Land Rover Explore R Phone
“I remember the waist-high heather that would scratch our legs, the water in the burn being incredibly clear, and Suilven watching over us all like a great-grandfather,” he recalls.
“It was a place of discovery and imagination and learning to be excited by nature. We’d probably gone about 100 yards in reality, but it felt like a journey into something that was far, far bigger than ourselves.”
Later, walking became an escape from the abuse that Lemn experienced in a succession of care homes.
“They were intense places full of traumatised teenagers, and walking was the only way out,” he explains.
“In Atherton I’d climb this rocky little hill above town which was the site of the Pretoria Pit mining disaster in 1910. It had dark ponds and old railways lines flanked by silver birch, and it offered every possible interpretation of my mood. I could clear my head there.
“Sometimes I’d run away altogether. They call it ‘running away’ but of course you’re not running, you’re walking. I once walked 20 miles from Atherton to Manchester. I slept in a shop window, then walked back.
“Partly it was about wanting someone to worry about where I was, but mostly it was just about the walk.”
He has never lost his sense of wonder at the power of nature, and it’s a feeling he hopes all walkers can embrace.
“We often think of nature as being on show for our benefit and we judge it from our own standpoint,” he adds.
“In winter we see a bare tree and think it’s a bad thing and the tree must be sad. But it’s not. Nature is active in that tree, serving whatever need it must serve in that moment. Nature is not an interruption to the flow of things, it IS the flow of things.”
An appreciation of nature has inspired many writers, he points out, naming personal favourites such as William Wordsworth, Ted Hughes, Simon Armitage, Anita Sethi and in particular Nan Shepherd, whose beautiful poems celebrated the wildlife and scenery of the Cairngorms. Lemn believes they all form part of a cultural fascination with the outdoors which is reaching a kind of crescendo now, given the state of affairs around the world.
“I really think something is happening with walking,” he insists once again.
“I think we need it more than we ever have. And I have a feeling we love nature more than we ever have. If that’s the case then there is a lot of cause for hope.”
OUTDOOR PHONES CAN be a tricky proposition. We are so in love with our Apple/Samsung/Google/LG devices that switching tack away from all that instant familiarity can feel like a risk, even if it promises far better battery life and much greater resilience to the hazards of temperature, moisture and terrain.
Perhaps the key to taking that step is turning to a well-known name that’s already associated with ruggedness and reliability in the outdoors.
That’s why 4x4 brand Land
Rover started making phones a few years ago.
More accurately, they started collaborating to make phones: their devices are made in partnership with a telecoms brand called Bullitt. But it’s Land Rover’s branding on the phone, and they were never going to stick it on a product that might tarnish their hallowed branding.
We already liked the first Explore phone, released in 2018. But the new Explore R is an evolution on many levels. Firstly, as per smartphone trend, it’s bigger: it’s now roughly the size of an iPhone 12 or Samsung Galaxy S21.
Secondly it’s self-contained. The first version required a snap-on Adventure Pack for optimised battery life; the R has done away with it. The downside is, the battery power isn’t quite as hefty: the original, with pack attached, had a combined output of 7620mAh; the Explore R has only 3100mAh – but it has been optimised to produce a still-impressive runtime of 1.5 days of constant use. The upside is you don’t need the clunky extra pack, with attendant rubber case. And all by itself, the device is tough enough to resist repeated 6ft drops onto steel and full immersion in water or sand. Plus its general smartphone features have been upgraded: a screen as bright as my iPhone 11 (with red-tinted night display), a fingerprint sensor on the back, and improved camera. And it still uses the Android operating system, so everyday usage is familiar and friendly.
In the outdoors it is far superior to any mortal smartphone. Drop it on a rocky summit, or into a bog or a sand dune, and you’ll find it keeps going quite happily. The battery won’t drain itself just because it happens to be -7° and windy. And you can take it for a swim – even in seawater – and still use the touchscreen while submerged.
Plus it comes with a 12-month subscription to OS Maps and it will download Viewranger mapping if you’re outside the UK. So what’s the competition? There are several brands that only make outdoor smartphones, not as a ‘sideline’, and most offer better battery life than the Explore R. The key names are Ulefone, Blackview and Doogee. But they each make a bewildering array of phones, rather than one, single, coherent product. Also, it’s hard to find a UK-centric online platform for them: you must either buy from Amazon or international sites, which doesn’t give you the same aftersales confidence as Land Rover’s friendly UK site. Thirdly, the Explore R is cheaper than most of their comparable options (Ulefone Armor 9 £550, Blackview BV9900 £420, Explore R £399) – and the rivals don’t always offer a UK mapping package, especially not one as good as OS Maps. Finally, none of those is a household name that’s already associated with quality, class and ruggedness.
I’m not saying you should try the Explore R just because it says Land Rover, though. I’m saying you should try it because after three months of regular testing on wintry walks, it hasn’t disappointed me yet. Nick Hallissey