Rock Climbing with Land Rover’s Explore Mobile Phone
The new Land Rover Explore mobile phone is claimed to be as tough as the Discovery SUV that inspired it. As an avid outdoor enthusiast, Nicky Durand put the phone to the real test on an adventure packed weekend away in the Klein Karoo…
From Rock climbing, Hiking, Camping, Swimming, and Back-packing, this trusty companion went everywhere with us – even 20m up a vertical cliff face!
I was most impressed with the battery life, which on a full charge and with the use of the Adventure Pack when necessary, lasted from the Friday evening right through to Sunday evening, with a lot a use (Camera, GPS and other apps). The speed and picture quality of it surprised me – I didn’t expect and outdoor phone to be quite as ‘premium’ as it was.
The navigation app was pretty cool and the Adventure Pack made the GPS and mapping available when we were out of range. The maps and compass were quite accurate when we were out of range as it uses the GPS/satellite – nifty!
Since I started climbing I have always wanted to take a selfie at the top of a climb, but have never had a phone that I felt comfortable enough to do it with…until now. Clipping the phone to my harness using the phone’s carabiner was so useful as I would never have been able to do that with any other phone and I don’t have pockets when I climb. It didn’t get in the way of the quick draws or the climb itself and I was able to take the long-awaited selfie at the top of the climb despite that my fingers were chalked-up and had lost all existence of my fingerprints on the rough rock.
A moment of terror struck when I slipped coming down the gorge on our hike, thanks to some loose gravel (and gravity never prevails). I was so engrossed by the cool apps I wasn’t concentrating on where I was going, the phone fell to its inevitable fait and I feared the worst. It ‘Land Rovered’ face-first on a sharp rock and insurance claim forms flashed before my eyes… I turned the phone over while whispering a Hail Mary under my breath, but true as Bob there was not a scratch on it! Perhaps this must have been thanks to the factory-fitted screen protector.
After a heavy full day of hiking and climbing we headed back to the base for a swim to cool off in the salt water pool and we decided to test the phone’s sea gills. It’s a very strange feeling of reluctance when deliberately placing a fully functioning electronic device into a body of water that doesn’t belong to a cheating ex. It didn’t seem to mind at all though. I couldn’t actually use the phone under water (next level) as it struggled to read my fingers on the screen but hey, the phone was still working fine even after being UNDER (SALT) water and falling down a bloody mountain. Could your phone do that!? I don’t think so….
All in all this is one tough, yet very affordable sidekick. It really is the phone version of the car. And like it’s four wheeled mothership, it’s not for the fragile, dainty, never-seen-the-sunlight, unadventurous spirits, but rather for those who live life by the second and make it count, so go and make it count!
Click here for pricing and more info.