RugGear launches MCPTT-capable smartphone

Mission critical rugged mobile device specialist RugGear has launched a new mission critical push-to-talk (MCPTT)-capable smartphone which it claims is designed for the most “extreme environments”.

MCPTT is the standard that defines the requirements for push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) to mirror the mission critical voice calls over two-way radio as defined by standards body 3GPP.

RugGear claimed that the launch of the smartphone RG530 will “further strengthen” its PoC offering by providing MCPTT-capable technology for public safety users. In an exclusive interview with Critical Communications Today last year, RugGear chief executive Martin Haaf said “it is only a question of time [before] narrowband solutions will all migrate to the broadband sector”.

According to the company, the phones are ruggedized and built with dedicated PTT and emergency alert buttons and an Android operating system that is compatible with commercial phones. The RG530 is also equipped with a removable battery to allow users to work through mission critical situations with no disruption by popping in place a fully charged spare battery from a rugged-design belt clip.

Maverick Chen, founder and president of RugGear, said: “The PoC ecosystem now is mature and you have many vendors for PoC terminals, software, servers, etc. It is not an issue for most enterprise users whether it's a proprietary solution or not. However, it’s a completely different story of mission critical communications, which has much higher requirements of reliability, service availability and security. MCPTT sets up a standard for vendors and users. That’s why we have launched RG530, radios [which] are MCPTT compliant and offers standard-based features.”

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