Verizon Launches Kyocera DuraForce Pro with Sapphire Shield Display in the U.S

Kyocera is known for making some good rugged smartphones which are mostly available in the U.S and Canada. As rumors suggested, now the Kyocera Duraforce Pro is launched by Verizon for $408 or just $17/month for 24 months. Earlier to Verizon, the DuraForce Pro smartphone was available on AT&T and Sprint in the U.S. It one of the very few high-end rugged smartphones available in the market. It has a slight curve on the back that offers nice grip to hold onto the bulky rugged surface of Kyocera DuraForce Pro.

The device sports a 5-inch Sapphire Shield display with Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution. Under the hood is the 64-bit Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz that comes coupled with Adreno 405 GPU for a better gaming performance. It includes 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded upto another 256GB via MicroSD card slot. One unique feature of this device is the wide-angle action camera equipped on the rear that can give a 135-degree field of view.

Apart from that, there is also a 13MP rear camera with LED flash that can record video at 1080p resolution. For selfies, the DuraForce Pro features a 5MP front camera. It comes with Military Standard 810G and IP68 certifications making the device waterproof, shockproof, and dust proof. The device can stay upto 30 minutes under water with 2 meters depth and users can use all the camera modes for underwater photography or video recording. It sports the dual front facing stereo speakers, and the device can be accessed with the gloved or wet hands.

Instead of the capacitive buttons or onscreen buttons, the device sports three physical navigation buttons placed below the display. It is backed by a 3,240mAh non-removable battery that is rated to give 24.8 hours of talk time and lasts upto 15 days on standby. The device runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with almost stock Android experience. It measures 148.4 x 73.4 x 12.9 mm and weighs 230 grams. The fingerprint sensor comes embedded into the power button placed on the right edge of the device.

However, if you are looking for even more premium rugged smartphones, then the Galaxy S7 Active is one more option. Though the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge came with IP68 certification and Gorilla Glass 4 protection, we can’t expect them to stand out in all cases. The Galaxy S7 Active with a rugged body and few other exclusive features like Active Key brings out even more productivity. It even sports a larger 4,000mAh battery compared to 3,600mAh battery on the Galaxy S7 Edge. The device also support Quick Charge 3.0 with the wired and wireless charging options.

Talking about the other specifications, it sports 5.1-inch Quad HD (2560 x 1440 pixels) display with the Gorilla Glass 4 protection and Always-On display mode. It is powered by the Snapdragon 820 octa-core processor coupled with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage. One important additional on the Galaxy S7 Active that lacks on its predecessor is the integration of the fingerprint sensor. It also includes the same camera sensors as seen on the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones.