Kyocera Phones

[Doohickie]

So my LG G4 bricked. I'm pretty sure it's the bootloop problem, but because a tiny corner of the glass was cracked, LG wouldn't fix it under warranty. GRRR.

Anyway, time to move on. I realize that I am pretty tough on my phones, so I'm considering a ruggedized phone. there are the Samsung Active phones, but AT&T also has Kyocera phones. They seem to be targeted to field workers who require ruggedized phones, but I thought it might be a good fit for me. They have two phones I'm interested in, the DuraForce Pro and the DuraForce XD. The Pro seems superior in most respects except screen size. The Pro screen is 5", while the XD has a 5.7. But the XD camera is only 8 MP while the Pro has a 13 MP camera. I think I'm leaning toward the Pro. Both are significantly cheaper than the S6 Active and S7 Active.

Does anyone have experience with Kyocera phones? Are they any good? Any limitations/shortfalls? And why does AndroidCentral ignore them?

 

[ratsttam]

I've had Kyocera phones on Sprint years ago. The brand has been around for at least the past 18yrs that I've carried a cell phone. They were pretty much indestructible, but this was also the days of flip phones around the times that color screens and cameras were just starting to show up on more expensive models.

 

[Doohickie]

Well, I went for the Kyocera. I like it so far.

Once in a while there's a slight delay when opening things (especially pictures), but I think it might be just how Kyocera runs Android. On my LG G4, I'd see a low res pick almost immediately and maybe a half second to a second later, it would change to hi res. With the Kyocera, it doesn't display until the hi res is ready. The OS seems to be a little..... less fancy than LG's version of it. In the end that won't make a difference to me I don't think.

The phone has some neat features I haven't seen on other phones costing 50% more. It's ruggedized and waterproof. It has two cameras, one with a normal aspect, similar to other phones, and the other is a wide angle almost fish eye lens. I think that's supposed to be for capturing "action video" but it's already producing some interesting pictures. I like the camera function so far.

I have my key apps set up and need to set up the secondary ones, but that's just fiddling around. The phone is up and running and I'm rapidly getting used to it.

 

[Doohickie]

....and I found the showstopper.

The DuraForce Pro does *not* have Advance Messaging. So if someone who does have advanced messaging sends an MMS message, the phone can't receive it. It will know that a message is there, but it doesn't download it and eventually it says Message Expired.

The workaround is having everyone that sends you messages disable Advanced Messaging from their phone. Advanced Messaging provides support for attachments larger than 1 MB and for read receipts. It's a minor issue within my family; it'd be no big deal if they shut off the capability. But it means I won't be able to receive MMS from others without telling them to shut of Advanced Messaging first.