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Kyocera Hydro Xtrm and Hydro Edge hands-on
Kyocera kitted us out with toques, touch-sensitive gloves and giant black faux-fur coats -- well, Brad chose white -- and led us all into a bar made entirely of ice to launch its new handsets here at CTIA. Kyocera, playing off the tough-guy thing, had the Hydro Xtrm and Edge laid out on slabs of ice in a pretty frosty environment for us to handle with our gloved hands. Both handsets will be priced toward the lower end of the spectrum, with the Hydro Edge being the least expensive and most modestly specced of the two. Both devices are decent as far as material choices go, though the Edge was perhaps our favorite even if the Xtrm beats it out in the display department somehow. There weren't any water tanks to test out both sets IPX5 / IPX7 specs so we'll simply have to take Kyocera's word for it. The Edge and Xtrm build on the previously launched Hydro specs but with upgrades across the board. The Edge sports a dual-core 1Ghz CPU, tempered glass (instead of acrylic), 5-megapixel camera, 4-inch WVGA (480 X 800) 233-ppi display and Android Jelly Bean. The Xtrm adds LTE to the connectivity list also touts a 5-megapixel shooter, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, the same display as the Edge, and Bluetooth 4. The Xtrm launches on US Cellular May 24th for $29.99 after instant rebate with the Edge joining the fun on Boost Mobile and Sprint during "Summer 2013." Check out the cool blue-hued pics in the gallery below. %Gallery-188927% Myriam Joire and Brad Molen contributed to this report.
Kyocera Elite for Verizon and XTRM for US Cellular both leaked
Kyocera does a good line in rugged (and often unconventional) smartphones, although this pair of leaked handsets, apparently headed to Verizon (left) and US Cellular (right), both appear to cut a more typical profile. As is often the way with serial leak artist @evleaks, there's no full spec sheet to hand, although the US Cellular-bound XTRM appears to been given some bumper protection around the corners and will likely match that hardy name. Verizon will get the LTE-capable Elite, although we'll have to wait for either the carriers -- or Kyocera itself -- to let us in on all the other details.
