Landrover S1 – Sonim Landrover Phone Review – Sonim S1 Review
The Sonim Landrover S1 has been built to withstand a range of climatic and environmental conditions. Its purpose is to be a durable workhorse that will still function in whatever conditions it finds itself in. This it achieves with distinction. This rebranded Sonim tough phone also comes with an impressive array of features which enable its owner to fulfil numerous tasks whilst out and about.
One of the key features of the Sonim Landrover S1 is the built in GPS, which offers the satellite navigation function, which for obvious reasons can be a useful function. Various means of connectivity are offered which includes Bluetooth and miniUSB and a microSD slot. This ensures that the user has the ability to share files and synchronise the Landrover phone with a PC if required. The internal memory on the phone can be upgraded to a substantial 2 Gb.
Landrover S1 Phone
A phone such as the Landrover S1 needs to be able to last some time without charging and it does with an impressive 1500 hours standby and the ability to talk on the phone for over 18 hours. The phone also includes several other features which include a built in torch for illumination, an organiser for keeping track of appointments and a voice memo facility. A 2 mega pixel camera is provided which displays 65,000 colours at a size of 176 x 220 pixels in size and is suitably good enough to take snapshots whenever required.
The Sonim Landrover S1 is IP67 certified which is a certification relating to durability. This ensures that the phone is able to withstand submersion into water, be dust repellent and shock resistant. The phone is water resistant up to 1 metre for a period of 30 minutes. It is also able to be dropped from a 2 metre height onto concrete and still function.
The Sonim Landrover S1 is the complete package. It provides an essential link when others fail. It is built to offer a substantial handset that will continue to provide a service in the harshest of conditions.
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August 25th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Just bought the S1. Very tough and is water proof.. But the software and capabilities are stone age. The mobile phone pc tools is just rubbish. I have better ten years ago. It does not allow you to down transfer media file to your PC. I take pictures all day but cannot transfer them to my PC. Sonim say that the phone is not compatable. The menus take a lot of time to get around. Nothing about this phone is user friendly. No decent ring tones. I can go on and on as an unsatisfied customer. Yes stone age. DONT BUY THIS PHONE
August 26th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
SONIM S1 LAND ROVER
I can’t get more than 24 hours standy with moderate use out of a fully charged battery. The retailer changed the battery once (and charged me with a promised credit for returning the original one) only after a battle, but the promised 2 months standby is clearly rubbish. After having had Nokias for 20 years this phone is a nighmare to master. The text size on SMS’s can’t be altered and several buttons have to be pressed to read and clear a text. Any divert/call forward overwrites the blacklist – so any blacked numbers simply go to your diverted number. So the blacklist is useless. Sonim have admited that.
The Sonim customer service people answer only after keeping you waiting for days (if at all) and then in pidgeon English. If I don’t get satisfaction out of the retailer and/ or Sonim I’m going to tell Land Rover’s directors what a bad product and company they are sponsoring.
September 26th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I bought one and have had nothing but frustration from from day one. Didn’t play AAC files, as I wanted a decent ring tone, reply from Sonim was impossible to understand. Connected to PC via USB cable – couldn’t find the phone – it told me it was in location 0?? Then today tried putting an SD card in as ‘it dispays as an external drive’, well, it did, – but in location 0 again – which took some finding. PC couldn’t find a driver for it – driven me mad. It is NOT USER FRIENDLY, DOES NOT DO WHAT THEY SAY IT DOES and it is going back to Tesco.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Had the phone for 72 hours now, used it non stop and left it on Standby when not in use. It’s still showing as full battery, my old nokia would cried in the corner by now!!
The Phone is as solid as my Land Rover Defender, so far i’m a VERY happy customer. It’s not a fashion phone, no choice of ringtones etc (although i’ve downloaded some) BUT if you want a fashion phone there are plenty of chav phones out there… this one is rugged and serves a purpose to almost military spec!
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:26 pm
I get this phone for 2 days now. It really drives me mad. Firstly, I have to deal with the connection with the computer all the evening, but still fail to download the picture in the memory directly and no direction can be found from the manul. Secondly, the voice from the earphone is as low as a mosquito. I have to change one the next day from the dealer. Thirdly, the signal from the new one is nightmare. When in the suburbs, it goes offline so long as the dialing or talking lasts more than 20 seconds. God, it is really a rubbish phone. Today, I will have to go to the dealer again to change another one. Never buy this phone. By the way, I am in China. The phone is coming from UK.
December 7th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
I had a problem with standby time, switched off the GPS, works great now.
January 4th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
had phone 3 weeks and tesco changed 3 batteries still only holding 12 hour charge despite no bluetooth gps or using a lot the text is too small on texting i will now try their helpline to see what responce i get
January 4th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
what do you mean by moderation
January 14th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
I am astonished that the address book won’t sync with my car when connected by bluetooth. Reason for astonishment; I drive a Range Rover!
January 17th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Wish we had read these reviews before buying this phone expensive and rubbish charge dosn’t last 24hrs. Had it less than two months already on our 2nd camera dosn’t work either on this one of to Tesco to try and get a different phone.
