Whatever happened to buying a phone just so you can make and take calls from virtually anywhere?

These days, it’s all about the glitz and the panache. People today have been configured to believe that the more applications they can store on their phones, the cooler they become. It’s a product of the rapid pace at which technology is morphing our lives.

Lost in the whole idea of owning a mobile – apart from its simplest and truest function of making calls – is finding a phone that can last the test of time. After all, what good is your week-old iPhone if you accidentally drop it on the toilet because you were so engrossed in chatting up your friends?

Sometimes, it’s better to choose function over style and in some cases, durability over style.

The Land Rover S1 mobile phone is all about durability. We know what you’re thinking – What on earth is a car manufacturer doing making mobile phones?

The answer, of course, is they have help.

The company that manufacturers the phones for Land Rover is actually Sonim Technologies, and the request of Land Rover, Sonim has been tasked to create a mobile phone that exudes the same ruggedness that is widely associated with the car manufacturer.

The result, as we’ve said, is the Land Rover S1, which has been described as ‘rugged beyond anyone’s imagination, making it ideal for field use’.

The road to ‘ruggedness-beyond-anyone’s-imagination’ was actually a painstaking endeavor. After all, how can you determine how tough a mobile phone is when there has been little to no precedent to base your studies on. So, according to Bob Plaschke, CEO of Sonim Technologies, they created their own ‘Rugged Performance Standard’, a detailed 12-point test designed to put the S1 under and all unimaginable predicaments in order to determine how long it will last before conking out. Judging from the photos that we’ve unearthed, the phone was subjected to an array of punishing tests that would’ve left its flashier contemporaries screaming ‘Uncle!’

While we may have been overstating just how tough this phone is, let’s not forget that it’s still a phone that comes with all the necessary features anyone’s going to ever need in their mobile. It comes with a 2MP camera, GPS, flashlight, FM radio, 2GB memory slot, mobile Java and Bluetooth complete with a built-in Opera Mini browser for surfing the web. Retail price for the phone is £299.99 ($488).

So the next time you’re out inside a Go Mobile store in the UK, you might want to check out those phones that are displayed floating inside a water tank. Those are the Land Rover S1 mobile phones and don’t worry, they’re still working.

Land Rover S1 Specifications