Tetra T-Pad smartphone is tough, just not $2,600 tough

Ever since Motorola was tossing the Tetra name around in 2005, the brand has catered to those operating in less-than-beautiful conditions. The T-Pad smartphone is no exception to the rule, boasting a shock-proof (MIL-STD-810F) casing, IP65 waterproof rating and a keypad that resists dust, debris and any other manner of matter. Specs wise, you'll find a 640 x 480 resolution display, Intel's Xscale 400MHz CPU, Windows CE.Net 4.2, Bluetooth, 64MB of SDRAM, USB connectivity and optional WiFi / GPS. Unfortunately, this little bugger is reportedly stickered at £1,300 ($2,592), so unless your employer is picking up the tab for you to have a mobile while wrestling polar bears at the North Pole, we'd probably recommend a cheaper alternative.

[Via CNET, thanks Yogesh]

[Danakin @ Jun 30th 2008 10:14AM]

Who thinks this will sell even 1,000 units?

[Danakin @ Jun 30th 2008 10:14AM]

Nope

[thedesolate1 @ Jun 30th 2008 10:22AM]

I'll be the judge of that "toughness"...
will it blend?
go ahead low rank me you Nazis.

[samsam @ Jun 30th 2008 10:53AM]

I'm not sure if it will blend. Why you don't you buy one, blend it and then report back to us?

Buy two just in case the first one is a dud.

[thedesolate1 @ Jun 30th 2008 11:14AM]

Sure I would be glad to. I just need some government funding to conduct my tests first.

[Alareth @ Jun 30th 2008 10:32AM]

Why such a dated OS?

[barrywoods @ Jun 30th 2008 10:56AM]

Because it's a two year old phone.

[kjb434 @ Jun 30th 2008 10:39AM]

They will easily sell a lot of these. It will be governments buying them. And we all know that governments can never spend money responsibly.

Anyone want to by a $75 hammer and $200 toilet seat?

[thedesolate1 @ Jun 30th 2008 10:53AM]

$200 toilet seat? Pffffffffffftttt it better be made out of gold and do a royal flush for that money. Oh and wipe my ass too. Oh wait I think English monarchies might be interested.

[kjb434 @ Jun 30th 2008 10:57AM]

Don't be surprised.....

Governments do this kind of thing all the time. The two price references I made came from actual government projects.

Motorola knows who the customer of this phone will be and they know it's not the everyday consumer.

[barrywoods @ Jun 30th 2008 10:57AM]

Hey, blame the manufacturer for that. You can't get just the seat. You have to buy the whole toilet assembly. Let me tell you, FAA approved toilets aren't cheap.

[sprint employee @ Jun 30th 2008 11:52AM]

-"Governments do this kind of thing all the time. The two price references I made came from actual government projects."-
LOL no they didn't. They came from the movie "Independence Day". That scene on the plane when they found out there was an Area 51.

[kjb434 @ Jun 30th 2008 11:54AM]

They cam from a Pentagon project in the late 80s when subcommittee was auditing waste spending. Independence Day took it from reality.

[Dead_Rebel @ Jun 30th 2008 12:03PM]

Those exact numbers were from the movie. The "real" number for the toilet seats was $640. Google = friend.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jun 30th 2008 11:38AM]

Tough, but fugly. If a polar bear bit into it, it would be done for in an instant.

[tyler @ Jun 30th 2008 2:30PM]

How would a polar bear get a hold of your phone?

[Wwhat @ Jun 30th 2008 12:01PM]

I wonder if that LCD can actually handle polar temps, LCD are rather picky about such things I understand.

And it's probably $600 for the phone and $2000 for the AAC codec license (J/K I hope)

[w00fy @ Jun 30th 2008 12:15PM]

Yea, the US government will be more than happy to purchase a bunch at full MSRP.

When I was working with one of the big defense firms, I was sent to an AFB to do some work. In one closet I found no less than 50 Iridium (remember them?) satellite phone. This is just one example of huge spending done under the guise of "homeland security." In another case, dozens of Panasonic Toughbooks were purchased for a small project.

[dukemang @ Jun 30th 2008 12:18PM]

Oh sure it can handle a Polar Bear, but what do you do when it survives an accidental drop down a 200 ft crack in a glacier. "Hey look, my phone survived the fall. I can see the display from here. Too bad I can't call anyone to tell them about it. Oh crap, the polar bear is coming back and I don't have my phone."

[torax @ Jun 30th 2008 12:45PM]

"we'd probably recommend a cheaper alternative."

Is there?

[Greg Calvino @ Jun 30th 2008 1:21PM]

It is tough but you could buy 2o normal phones for the same price.
Greg Calvino

[CraigJ @ Jun 30th 2008 11:09AM]

more like 10...