When a phone lands on our desk that is hyped up as a tough nut, we positively jump at the chance to test its mettle. There's great pleasure to be had from actively trying to destroy a phone, especially with full permission from the manufacturer. Perhaps we have some aggression issues.

Sonim specialises in hardwearing handsets and after teaming up with JCB for its first model, the XP3 Enduro, it's now joined forces with Land Rover to create the S1. Sonim claims it's the toughest handset yet – we can't wait to test it out.

Style and handling for the Sonim Land Rover S1

The S1 looks and feels almost exactly the same as the XP3, just with a little extra branding and a choice of a black or a rusty brown colour. It's encased in a rubber shell to take the impact of knocks and falls.

The Land Rover S1 is, according to Sonim, its toughest phone so far. That's a big claim, considering that we drove a double decker bus over the XP3 Endure and could still make calls on it, even if the screen was too cracked to see anything.

 

Features on the Sonim Land Rover S1

Before we get to the fun bit, it's worth mentioning the S1's feature set, which outstrips previous Sonim phones by some way. It has a passable two-megapixel camera, the reliable Opera Mini internet browser, FM radio, potential storage space of 2GB and a built-in torch, as every tough phone should have.

Best of all, though, is the GPS receiver. It was something that has been missing from Sonim handsets so far, but in our view an essential feature for a phone made for the great outdoors. It is just a receiver, sadly – to enjoy the full satnav experience you will need to splash out more cash.

 

Camera on the Sonim Land Rover S1

The two-megapixel camera is hardly up to scratch technologically, but it's good to have a camera at all on a phone that has other priorities. But you should be able to capture the views when you're done something terrible outdoors-y – enough at least to give you a memory, if not a good print. There's a flash, which is also the S1's flashlight, that is good and. In fact, snapping a photo of a person leaves your poor subject looking somewhat startled.

What is a bit odd is that you are asked if you want to save your photo before you have even seen it – we're not sure if Sonim really thought that one through.

 

Testing the Sonim Land Rover S1

Now that's out of the way, it's time to put the Sonim S1 to the test. We devised a series of fiendish experiments to see what it's made of, and here are the results.

Test 1: The freezer

Sonim claims that the Land Rover S1 can withstand temperatures as low as -20°C, so we put it in our -18°C freezer to see how it fared. Brilliantly, is the answer. After wiping off its icy residue, we are happy to report that the phone worked as well as it did beforehand.

Test 2: The oven

After freezing the S1, we decided to put it to the other extreme and chuck it in the oven at  55°C – the temperature Sonim says the S1 can survive. We popped it on a baking tray and left it to roast for an hour. After retrieving it with an oven glove (it was a hot potato of a handset when it first came out), there was no sign of melting or body damage. We made a received another call and they both worked. Another success. Next!

Test 3: Waterproofing

Some resistance to water would be handy on any phone, as accidents of the spilt-tea/dropped-in-the-loo variety are responsible for a great many phones breaking. But the Land Rover is claimed to be able to be submerged in depths up to one metre for as long as half an hour. We couldn't quite stretch to a metre of water where we were, but we stuck the phone at the bottom of a tall vase full of water and sat back for our allotted 30 minutes.

Sonim advises that if you are likely to be in a situation where water damage could occur, you should take the precaution of tightening the screws on the back of the handset, which secure the battery cover and charger and headphone slots. We did this, and the result was... well, we'll tell you after the next test.

Test 4: The fire engine

As previously mentioned, we tested the XP3 by driving a double decker bus over it, so had to try and top that somehow. Then we had an idea: after a conversation with a friendly fire crew, we secured ourselves a fire engine. Positioning the Sonim S1 carefully in front of the wheels, we drove over it with the front and the back wheels of the fire engine. We were very impressed to find the handset not more than slightly scuffed on first inspection. A closer look revealed that the camera was cracked and the internal screen a little scratched, but we turned the phone on and the display was still distinguishable.

 

But the next day, things started to go wrong. The display had started to show signs of condensation, which got worse and worse as the day went on. More worryingly, when we fired up the Sonim S1, it died and wouldn't restart. It's hard to tell for sure what finished it off, the water damage or the ten tons of fire engine driving over it. But it worked straight after its trial by wheel, and the encroaching condensation would suggest to us that it was the water what won it. It's very disappointing – we didn't even get a chance to try it in meter-deep water, which would rather negate Sonim's grand claims.

 

The verdict on the Sonim Land Rover S1

Well there's no doubting the Sonim's touch-phone supremacy – the fact that its body remained intact even after being driven over by a fire engine is testament to this. But the sad result of the water test was disappointing. Lucky, then, that Sonim provides an 'unconditional' three-year warranty so you can get a replacement. We just hope it doesn't happen too often.