Sonim claims that the XP1 is one of the toughest phones out there.  With tons of videos out showing the XP1 being run over with a tracker, water being spilt on it, and dropped from top of some staircases, Gadget Review decides to take it a bit further.  When the Gadget Review folk came to us and asked if we wanted to help with a little experiment and told us what it was, we leaped at the opportunity.

 

Sonim sent us a phone claiming it was bulletproof.  We've seen all the videos that were out there so we wanted to do a little kicking, throwing and stomping of our own. We took it on down to good old Venice Beach, CA and tossed it around a bit then decided to play a little basketball.

Gadget Review went for the Three and the phone called for a permanent timeout.  So, the phone died and we were not able to do the experiment.  Sonim then sent us another phone and not wanting to destroy the toughest phone before we got to our experiment, we wait for judgement day.

 

We get to the LAX firing range and post up a benchmark Sony Ericsson S710 and shoot it with a .22 rifle.  We wanted to start off small and move up to the 9mm round just in case.  When it comes time for the XP1 to face the music, it just totally gets destroyed, compared to the S710 which took some damage and was not functional anymore but didn't just fall apart.  Sonim claimed that it was a faulty phone and you guessed it: they sent a third phone. Checkout it's fate below:

 

We went to the utmost extreme with the XP1 but it is a pretty tough phone.  I'd say if you were a construction worker this phone would work out great for you, but if you had bullets flying at you, I'm sorry to say, it's not going to help you out.  Sorry Superman, you are going to have to keep using that sonic hearing and lighting speed to keep in-touch with your five favs.