Tough new Android model coming to accompany you on your camping and hiking trips

Some of you might have heard of the Quechua brand of outdoor and hiking clothing and equipment. The company is partnering up with Archos to produce the rugged Quechua phone made to survive your latest outdoors escapade. Let's face it, most rugged handsets give up something on the specs side of the equation in order to better protect the phone. And while the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active is supposed to combine the best of both worlds, that handset is the exception to the rule.

The Quechua phone doesn't slack off too much on the specs side either as it will feature a 5 inch screen with a quad-core 1.2GHz processor (Qualcomm Snapdragon, not MediaTek wiseguy). There will be only 4GB of native storage, but the phone does offer a microSD slot to expand that figure. There is a 5MP snapper on back so you can snap proof that the Abominable Snowman is real. And get this, the handset will have a 3500mAh cell for 22 hours of talk time because when you go hiking, there isn't always an outlet around to recharge the device. That's a nice move by Archos.

Android 4.1.2 is pre-installed which means the unit offers Project Butter for smooth, responsiveness from the screen. Google Now gives you the information you need when you need it and actionable notifications allow you to reply to emails or take other action from the notifications shade. The phone has IP54 certification which means it will make it through all of those camping, fishing and hiking excursions you go on.

The Quechua phone does not offer 4G connectivity and is priced at 230 EUR ($312 USD). It will launch in France on December 5th, although there has been no international launch date announced yet. Those who love the great outdoors will soon have a handset that matches their lifestyle.

source: L'informationcien (translated) via TechRadar