Kyocera Torque Review

Introduction

Mid-range Android phones are a dime a dozen these days, so it takes something special to make one stand out. Kyocera decided to get rid of the earpiece. We’re listening…

The Kyocera Torque stands out to begin with, thanks to its ruggedized design including Military Spec 810G and IP 67 certification. What really caught our eye though was what Kyocera is calling Smart Sonic Receiver technology. This eliminates the traditional earpiece, and transmits sound directly into your tissues meaning you should be able to hear clearly in loud environments. Is this new technology enough to make the Kyocera Torque a winner? Read on to find out.

Design

As far as rugged devices go, the Kyocera Torque is relatively small. It comes in at just 14mm thick and feels much more comfortable to use than other rugged devices out there thanks to a significantly smaller bezel. The sides are encased in a durable plastic housing, and the back is texturized with plenty of grip.


The Torque features a 4” IPS 480x800 WVGA display, which isn’t the highest resolution but readability and viewing angles are good. The display is slightly recessed from the bezel to protect it. Below the display are physical navigation buttons integrated into the housing below; though it runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Kyocera has changed out the recommended app switcher button for menu. Along the sides you’ll find a large Direct Connect button, as well as a volume rocker and physical camera key. On top the covered 3.5mm headset jack is flanked by the power and speakerphone buttons, and down below is a covered microUSB port.


Ruggedness

The Torque meets Military Spec 810G for dust, shock, vibration, temperature extremes, blowing rain, low pressure, solar radiation, salt fog and humidity, and the IP 67 certification ensures it can stand up to water jets and submersion for up to 30 minutes in 1 meter of water. The only physical openings on the phone are the battery door, which has a locking mechanism, the aforementioned covered ports and the large front facing speakers at the bottom.

The Torque performed as advertised, withstanding all of our durability tests. Despite several drops on concrete from increasing heights the Torque refused to stop working, or even show a scratch. We doused it in water, then dunked it in 2 feet of water for half an hour and the Torque came out working just as well as when we put it in.

Software

The Torque runs on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwitch, but Sprint was quick to point out that they are working on bring Jelly Bean to the device. Currently, the Direct Connect service is not compatible with the newer version of Android, so the technical kinks must be ironed out first but it is good to see the carrier proactively addressing the situation.


As a Sprint ID device the Kyocera Torque runs a mostly vanilla build of Ice Cream Sandwich, just as we saw with the Kyocera Rise. You can of course download more ID packs, although in general the service has proven fairly niche with little actual benefit. Pre-installed apps are light too, with only 5 apps joining the standard Sprint and Google apps on the Torque.


Processor and Memory

Paired with a dual core 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 Plus processor, 1GB of RAM and 4GB of memory the Torque moves along fluidly.

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	NenaMark 2
Kyocera Torque	4193	10526	60
Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro	4855	6730	60,5
Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2	2956	6965	39

Connectivity

The Torque is Kyocera’s first 4G LTE device, and Sprint’s first LTE device with Direct Connect. However, we discovered that the phone is set to CDMA only by default, and when we enabled LTE the phone warned us that Direct Connect was not available while in LTE mode, even if LTE coverage isn’t available. We’ve contacted Kyocera and will update the review with their explanation. It packs all the connectivity options you’d expect from a modern Android device, including Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0.

Call Quality

Kyocera is the first manufacturer to bring tissue conducting technology to the US market, something they’ve dubbed Smart Sonic Receiver. Initially debuted with KDDI in Japan last year, this technology uses piezoelectric actuators to vibrate the entire display, which in turns transmits sound via both air waves and tissue conduction to the eardrum. The end result is clearer audio, in both quiet and noisy environments. Though it may seem like black magic, it actually works quite well and the technology was recognized “Best of What’s New” by Popular Science last November. The call quality is very good, and if you didn’t tell them the average user would have no idea of the special tech at play in the Torque.

Callers were also impressed with the Torque, saying it was one of the better devices we’ve tested and rating it 9/10. They said we sounded slightly muffled, but the call clarity was great. The Torque is the second Sprint device to support HD Voice, behind the HTC EVO 4G LTE, though the technology isn’t up and running on the network side in most markets.

Battery

With a 2500mAh battery, the Torque claims up to 18.9 hours of talk time, an unprecedented number in the CDMA world. This is achieved using Kyocera’s Eco Smart mode and MaxiMZR, which turns off non-essential background data. Even if it is able to achieve half of that number it is quite impressive, and should last the average user at least a full day if not more.

Conclusion

Despite being a mid-range Android device running an OS that is well over a year old, the Kyocera Torque is an amazingly advanced device. It is well designed, and passed our torture tests with flying colors. The Smart Sonic Receiver technology is nothing short of amazing, and we are still a bit in awe of the lack of a speaker. Call quality, battery life and OS performance are all very good. The Torque has a few drawbacks, mostly the fact that Direct Connect cannot be used while LTE is turned on, but overall this is a very good phone. For your everyday user looking for something a bit more durable, or for a construction worker who demands a phone that can take a daily beating, the Kyocera Torque is a phone worth looking at.

Software 1.006SP
Android 4.0.4

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