Gadgetory

Kyocera the name I haven't heard of in a while has released a new phone an extremely rugged smartphone called the dura force pro to Kyocera claims this phone has a full sapphire display but there's only one way to find out for sure not only $450 this should be interesting on the back of the phone it says class 1 division 2 which means this phone can be used in hazardous locations without causing explosions gotta love that let's get started right out of the box the phone feels smooth plastic almost fluffy compared to the dense glass and metal phones were used to seeing it definitely still has that rugged durable look to it let's get started with the scratch test a phone with real sapphire on the display doesn't come around very often as we know these Mohs hardness picks tell the difference between different materials plastic would leave marks at level 3 normal glass would scratch it a6 and Sapphire should only start to scratch at level 8 sapphire has a totally different composition than glass it's a crystal structure that's actually grown in a lab and its hardness level is up there with precious gems and diamonds an incredibly impressive expensive and premium material taking a look at the level 6 and 7 pick locations where glass normally starts to scratch we see no marks the screen of this dura force pro 2 is still flawless let's take it up to a level 8 finally in pedal of late we start to see some damage this is exactly where we would expect sapphire to be it's what we saw on the HTC u ultra sapphire edition as well as the sapphire covered T so watches that I've used to explain sapphire in the past Kyocera says the camera lens on the back of the phone is sapphire as well we'll be verifying that in just a second a level 9 pick of course also leaves marks on the crystal as wood diamonds at level 10 but I'm kind of fresh out of those at the moment the earpiece up at the top is covered in plastic and can be scratched the whole phone is designed to handle a few stone and keep working so superficial damage is kind of irrelevant there is a 5-megapixel selfie camera under that same sapphire display so definitely protect it from scratches the thick knobby corners of this phone though are made from a softer slightly grip plastic under the large flap on the side we have our sim NSD expandable memory slot and a dedicated camera button below that this could be programmed to be a Google assistant or another app instead it's super nice of Kyocera to let us choose how to use our own buttons phenomenal idea I hope Samsung is watching the bottom of the phone has a huge watertight ip68 plastic flap covering the USBC charging port we have you in more plastic along the sides with another large programmable button on the left side this button is supposed to be push-to-talk ya radio style button but can also be remapped to literally anything else I'm a fan the volume rocker is also made from plastic and look what we have up here a headphone jack instant thumbs up it's protected with the same watertight flaps that cover the SD card and charging port this durable smart phones turning out to be a winner the power button doubles as a fingerprint scanner I'll scratch that up to simulate a guy on YouTube who scratches stuff but while adding my fingerprint I would get constant fingerprint scanner as dirty messages even when it finally did accept my fingerprint the dirty little fingerprint scanner was not efficient at recognising my finger nor would it unlock the screen every time there is always other ways to unlock your phone of course but the weaker fingerprint scanner is just something to keep in mind the back of the Kyocera dura force pro 2 has four smooth hard rubber pads on each of the corners definitely an added perk for drop protection now back to the Sapphire it's a pretty incredible substance the optically clear stuff used in technology and like on phone screens and camera lenses is lab-grown fabricated in a lab over weeks into a large clear cylinder called a bull this massive chunk of sapphires then bored out and cut up to make watch faces or smaller bores to make camera lenses or sawed into rectangular chunks and polished to make smartphone displays like the one here on the Kyocera it's a fascinating process that I'd love to show off in real life if anyone over there at Kyocera is watching the back panel covering the wireless charging pad is plastic not all sapphire is created equal one company who shall remain nameless uses an impure version of safe fire just kidding it's Apple Apple is using junk sapphire on their camera lenses you can see here with the piece of sapphire that's covering the normal 13 megapixel camera and 8 megapixel wide-angle lens great combo by the way it does not scratch with a level six or seven most pic it's only when we reach levels eight and nine that the surface of the lens starts to get damaged this is the good quality sapphire Apple on the other hand has subpar sapphire lenses on every single one of their iPhones those get scratched starting at levels 6 and 7 just like glass wood there is a definite difference in quality I'm impressed with Kyocera their product is behaving as advertised imagine that like any rugged smartphone this guy is supposed to work in extreme heat which might just give us another reason for this burn test been struggling for years trying to justify this one and mostly just like fire the 1080p IPS LCD underneath the 5 inch slab of sapphire on the Kyocera dura force pro 2 lasted 30 seconds under the heat from my direct flame watch how fast it recovers though it's ready for round 2 with zero damage done to the display underneath impressive now for the bin test a rugged smartphone with no structure would be rather dumb independent third-party testing though is really the only way to tell this rock-solid er force pro 2 has zero flex and passes my durability test Kyocera has managed to make a durable rugged phone out of premium materials and I'm very impressed it might even very well be the most durable phone of this year Apple should be reaching out to Kyocera to find a quality sapphire supplier should we be putting sapphire on all cell phone screens if you enjoyed this video and want to see other phones tested in the future hit that subscribe button and coming out with me over on Twitter and Instagram thanks ton for watching I'll see you around