Thuraya has finally announced its Android-powered satellite phone that, in spite of being a smartphone, looks nothing like it. Although interested consumers can start placing orders for the phone starting this December, British sellers have announced that deliveries shall not commence before 31st January 2019. The phone, Thuraya X5-Touch has been priced at £999 and shall be made available in 160 countries.
The phone boasts of a 5.2” display with a screen resolution of 1080×1920 pixels and is protected by Gorilla Glass. In accordance with the IP67 standard, the phone is dust and water resistant, which is also logical given that the device is expected to function hassle-free in areas beyond civilization. The device also comes with a MIL-STD-810 certification for being able to withstand extreme conditions and has NFC on board. The device supports navigation through GPS, BeiDou, and GLONASS. In keeping with its ability to survive in bad conditions, the device, although lacking a fingerprint scanner, has been equipped with an SOS button, which, when clicked, makes the smartphone independently call (or send SMS) to pre-set numbers.
Under the hood, the device is being powered by a Snapdragon 625 chipset and has a modest 2GB RAM. It has a primary storage capacity of 16 GB, extendable up to 32 GB by external SD cards.
Weighing 262 grams, the phone has been provided with a 3800 mAh battery. In the camera department, X5-Touch comes with an 8MP rear and 2MP front camera.
The satellite part of the phone is traceable in the retractable antenna that has been added to it, and the device has been equipped to communicate both via cellular networks (2G / 3G / 4G) as well as via satellite, for which there are two SIM cards operating in an ‘Always on’ mode. It is being powered by Android Nougat 7.1. A solar battery and an external satellite dish are among the odd accessories being provided with the phone.
