Motorola Tundra VA76r

Expected January 2009 (United States)
6th January 2009

Available exclusively on the AT&T network in the US, the Motorola Tundra VA76r is a ruggedised clamshell phone that does not compromise on features.

While many tough phones such as the Sonim XP3 tend to be quite simple handsets underneath their robust exteriors, the Motorola Tundra is a fully featured 3.5G device with GPS, microSD expandable memory, stereo Bluetooth and a 2 megapixel digital camera.

When we say "tough", we mean that the Motorola Tundra complies with the US MIL-STD-810 standard which effectively means that the device is tough enough to be used by the US military in the field. So, the Motorola Tundra should survive most hard conditions including humidity, cold, heat, shocks and splashes.

One unusual feature with the VA76r Tundra is the external antenna, presumably to give better call quality in marginal reception areas. The Tundra also has a toughened casing and it certainly looks like it could survive the outdoors.

A quick tour around the Tundra's specifications show that underneath the tough exterior, this is a fairly standard device. It has a 2.2" 240 x 320 pixel display, a multimedia player, web browser, email client and push-to-talk support. The large 1130 mAh battery gives the VA76r Tundra up to 4 hours talktime on 3G and 5 hours talktime on GSM. Maximum standby time on 3G is 20 days.

This is a quad-band GSM device, so it should work worldwide.. but it only supports UMTS 850 / 1900 MHz, so you cannot use 3G in Europe. Since this is an AT&T device, this shouldn't pose too much of a problem.

The Motorola Tundra isn't the only military-specification phone to be made by Motorola, but most of the others operate on the IDEN network rather than GSM. We feel that the Tundra V76r is a very useful addition to AT&T GSM lineup.

Motorola say that the Tundra should be available from January 13th, more details can be found on the AT&T web site.