Hummer Cell Phone Misses The Point

Yes, you read that correctly. A cell phone from Hummer, the ultra-SUV brand, is about to hit the market. It comes in the same garish yellow that's probably blinded you when one of the trucks roars past on the highway. It is lacking the most important feature, however: A rugged form factor. That means it is no good for field force workers.Seriously. How can you build a phone with the Hummer brand and make it just like any other slider phone. (In fact, the Hummer, made by French company ModeLabs Group, looks a wee bit like the Nokia N95.)

I'd say the defining feature of a phone with the Hummer name on it should be MIL-SPEC toughness. You should be able to throw it against a brick wall, toss it down the stairs, drop it from your truck and submerge it in a pond without worry of damaging it. Not so, the Hummer from France. It may not be dainty, but it ain't no meaty man phone, either. And that's what field force workers and other frontline personnel need.

On top of that, we likely won't see it in the U.S., because it is tri-band GSM/EDGE, omitting the 850 band used by U.S. networks.

Still, it doesn't look half bad. At least some level of machismo is apparent in the design. On top of the blinding yellow color option, it also has a 2-Megapixel camera, microSD support, an FM radio and MP3 player.