Today, Bloomberg reports that rollout of those AI features – clubbed under the Apple Intelligence banner – will begin on October 28.

The AI toolkit will arrive with the iOS 18.1 update for the iPhone 15 Pro pair, the entire iPhone 16 series, and iPads with M1 (or newer) silicon in the series. Unfortunately, this is not the full Apple Intelligence package that the company announced a while ago.

Read more
Google’s Ask Photo feature is available for users that joined a waitlist
Google's Ask Photos debut.

Google has been on a roll lately with updates that make its platform dramatically more user-friendly than before, and one of the most impressive of these is the new Ask Photos feature in Google Photos. The feature has been hinted at for the better part of a year, but the official announcement came at the beginning of September, when interested fans could sign up for a waitlist. According to the folks at 9to5Google, those early adopters might now have the feature available to them.

Ask Photos is a Gemini-powered tool that uses text prompts to search your photo library. If you have thousands of photos saved to the cloud, this feature makes it possible to find a specific image without scrolling for hours.

Read more
The best iPhone 15 Plus cases in 2024: 15 best ones right now
A person holding the Apple iPhone 15 Plus.

Apple's iPhone 16 lineup is here, and it packs a big punch. But if you aren’t planning on upgrading, the iPhone 15 Plus is still a formidable phone for just about any user. Its large, crystal-clear 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with Dynamic Island, A16 Bionic chip for fast performance with iOS 17, and powerful dual-camera setup with 48-megapixel main and 12MP ultrawide lenses are nothing to sneeze at. And of course, you can charge it up with USB-C, since Apple finally ditched its proprietary Lightning charger as of the iPhone 15's 2023 debut.

The iPhone 15 Plus is still a pricey phone though, whether you’re buying new or upgrading from an older model. You can expect to pay $799 for the base model, which is still a hefty chunk of change. If you’re parting with that much cash, you’ll definitely want to protect your investment, and one of the easiest ways to do so is with a good case (and a screen protector helps out too!). Here are some of the best iPhone 15 Plus cases you can buy right now.

Read more