DONT BUY ONE OF THESE
January 22nd, 2010 at 6:55 pm
22 jan 2010 ive had landrover phone 2 months wish i never bothered, its rubbish, the battery goes flat in 2 hours on standbye, the sound is terrible, the cost for what you accually get is day light robbery, i am waiting for a replacement this is the third day in 2 weeks ive waited in it still hasnt come, i ring landrover phone , there very polite and covince it on the way it def… guna come monday now they say, we will see, wish i sent it back when i first had it there many many phones out there cheaper an better, please please dont buy you will regret, to many faults to list,
January 27th, 2010 at 12:56 am
Some mixed reviews here – I’ve had mine for about 5 months now and at first I suffered the same battery life problem as mentioned above. I changed the phone under warranty ( a new battery made no difference) and now I get 1-2 weeks of ‘normal’ use out of it, talking about 30 mins per day.
But it worked after a very thorough drying out!
Menus are a little off the cutting edge of progress, but that’s not what this phone is about IMO. You get used to them. Buttons are solid feeling but a little noisy. Ring tones limited to start with – I just wanted a standard ‘ring ring’ but no problems downloading them from the net. Very tough with great torch. Waterproof if you close the port cover – I was swimming in the sea and it fell out of my pocket, opening the cover in the process. Spent ages searching on the bottom for it, eventually found it full of seawater
A few niggles – no MMS although the camera is OK, and the torch will sometimes turn itself on in your pocket (I cured that by filing down the button slightly).
I think in summary, if you get a fully working one it’s great for what it’s designed to do (i.e. not a smartphone!) But seems like some people have been unlucky. I guess any Land Rover product is going to have slightly suspect electrics…just like my Disco! But I wouldn’t change either.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Hi Mat
Pleased that you’re satisfied with the phone but I’m interested in how you downloaded ringtones. I’ve tried but my pc can’t find the drivers for this phone and it didn’t come with any software on the disc.
Anty help appreciated
Thanks Ian
January 28th, 2010 at 12:11 am
I purchased this phone secondhand on ebay, it was only 4 months old and I thought I was getting a bargain, how wrong I was. I had wanted a rugged phone as I sometimes get soaked when out on my dirtbike and had experienced problems with previous phones. The charger socket in the phone doesn’t make contact very well and the phone doesn’t charge more often than not. Even when it did charge (it has stopped charging completely now) the battery didn’t last a day without needeing a recharge, the software is completey shit, I have never owned a phone as bad as this one, the text software is rubbish, the dictionary doesn’t update when you type in a new word and the library is limited to say the least, any capitilisation or grammer requires so many key presses it is unbeleiveable. There is no video on the camera and there is no MMS function how can Sonim or Landrover stand behind such a crap product. Having now seen most of the other comments about this phone I really wish I had read them before wasting my money. I am going to ring Sonim customer service tomorrow but from the reviews I have now seen I expect to get problems, where do I stand as I didn’t originally purchase the phone and the seller on ebay is understandably keeping a low profile?
February 9th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
hi guys, dont dispair i had a few issues with my land rover phone, battery not lasting more than 48hours, (it did work fine then it didn’t) and my speaker wouldn’t turn up.
Well one of the SONIMS UK REPRESETATIVES, ENDUROMOBILE have a really handy sonim support section with a full factory reset proceedure, went through it and my phone has been fine for 3weeks now, on the same charge!!….ok not that long but it fixed my problem without doing anything else.
happy with the phone again
February 9th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
hi, again, just read through more of the reviews, and have to say, yes the functionality of the phone isn’t that great but thats not why you buy these phones, they are Tough Phones and not a replacement for an i-phone or some other multi gadget nonsense
had to get my penneth worth
February 13th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
Hi,
I can not get my landrover S1 phone to synchronise with my parrot 3200. When I try to send my contacts individually by bluetooth the phone says not allowed.
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Hi Ian,
Sorry for the late reply, but I just downloaded mp3 files of standard ring tones, then saved them to the memory card (or phone memory if you don’t have a card).
Whether the card is in or out, the 3 computers I have used the phone with simply see it as an extra hard drive with no drivers required (although you can’t access the phone memory from the PC when you have a card installed). Hope this helps.
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:39 am
Ive had a Landrover phone six months and I love it. The battery life is exceptional, I have had no problem uploading music/ringtones with the software provided. Yes it is a basic program but I like that -plain functional. The torch is brilliant, GPS great and internet OK for occasional use .I would not part with it for anything
Steve
March 14th, 2010 at 8:31 am
Perfectly satisfied with the phone. All the comments about “stone age” menus/facilities are wasted breath; they befit the phone. People looking upon the phone as a potential trinket with “LG Chocolat” os facilities are not the intended audience. When tired and/or in an emergency situation one requires simple, no-nonsense tools; this is just the tool for such situations. Lounge lizards look elsewhere!
March 20th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Had the phone 4 days and have already arranged for it to go back. I just want my phone to last loger than 16 hours between charges. It does not. It has just taken its THIRD charge in 4 days !! Try being in an emergency and your phone doesn’t work the day after you left home like I was this week. I had to scour London to buy another charger to answer news of a bereavment.
