If you’re looking at the DuraForce and thinking you’ve seen it somewhere before, it’s because the phone appears to be very similar to the Kyocera Brigadier, released on the Verizon network during the summer. There’s one key difference between them. The Brigadier uses Kyocera’s Sapphire Shield screen for ultimate toughness, but no such feature is mentioned for the DuraForce.
It still has a military specification body shell, so it’ll take on high and low temperatures, humidity, varying altitudes, along with shocks and vibration with ease. The IP68 certification means it’ll keep out dust and water, and survive for 30 minutes in 1.8 meters of water. The trade-off comes when you look at the design. It’s not pretty, but it’s functional, and looks don’t really matter if the phone is covered in dust, mud, or worse.
The 4.5-inch, 720p touchscreen can be operated while wearing gloves, and a dual microphone setup with Kyocera’s Smart Sonic Receiver – which turns the screen into the phone’s speaker – ensures you’ll be able to make and receive calls in noisy environments, even when wearing protective headgear. A 1.4GHz Snapdragon 400 processor powers the Android 4.4.2 operating system, plus there’s 16GB of internal memory, a MicroSD card slot, 4G LTE, a 3100mAh battery, and an 8-megapixel rear camera.
To get the Kyocera DuraForce for $50 you’ll need to sign a two-year contract, or alternatively there are two Next options – Next 12 requires you to pay $19.95 per month, or Next 18 needs $16.63 per month. Finally, if you just want the phone, it’s sold contract-free for $390. Online sales begin November 7, and it’ll be in stores from November 21.
