Samsung Convoy 4 Kyocera Dura Xv Lte Review

Whether you're a field worker or just a klutz, the Kyocera DuraXV LTE ($264) is the roughest, toughest, no-nonsense vocalisation telephone you can become on Verizon Wireless. It'southward likewise the near network-flexible and future-proof, able to work on Verizon's 3G and 4G networks, as well every bit foreign roaming networks. But yous'll pay a high price for the DuraXV'due south reliability.

If y'all're a long-fourth dimension vox telephone user, you should know that Verizon is transitioning away from its old 3G arrangement over to 4G LTE. The carrier will keep 3G alive until 2020, but all of the new investment and expansion is going into LTE. Fortunately, there'due south a new crop of LTE-capable voice phones surfacing, then y'all don't have to switch over to a smartphone if you don't want one.

Pattern and Build

The DuraXV LTE ($264.00 at Verizon) is a big, stone-solid blackness flip phone in a rubberized housing. It's too beefy for virtually pants, but will easily fit into a coat pocket. On the front end, in that location's a assuming, i-inch monochrome OLED display showing time and status information. Flip it open and you get glove-friendly, separated keys and a bright two.half dozen-inch, 320-past-240 LCD. The speakerphone sits at the lesser of the flip.

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All of the phone's ports are covered past removable rubber plugs, a rather erstwhile-schoolhouse way to handle waterproofing. Some newer phones employ a micro-coating that doesn't rely on the safe seals staying in place.

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The phone is war machine standard 810G rated to withstand daze, vibration, corrosion, dust, and water damage. In our typical water resistance test, we dunked the phone in a bowl of h2o for xxx minutes. Nosotros heard some audio distortion on the speakerphone until nosotros shook it clear of remaining drops and information technology dried out a bit, just after that, it was fine.

Calling and Network

The DuraXV has the nigh versatile network options of any of the voice phones nosotros've reviewed recently. Along with LTE bands iv and 13, it besides has ii and 5, which will extend coverage; it has Verizon's older 3G network; and it has quad-band UMTS 3G for global roaming in up to 200 countries. Less expensive vox phones don't accept all of those options. The DuraXV also has dual-band Wi-Fi, including 5GHz, and can make calls over Wi-Fi.

Indicate strength, on the other hand, doesn't quite measure up. I was a piffling disappointed to find the DuraXV reading slightly lower signal forcefulness than the Kyocera Cadence LTE in medium-betoken weather condition, between -80 and -90dBm. Information technology's non enough to be a flat-out deal breaker, but it'south enough to brand you not purchase it over the Cadence if bespeak strength is your primary concern.

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Voice quality is fine. Voices sound somewhat deeper, but a bear upon less precise, than on the Cadency and the LG Exalt LTE. You might like this, or you might like the more than piercing tone of the other 2 phones. The speakerphone faces forepart, which is skilful, simply it's less loud and clear than I prefer. It distorts at tiptop volume, which is most 70db in conversation at a i-pes altitude. That's a good 5dB better than the Exalt, only only 2dB or so better than the Cadence. The Nuance-based voice dialing works fine when triggered from the action button of a Bluetooth headset.

While the phone has several 4G bands, it still simply reaches Category 4 speeds. There's a Wi-Fi hotspot mode, but you lot shouldn't await to get speeds greater than about 10Mbps with it.

Bombardment life was skillful at eight hours, 26 minutes of talk time, and the battery is removable. However, we got slightly longer talk time (just over 9 hours) with the Cadence.

Apps

Similar Verizon's other LTE voice phones, the DuraXV LTE runs a crippled version of Android on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor, with a traditional menu organization and no downloadable apps. At that place's a basic browser, a basic media actor, and an email app that offers Yahoo!, Outlook, AOL, Exchange, and POP/IMAP options. Both the messaging and contacts apps sync with Verizon's cloud organisation, so yous can enter contacts and messages through a web interface rather than using the number pad.

Other tools include a calendar, a reckoner, a multifunction clock, and a flashlight. This is the only LTE voice telephone we tested with a flashlight function, and it'due south a useful improver.

Because yous probably don't use Verizon's push button-to-talk system, the big push on the side of the phone can be set to launch whatever characteristic—the flashlight, for example, or the music player or hotspot part.

The messaging app can send and receive both picture show and video letters, and has XT9 word prediction. Information technology tin receive emoji, and can transport a express number of emoji smileys. The other voice phones we tested had real trouble sending and receiving video messages, so if that'south something you rely on, the DuraXV LTE is the way to go.

There'southward 16GB of onboard storage (11.5GB available), as well every bit a microSD card slot under the battery, which is under the screwed-closed back encompass. A 5-megapixel photographic camera records 720p video.

The camera is bad. All of the vocalization phone cameras we've tested are bad. This one has severe focus problems; fully half of my pictures were out of focus, and the ones that weren't had severe colour racket bug. And the 720p video is pretty much unusable at a low x frames per 2nd. Thankfully, yous tin can also use the camera as a magnifying glass.

That said, y'all aren't going to get a much improve camera on any other flip phone that Verizon offers. You'll have to merchandise up to a smartphone if you want to take skilful pictures.

Music and video playback practise well here. The phone played our MP3, M4A, OGG, and WAV files over both its own speaker and Bluetooth, and it played back video files and video messages in full-screen.

Comparisons and Conclusions

The Kyocera DuraXV LTE is the toughest and best-featured voice phone that Verizon offers. But at $264, information technology's out of the budget of many vocalism phone consumers. It's best for folks who need its rugged, waterproof nature—for instance, those who work exterior in the elements.

The boilerplate Verizon voice phone shopper will be better served by the Kyocera Cadence LTE. It'south not waterproof, doesn't have a flashlight, and doesnt support 3G the way the DuraXV does. But information technology costs half as much and fulfills basic voice phone functions well.

Kyocera DuraXV LTE

The Bottom Line

The Kyocera DuraXV LTE is the well-nigh rugged, powerful voice telephone on Verizon, only it's more than virtually vocalization phone users need.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/kyocera-duraxv-lte

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