Econet is selling an interesting rugged-tough smartphone called the Titan R5 retailing for US $366. Our immediate reaction was thinking about last year’s Motorola launch of a rugged smartphone here in Zimbabwe which, unlike Econet in marketing at least, was clearly targeted at enterprise customers. In their ad this week, Econet is not deliberate about any specific kind of smartphone users they are targeting with the Titan 5, which would make you think it’s just consumer or regular business.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see whether local consumers will forgo looks over durability by buying the Titan 5. Our quick thoughts (and some advice) would be that this is definitely the Android device for you if you are the outdoor adventure kind or even generally find yourself dropping your phone very often. Business wise, mines, the construction industry, business with a large logistics component, and other such things. But also remember that Motorolla’s add-on business apps would probably be better, albeit more expensive.
Also remember that apart from hardened LCD you can probably get some of the toughness of the Titan in phone covers designed for tough environments.
So, how tough: The phone has a high Ingress Protection or International Protection rating, (IP rating) which basically measures the device’s resistance to elements like dust and water. Its IP-67 rating means the Titan 5 is fully protected from dust and the effect from submersion in water with depths between 15cm to 1 meter for 30 minutes. In the world of rugged smart devices, this is the same rating with Caterpillar’s CAT B15 (Yes, Caterpillar the mines equipment manufacturer also makes rugged phones) which retails for $349 internationally.
In Africa both the CAT B15 and the Titan appear to be distributed by a South African based company called Rugged Phones. We can’t confirm if Econet is getting these devices from this particular supplier.
We will get hands on with the Titan 5 in the coming weeks. Here are the key specs and a more detailed picture from Getaway.co.za.
| Dimensions | I25mm x 65mm x 21mm |
| Memory | 512mb Ram, 4GB Rom |
| Data | 3G, HSDPA, EDGE, GSM/GPRS |
| Display | 3.5″ |
| Camera | 5MP rear camera, LED Flash |
| OS | Android Jelly bean (4.1.2) |
| Processor | 1GHz (Cortex A9) |
| Battery | 2000mAh |
| IP Rating | IP-67 |
| Warranty | 24 months |
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10 comments
Is this phone supposed to be for those people who need a smartphone but are careless and can’t take care of it and are always dropping it to the ground or into water?
I guess they count, but I think it’s mostly for those who spend a lot of time in hostile environments
This must be one of the ugliest looking phones i have ever had the misfortune of seeing.
Ugliness would count if one of your purposes is to accessories.But for the construction worker,the mining engineer and any worker INA hostile environment, its beautiful and ideal for that rugged environment.
Not for divas
*”accessorize”
Have never dropped my iPhone 4S for more than a year now. Even my boys at home play with it with care. A functional phone is more important but then who knows…maybe firefighters require it. I have never been to an underground mine before also so am definitely not the target market. I should say the shape is quite strange though. Would be cool as a phone for the kids in primary school (if they are allowed phones)
i actually like this phone alot. i’ve had a Sonim rugged phone for a few years now… which is basically what this Titan phone has tried to copy. They are good phones, but their appeal will be quite limited. while im not involved in civil engineering or anything of the sort.. i like the idea of having a phone that isnt brittle.. i.e cracked screen a la samsung galaxy!
In my line of work this is a God send.
Working in pretty tough conditions i can still stay in touch better still it has Android OS my favorite mobile OS by the way.
do you have any shop selling your products in Kenya?
I have the titan 5R for more than a year now. this is what I call uniqueness. each time I get to answer my calls in public there is someone asking what type is your phone my friend. For the $485-00 that I forked out its worth it