The Sonim XP1300 Core cell phone is a remarkably reliable phone which does not offer many features and has a limited call volume but it sure does fit to be called a remarkable reliable and solid phone.

Design

The Sonim XP1300 Core has a length of 4.96 inches, a width of 2.36 inches, a depth of 0.98 inches and a weight of 6.52 ounces. It is large enough to be carried in a big pocket and with the black and yellow color to make it even more noticeable. The shape of the Sonim XP1300 Core is that same as previous Sonim models, like the shape of a candy bar. The covering of the phone is done in a rubber and fiberglass casing while the battery is covered with the help of screws.

The left side of the phone has a 3.5 millimeter port, the top of the phone has a standard wired headset and the bottom has a charging connection syncing it with the PC. The Sonim also packages a number of necessary cables to provide ease alongwith the box but it surely does not meet up the requirements of convenience. On the right side of the phone, you will find the volume rocker with a flashlight activator on the top. The phone is water resistant and in order to get into the microSD card slot battery cover required to be taken out.

The display of the phone is covered by Gorilla Glass and is 2 inches in measurement. Due to the hardcore glass covering of the phone, it is a resistant phone that does not easily take scratches in the screen. The display has the resolution of 320 X 240 pixels which is pretty much suitable for the phone. The color results showed to be very bright with sharp graphics and an improved menu interface. It also allows you to change the wallpaper and the screensaver of the screen.

The navigation controls of the phone are quite the same as those on the XP3 except that the Sonim has introduced steadfast Clear and Back buttons. The four way toggle represents four way directions with a coarse surfaced OK button in between. There are also the Talk and the End / Power keys present in the phone. The dial pad of the phone is redesigned and it gives an easy feeling while texting, providing a comfortable experience with enough space between the keys.  It also has a bright light on the back to enable comfortable texting but visually weak users should test it before buying.

Features and Performance

The features of this phone include capability of having 1,000 contacts with space for each contact’s multiple phone numbers, company name, e-mail address, birth date, street address, URL, fax number and notes. Other than that you can assign a photo or ringtone to your contact. It also includes a calculator, an alarm clock, a unit converter, a world clock, a calendar, a notepad, a stopwatch, a sound recorder, a text reader, Bluetooth, PC syncing, a file manager, POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail support. It does not have a camera but has an FM radio and a music player which provides support to MP3, WAV and AAC files.

The performance of the phone proved to be good on some aspects of the call quality but not really great. It has 18 hours talk time and 33 days standby time and has a digital SAR of 0.601 watts per kilogram.