There are many things Land Rover do very well. Building iconic, go anywhere 4x4s (think Defender and Discovery) would be one of them, as well as being the last word in supreme first-class luxury (think Range Rover) being another. I doubt smartphones would be top-of-mind, though, but that is about to change with details emerging of the Land Rover Explore, a 5-inch, Discovery inspired smartphone manufactured in conjunction with the Bullitt Group and recently unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
Billed as the 'Toughest Smartphone in the World' (Caterpillar might take exception) the Explore is aimed at - as the name suggests - 'explorer/outdoorsy’ types or folks who routinely drop their phones into muddy puddles or off mountaintops; typical Land Rover demographic, then. Modelled after the Land Rover Discovery, the Explore is tough (rough?) and ready and can survive drops from 1.8 metres and survive underwater – even salt water – as well as 'extreme temperatures changes, humidity, thermal shock and vibration exposure'.
The Android-powered phone’s home screen has a customisable outdoor dashboard for instant access to weather information, perfect for knowing whether or not to take a brolly on the school run, and with a standard 4 000mAh battery, it should even survive even the most brutal N1 traffic.
As Joe Sinclair, Jaguar Land Rover's, director of Branded Goods and Licensing, says, “This is the smartphone we’d all like to own – a perfect combination of design and functionality that embodies the Land Rover DNA and enables customers to be outdoors for longer, with the confidence to go further.”
Well said Joe, we just wish they'd included a baffling offset rear design, which is neither aesthetically pleasing nor necessary whatsoever.
