Ex-Nokia employee to create the rugged premium Android segment with $1300+ Adaia phones in early 2014
After Jolla phones we heard about rugged sailor's handsets, running Android, and now the prototype is being fleshed out more. The Adaia startup is a 16-member team, headed by Heikki Sarajärvi, who used to work at Nokia, and venturing on the quest to create the perfect durable and expensive Android. Why the little green robot? "There is no alternative," says Heikki.
What will command prices in the $1300-$6500 range remains to be seen, but the first prototype is said to sport a 4.8" display, and weigh hefty 250 grams, for instance, so there might be a whole lot of functions inside. The Finnish publication that played around with it, mentions terms like "hard plastic" and "titanium reinforcements", and the phone is apparently going to take the cake in terms of diving records, as it will be able to sustain depths of hundred feet, for instance.
Couple that with a satellite antenna housed on the inside, and the ability to hot-swap the battery at the push of a button, and you can see why the prototype feels heavy. The goal was to make an Android handset that is going to withstand salty sprinkles and other assaults on its frame that can happen at sea. BMW’s DesignworksUSA, which Nokia has worked with before for its Communicator and other lines, was probed for the looks and feel.
"Dualism is the key characteristic of the design,” according to Laurenz Schaffer, the DesignworksUSA president. ” It had to support an extreme, active lifestyle in the outdoors as well as be appropriate to use in an executive meeting.” That is why the studio chose outer appearance inspired by a topographic map with its waves and curves, which is turning into a tough Android handset with cellular and the obligatory for a sailor satellite connectivity. The interface will also reflect the phone's schizophrenic nature, scaling up when you move from the conference room to the boat.
Adaia promises that its first phones will be ready around the holidays, but hit the market early next year, so we'll have to wait and see if the cheapest version will sport the promised 13 MP camera on the back.
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