Sonim XP1 Video

Sonim XP1 Video Transcript

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>> Hi this is Kent German, senior editor at CNET.com. Today, we'll take a First Look at the Sonim XP1. You're probably asking what Sonim is? You're probably saying you've never heard of a Sonim phone before and well, up until now, I've never seen one either. This is a new phone. Sonim is a U.S. company, but this phone is mainly out for Europe, in Asia and other places. The thing that is interesting about it is that this is a very rugged phone. It's built to all sorts of military specifications about resistance to dust and rain and mist and all types of things. It does stand out a lot, that yellow and black color skin certainly is distinctive. Certainly not the most attractive phone around, but it's pretty common with those big bulky rugged phones that aren't go for design, they go for durability which a lot of people appreciate. A lot of rubber siding here - really protects the phone and did I knock it around a little bit and didn't have any problems. The phone isn't water proof, so you can't dunk it underwater, but it is water resistant, so you can splash water on it and it should be fine. The display is pretty nice actually -- it's pretty big and pretty bright and colorful with a nice resolution. Buttons are raised above the surface of the phone, so there is a distinct separation between them, didn't have a lot of trouble dialing by feel. The navigation toggle is a pretty descent design - buttons going four ways and then you have a central OK button, but overall, pretty easy to use controls. Here in this side, you have a couple of volume keys, so they stick out quite a lot. And this one is kind of interesting, you can press that down, you can scroll through your contacts lists just without actually going into the main menu, which is nice. Being a phone that is resistant to water, all the ports are covered pretty well. You do have a mini-USB port and a headset jack that are here and that rubber snaps right over. On the back of the phone you'll see a speaker and the battery cover, you actually have to twist this little knob here. No camera in this phone. It is really built for making calls, sending messages, that kind of things, so don't expect to a lot of high-end features, streaming video, MP3 player -- nothing like that. So, really built just for the purpose of what a phone should be. The thing you need to know is this phone does not support the 850-band, which is used here in the United States, only supports the 900, so [inaudible] AT&T Mobile, but I'm not gonna give the best services especially in[inaudible]. I'm Kent German and this is the Sonim XP1. ^M00:02:01 [ Music ]