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Google apps like Chrome, Gmail and Play Store are preinstalled. There’s also an app called Explore Hub with links to a wide range of potentially useful outdoor apps. Which is interesting, because I had no idea Land Rover’s new vehicle was an iPhone 4 rip-off: WAY-HEYYYYY! What a great joke.
Another highlight of the Land Rover Explore is its ViewRanger app, which allows hikers and cyclists to navigate using off-road topographical mapping in conjunction with that ceramic patch GPS antenna. That’s not to say the Explore is not fit for use by adventurers; it definitely is, and besides, there’s little competition in its niche. With a waterproof, drop-proof design and a portable battery module, we can see the appeal of the Explore as merely a well-designed phone for people who want a handset that can work in all kinds of weather, including freezing conditions. In terms of performance, the Land Rover Explore is again adequate but not brilliant. Running the Geekbench 4 benchmarks, its Mediatek Helio X27 chip produced a single-core score of 1,768, and 4,818 in the multi-core test. That’s a long way off the speeds of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 powering many of the current crop of flagship phones and more on par with the two-generation old Snapdragon 821. The Land Rover Explore’s 5in 1,920 x 1,080 display is fine for everyday use but I wasn’t blown away by its performance, at least in terms of its vital statistics. With the Standard colour profile enabled, the phone reproduced only 91.6% of the sRGB colour gamut. That’s by no means shameful but if you’re looking to edit photos of your adventures on your phone, what you see on the screen could be somewhat misleading, with blues and yellows in particular being way off.Jaguar Land Rover Limited: Registered office: Abbey Road, Whitley, Coventry CV3 4LF. Registered in England No: 1672070 Maybe I’m too pessimistic. Maybe it’s going to be a great phone. Maybe people will love it. And maybe the big brains at Land Rover know exactly what they’re doing releasing a goddamn phone. One battery quirk is that in temperatures below 5°C a warning appears saying “battery temperature is too low”. The phone however continues working. I couldn’t find anything about this in the online manual so I asked Land Rover about it. I was told it related to charging, which stops when the temperature is below 5°, and can be ignored otherwise. I think this should be explained in the manual. It does mean that if you need to charge the phone when it’s cold, such as in a winter camp, you need to ensure it’s kept warm, either close to your body or in your sleeping bag. Although stuff like latitude, longitude, altitude and the compass work without any access to data, weather predictions, and even sunrise and sunset times, do require a constant data connection.
Inchcape Retail Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is on the Financial Services Register ( https://register.fca.org.uk) FRN 312637. Gerard Mann Limited (FRN 405813) and Chapelgate Motors Limited (FRN 477636) are Appointed Representatives of Inchcape Retail Limited. WLTP is the new official EU test used to calculate standardised fuel consumption and CO 2 figures for passenger cars. It measures fuel, energy consumption, range and emissions. This is designed to provide figures closer to real-world driving behaviour. It tests vehicles with optional equipment and with a more demanding test procedure and driving profile. Brightness, at least, was solid, with the Land Rover phone achieving a maximum reading of 546cd/m2. That’s decent and on par with most recent iPhones but some way behind the class-leading LG G7, which reaches incredibly high 991cd/m2 in its brightness boost mode. In short, you’ll be fine using the Land Rover in most environments, but it might come up short if you’re planning on using it on an Arctic expedition or other extremely bright surroundings. Land Rover Explore review: Performance and battery life Figures are shown as a range under WLTP testing measures. The lowest figures refer to the most economical/lightest set of options. The highest figures refer to the least economical/heaviest set of options. The phone comes with an Android 9 operating system, which can be upgraded to Android 10. There’s 64GB of memory and a slot for a microSD card to expand this.Land Rover is especially popular amongst well-off suburban and city dwellers, many of whom are sold on its “rugged” and “real” branding. It’s not a wild leap of the imagination to think the company could make some cash pushing these underpowered devices onto people with too much money, not enough sense, and a desire to be tough. Although the phone’s display is covered with regular Corning Gorilla Glass 5, and a tough factory-fitted screen protector, Land Rover has worked with the Bullitt Group (which makes the CAT phones) to ensure the display will respond to gloved fingers, even when it’s wet. Land Rover’s intentions with the Explore are very clear: to create a smartphone for those who spend much of their lives in the great outdoors. When assessed on those terms, it’s a roaring success, oozing style and refinement while boasting practically every mark of robustness and resilience you could ask for in a smartphone.
Customisable outdoor dashboard to access to the most important weather information, sensor data, and on-device tools for your activity: eg weather, wind, tides, compass, SOS light In good natural light, the main camera is good enough, capturing images with reasonable levels of sharpness and accurate colour reproduction, but it won’t take your breath away. The HDR mode doesn’t improve things much, but it works solidly enough with scenes where very bright skies and dark, silhouetted buildings go side by side.Bluetooth ® is a short-range radio frequency technology that is capable of transmitting voice and data wirelessly. The range for Bluetooth ® devices is around 10 metres, and data can be transferred at a rate of 1 Mbps. Smart Settings is intended to be released as part of a future wireless software update. Software development and releases are subject to movements in planning and programming, and dates may be subject to change.
The Land Rover Explore is a phone designed for those going off-grid. Or is it? There’s no question that this is one of the best phones around for true outdoor types. Find out how to use Bluetooth ® Connectivity with your mobile phone and explore the features that can keep you connected while you drive. The point I’m making here is the Land Rover Explore R doesn’t look modern like a modern phone. But maybe that’s okay, because the phone’s major selling point is its durability and outdoor-readiness.
It’s all about location, location, location for this ‘outdoor phone'
The figures provided are manufacturer’s estimates and will be replaced with the official EU test figures as soon as they are available. For comparison purposes only. Real world figures may differ. CO₂ and fuel economy figures may vary according to factors such as driving styles, environmental conditions, load, wheel fitment and accessories. However, despite the Explore’s ‘Land Rover DNA’ being of little interest to true outdoor types, this phone - with its cute car-inspired design motifs - has fans of the luxury car brand firmly in its sights. So the Explore will likely be welcomed just as much by posers as by pioneers. We realize the Explore is all about being location-specific, but it would be more useful if data like weather and sunset/sunrise times were retained from the last known location (most likely your home, or a Wi-Fi-equipped hotel lobby from where you left for the wilderness the previous day). However, where Land Rover’s phone stumbles is performance. Its mediocre Mediatek chip leads to underwhelming processing power, and when it comes to camera performance, the Explore comes up short compared to most other handsets at its price.
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