Boost Mobile is no stranger to selling durable smartphones. Its pre-paid handsets such as the Kyocera Torque have been able to withstand drops, water and dust better than most. Now, the company is adding a bit more heft to its Hydro line with the release of the submersible phone's successor, the Kyocera Hydro Edge. While it doesn't carry the same armored plating as the rugged Torque, the Hydro Edge is a tough-guy Android device that can be picked up for $150 on Boost or $20 with a contract from Sprint.
Unlike other waterproof phones that have a clunky appearance, the Hydro Edge looks quite normal, with a glossy finish that picks up a lot of fingerprint smudges. Underneath the display is a silver Kyocera logo and capacitive Android buttons for Back, Home and Recent Apps.
The back is covered in a ribbed black plastic that extends around the sides to protect the speaker and 3.2-megapixel camera. There's also a twist lock on the MicroUSB port cover, which will help keep water away from the battery.
Inside the Kyocera Hydro Edge, you'll find a 1GHz Qualcomm processor with 512MB of RAM. In our tests, the processor was able to handle most tasks with ease, but more complicated actions such as opening the camera or scrolling through five home screen pages took a few seconds longer than expected. The Hydro Edge runs on a slightly modified version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Kyocera adds a few extra features such as EcoMode, which will turn off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and syncing to save power when you're not using the phone.
