Water-resistant Archos 50 Saphir packs a 5000 mAh battery, costs around $220

Last week, French gadget maker Archos announced a batch of new Helium Android phones, all of which will be showcased at IFA 2016 in early September. Alongside those handsets, the French company will also present a rugged, water-resistant phone called Archos 50 Saphir.

The 50 Saphir is IP68-certified, being able to survive under water (at depths of maximum 1 meter) for up to 30 minutes. While it looks like a pretty tough device, the Archos 50 Saphir doesn't seem to be as durable as other rugged phones out there, as it's guaranteed to withstand drops from only 1 meter (3.2 feet).

The new Archos handset runs near stock Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and comes with a huge 5000 mAh battery that should provide a usage time of "over 2 days." The rest of the phone's features are less impressive, including a 5-inch 720p IPS display, a quad-core MediaTek MTK6737 processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of expandable storage space. There's LTE and dual SIM support on board, plus a 13 MP rear camera, and a 5 MP front-facing camera.

According to Archos, the 50 Saphir will be available in Europe starting October for €199 (about $222). We'll let you know when / if the handset is officially released in the US.


sources: Archos, Press release (PDF in French)