The Kyocera Brigadier Android Smartphone Sports a Sapphire screen and Affordable Ruggedity

A smartphone sporting a sapphire screen is actually not a new innovation as luxury designers like Vertu have explored this avenue but we are yet to see it on a non-luxury smartphone.

We have heard different stories reporting the upcoming iphone 6 would/would not sport a sapphire display, while that debate is going on Kyocera has gone ahead with a sapphire display for its new rugged mid-range smartphone tipping the iPhone to the the first for common smartphone users. Making the Kyocera Brigadier, the first non-luxury smartphone to feature a sapphire display. The company even went a step further by registering a trademark for the display, naming it the Sapphire Shield.

The Kyocera Brigadier features a 4.5-inch 720p HD Sapphire shield display, powered by a 1.4GHz Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of inbuilt storage (expandable via microSD cards), 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 2MP front facing camera. As well as other connectivity suites, the Kyocera Brigadier also features LTE connectivity.

Judging from the specs, the Kyocera Brigadier is not an exceptional smartphone but its a decent device to an acceptable level. The device is also IP68 certified and also Military Standard 810G certified (in terms of ruggedness). This certification means the device can survive harsh weather conditions – humidity, low pressure, rain, extreme temperature, shock, vibration, dust, salt fog and also a waterproof device as it can survive immersion in water.

The Kyocera Brigadier measures , weighs 187grams, runs on Android 4.4 Kitkat OS and is powered by a 3100mAh non-removable battery.

Kyocera Brigadier

Kyocera Brigadier key Specifications

The smartpgone is available to Verizon customers – all you need get the Kyocera Brigadier is – $399 for outright purchase, $99 on a two-year contract and $19.99 on the Verizon Edge plan.