Sonim XP7 (Unlocked) Review (2024)

We had some electricians in our office last week, rewiringsome benches in the PC Labs.One of them had an old Casio flip phone attached to his belt. Why don't you have a smartphone? I asked. Because he hasn't been able to find one that can stand to be banged against HVAC pipes all day, he said.The Editors' Choice Sonim XP7 is the phone he needs. It isn't just rugged; it comes with a three-year, no-questions-asked manufacturer's warranty. That sets Sonim phones apart from competitors like the Kyocera Brigadier ($399.99 at Verizon) , our top pickfor rugged smartphones on Verizon Wireless.

The Sonim XP7 was just launched in the U.S., unlocked for $579 via Indiegogo in a package that includes a waterproof Bluetooth headset and a $19 prepaid SIM card. (Don't worry, it's not crowdfunded; Sonim is just using Indiegogo as an e-commerce platform.) It's also currently available from two of Canada's national providers, Bell and Telus, at $199 with a two-year contract; it willbe coming to major U.S. carriers early next year.

The unlocked model will work best on AT&T or compatible networks, such as Straight Talk's AT&T SIM. It will also work, with slightly less coverage (it's missing one 3G band) on T-Mobile.

Physical FeaturesandRuggedization
The Sonim XP7 is the size of most other competing phones in a ruggedized case. Here, the case is just built in. At 5.4 by 2.8 by 0.78 inches (HWD) and an amazing 10.2 ounces, with an extra stub that looks like an antenna, but holds the speakerphone, this is not pocket friendly. This phone is designed to be kept in a coat pocket or on a belt clip.

The XP7's whole body is clad in surprisingly bouncy rubber—drop it on a corner and it can bounce at least six inches into the air. The back has a bunch of little triangular cutouts that can be pried out to reveal external antenna ports. On the front, a 5-inch, 1,280-by-720 LCD has three large, physical action buttons below it. The screen is clad in Gorilla Glass 2. The headphone jack is covered by a rubber door; the SIMcard slot is actually screwed shut, and you'll need a screwdriver to open it. There are dedicated camera, push-to-talk, and alarm buttons on the sides. The charging port is a proprietary, magnetic charger; Sonim ships a special USB cable with the phone. There is no microSD memory card slot.

Sonim advertises that the XP7 is IP68 and IP-69 rated. It's sealed against dust and dirt, completely submersible and pressure-washable, can withstand a metric ton of pressure, does not strip its coatings in solvents, and can handle six-foot drops onto concrete from any angle. That's pretty intense.

To test at least some of these claims, we ran the phone under a faucet for thirty seconds, shook it 20 times in a box of dirt and pebbles that Kyocera provided us a while ago, banged it into a metal pipe five times, tried to scratch it with keys, and dropped it ten times from a four-foot height onto concrete. By the end of the ordeal, the phone showed some scuffs, but nothing a good power-washing wouldn't cure. Most importantly, the screen didn't break when dropped face-down onto concrete, which is a guaranteed killer for most phones.

Battery life on the 4,800mAh battery is spectacular, verging on ridiculous. We got 12 hours, 11 minutes of continuous video streaming on the AT&T network. That's the longest result we've seen since we started doing this test. This is definitely a two-day phone—maybe even three.

SeeHowWeTestCell Phones

Android andMultimedia
The XP7 runs an almost completely stock Android 4.4.2 on a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset with 1GB of RAM and 12.5GB of available storage. Google Play is on board, and very limited bloatware. This is a midrange chipset and it performs like one. Android productivity app performance was decent in my tests, but only decent. High-end games like Beach Buggy Racing have less than optimal frame rates. This is true for all midrange, Snapdragon 400 phones; there's nothing out of place here.

Comparisons and Conclusions
Drop an iPhone or a BlackBerry Passport ( at Amazon) once, face down, on concrete, and you've cracked the screen. That's what sets tough, clunky smartphones like the XP7 or the Kyocera Brigadier apart from the rest: You don't have to put them in an Otterbox so they can survive your rough-and-tumble lifestyle.

The Brigadier and the XP7 are the two rugged smartphones we recommend right now. The XP7 outdoes the Brigadier on ultimate durability, battery life, and extreme speaker volume, with the three-year warranty offering a peace of mind no other phone can match. The Brigadier is less expensive, has a less-scratchable screen and it isn't quite as clunky. Performance on both phones is pretty similar.

There are a bunch of new rugged smartphones which we hope to review soon. AT&T just announced the $524.99 Sonim XP6, which shares many of the XP7's excellent qualities (including its warranty), but has a physical keyboard and a smaller screen. Kyocera has the Torque XT on Sprint, and the Duraforce on AT&T. Both are tough and are likely to be less expensive than the XP7, but they just aren't quite as extreme, and they don't have that amazing three-year warranty. Really, if you've ever broken a phone on a work site, that warranty will be reason enough to buy a Sonim.