Even the Sonim website email facility – surprise surprise, doesn’t work either. You type away but no letters appear in the dialogue box. Nice one Sonim !! Is that to stop the complaints piling in or is your complaints folder just over-loaded ?
What a CON !!!
March 27th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
worse phone i have ever had. will not stay charged longer than a day, any hints as to what i should do now? as i have had 3 replacement phones since december.
April 2nd, 2010 at 9:20 pm
2 all of U
….so what do u recommend instead ???….i want to buy this type of phone and i am more confused than before
ty
April 3rd, 2010 at 5:53 am
I’m on my fith phone in two months, battery problems, gps stuck on off etc. It’s tough, Ive honestly driven over it with my landy, and given it hell…….sems its the software and battery that is the weak link in this phone. The features are basic, and it’s a pain to connect to. Sonim did allow me to have a SDK from them but its just as useless!!!! Watch this space!!!
April 14th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
I have had the phone going for 2 months now on the same charge – use phone daily!
April 23rd, 2010 at 1:12 pm
do i get this phone or not?????
May 13th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
l am trying to call sonim customer care but l aint getting through, l am in Dubai what is the code? the number l know is +888 – 547 – 9372.
May 24th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
i am on my 3rd 1st faulty and could not use 2nd faulty within 1 day 3 rd lasted 4 months (with problems) sent it to sonim direct after complaining since 4th april its now 24th may they wont even answer my e mails anymore what a waste of £270
May 28th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Hi,
I can not get my landrover S1 phone to synchronise with my parrot slimkit. When I try to send my contacts individually by bluetooth the phone says not allowed. Battery life crap, can’t adjust ring time (only 10 seconds) before phone goes to voicemail, when your in the dark keys don’t light up when phone rings only screen does, the list is endless but other than that its a great phone!
June 21st, 2010 at 1:26 pm
This phone has become my dream now! but after reading reviews above, i’m kind of mixed up! Some users are so happy with their phone (i’m not taLking about phone options, i just need SMS, CaLLing and GPS) and many others are unhappy!
.
can Landrover upgrade the software to improve the phone? and what about the battery probLem?
July 30th, 2010 at 11:51 am
THESE PHONES ARE CRAP IM ON MY THIRD IN UNDER AYEAR,THE LIST IS ENDLESS THAT THESE PHONES HAVE DO NOT BUY ONE .
July 30th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Heya
Soorena, I’m having the same problem. As soon as this phone was announced, I thought “that’s the phone for me!” But now I don’t know because of the battery problem so many people are complaining about!
I am sooo confused! Has anyone not had battery problems?
Should I buy this phone?
August 15th, 2010 at 6:23 am
the land rover phone is the only phone that lasted over 7 months
this is not a fashon phone has no good apliction but good batery water proof i love htis phone
it is a mans phone graet to handel bay for thr perpes not for looks?
October 18th, 2010 at 10:56 am
I have had my phone for a year. No problems, apart from slightly reduced battery lifeand the fact that GPS stopped working.
I went camping at the weekend, nothing too radical – woke up and found that the phone had switched itself off and there was condensation on the inside of the screen!
I rang Sonim this morning who were very helpfull – I have now returned the phone and will report further when Sonim get back to me.
November 4th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
ive had mine for over a year battery last months and i love it
November 17th, 2010 at 8:18 am
I’ve had the s1 for almost a year now, for me it’s the greatest phone ever, it does what a phone should do, it text’s and calls, what more do you want from a phone, for anything else get the laptop out. I’ve had the prob’s with the GPS being on and draining the battery, it has had a moments of freezing once or twice, and i have managed to break the little tiny locking mechanism thingy on the charger cover. For what the phone has been through i cannot fault it. I would have usually been on phone number 4 or 5 for the year by now.
It has now developed a problem with connection, people can’t hear me the other end, the line can be very crackly and it’s getting annoying for the people trying to phone me, ha ha. Anyway, gonna give sonim a buzz later, and we’ll see what happens.
December 27th, 2010 at 3:22 am
my replacement phone was coming, but i have still problem with my land rover….. if i received or calling, somestimes the phone was blank and restart again…..
January 12th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
I have had my Landrover phone for 9 months and the battery has just gone. Not had any problems until now. Found this site when looking for new battery! I don’t think I would get another one and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who isn’t a landrover nut and wants latest technology. Most people who see my phone comment on the size, which is great for me as I am clumsy and cannot use a more slimline phone.
Probably go back to Nokia when this one conks out completely.
February 20th, 2012 at 10:51 pm
After spending hours with two different computers online attempting to download software that will possibly allow my computer to sync up to the landrover s1, I have determined that I am probably relegated to a high-priced phone that will not do anything it says it will do except send and receive a phone or text message. Even that is a difficult process with this phone. The manufacturer site is no help, the downloads are crap, and there is no real tech support to get this phone to work like it is supposed to. Don’t buy it; it will only frustrate you.