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My sample also had another rather interesting setting in that by default Wi-Fi is set to off so you cannot do the standard of inserting SIM, setup Wi-Fi – because no Wi-Fi will be found – then set up your email account etc. before you get to the Home screen. I have been told this problem is now fixed.
There is sometimes a third option showing of ‘later’ on the Wi-Fi setup screen which allows you to get to the Home screen. Having got there and turned the volume levels down I did a factory reset to check it was not me suffering an aberration but I got both Wi-Fi set to off and a high volume when I redid the setup. I have reported this and I hope the factory will change both these settings before they try to sell them here.
It is 16x8.2x1cm and weights a quite substantial 276grams. The viewable screen is 12.2x6.9cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial screen measurement of 5.5inches. The display is 1080x1920.
Startup 24 seconds and shutdown is 3 seconds. You have 64GB of internal storage with all but 10GB of that available. 4GB of RAM with around 2.5GB free.
It runs Android 7 with very recent security patches. It has an Octa-Core 2GHz processor with a Helio P10 chipset.
The right side has volume up/down rocker and below that on the matt silver sides is a slight pimple that is the on/off button. The base has a quite substantial speaker and beside this the micro USB under a rubber bung which I found difficult to open. The left side has a camera button and the top has a 3.5mm socket for headphone this like the one on the base is a rubber bung but at least you can get a fingernail in to open this one.
The back has a slightly raised camera lens with an LED flash beside the 13MegaPixel camera, the Selfie unit is 5MegaPixel.
The battery is not user assessable but a section of the back – a horizontal strip – just below the camera is a flip open but again fingernail breaking tight, that reveals twin SIMs and a micro SD card port. The battery is 5000 mAh.
Nice features that I found while exploring the System folder are various three finger options for shortcuts as well as glove mode, flip to mute and background task clear just to mention a few that do not appear on most phones. Another that I would need longer to evaluate is scheduled on and off and while I do turn my phone off a lot of people would freak at it doing so but let me reassure you the default is have this feature turned off.
In use I found this a responsive unit and once I had got over my initial problems I found it easy to use and even though it does have a reflective screen quite easy to see providing you shield it from direct sunlight.
While I did not try dropping it or throwing it around it is described as a rugged phone and it does have a gorilla glass screen. It is described as waterproof and dustproof.
The Hammer Axe Pro will probably need to be taken up by one of the SIM providers to gain a substantial footprint. The unit I used was supplied SIM free.
The Hammer Axe Pro is available from amazon for £354.11 including delivery.
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