Looking for a way to one-up those Blackberry co-workers who are always pulling out their Bolds during meetings? Two words: military spec.
Oh, the i-mate 810-F is manly, don't you worry about that. The 810-F may possibly be the most testosterone charged smartphone since those "mine's bigger than yours" briefcase phones of the 1980s.
While Bold and iPhone users fiddle with their Facebook apps, i-mate users will be taking geek pride to new levels around water coolers and boardrooms with the phrase "military spec".
Some may say building a phone to the US Military's Development Test Command's MIL-STD-810F standards is possibly overkill for a smartphone. Some may question whether there's really any need for your phone to withstand temperatures of -10 and 60C, or extreme shock, heat, humidity. Not us.
i-mate claims the waterproof casing makes the 810-F is "impervious to almost anything", which sounds like a recipe for warranty hell, but they've stuck a lifetime warranty on it, so they must be confident (note, the fineprint says this is subject to an "annual service").
If you ever lose it, the phone can be remotely locked and the contents erased using i-mate's Secure i-Q service.
The company is pitching the 810-F as the ultimate go-anywhere device for office workers who lead an active lifestyle outside work - say, surfing or fishing.
There have been 810-F spec phones before, but they looked . . . well, they looked like this.
Considering it's got GPS, WiFi, touchscreen, Bluetooth and HSDPA, and Windows Mobile, and it doesn't look like a sissy phone - the i-mate 810-F could be worth a look, depending on whether the price is right. Local i-mate representatives tell us the Australian launch event hopefully in a few weeks, so we'll have to wait till then for more details.