Our XP1 has been described in many ways by the press -- no nonsense, whack proof, perfectly designed, ultra-tough and no ordinary handset are among the words that have appeared in reviews. But of all the words that have been used, I think I like "Fugly" the best.
Yes, the XP1 (branded JCB Toughphone in the UK) was called fugly in a recent review in Slashgear, in which the reporter said that:
"I can’t not call this phone ugly. There is not a feature in the world that would talk me into carrying the JCB Toughphone around. Its industrial strength casing can withstand dust, shock, water and repeated dropping. It comes with Bluetooth, push to talk, and dual speakers that are extra loud. It comes in various colors: black and black, black and red, black and blue, black and green, and black and gray ...it’s also been nominated to represent the word “fugly” in the dictionary (by me). That being said I know it’s purpose is for a higher calling than social status and in that case it is a nice phone."
Well .... fugliness is just fine with us. In fact we embrace our phone's fugliness and rejoice in it.
We built the XP1 for people who work outside in tough conditions and need a phone that won't swoon and die when exposed to rain, snow, dirt, dust and mud. A phone that won't break if you drop it from a tractor, from a scaffold, or the 5th story of a construction site. We make our fugly phones for people who want tools that work, and don't much care what those tools look like. They don't buy a hammer, a drill, or any other tool based on appearance -- they buy the best engineered product they can find, one that does the job its intended to do, and does it for a long time.
We designed and manufactured this phone for people that the cell phone industry has forgotten, the people who actually bought the first cellphones years ago, back when all cell phones were built tough.
We also believe that tools that are properly designed and built, perfectly suited for the work they are intended to do, and can be relied on to work well over the years have an elegance that will never be present in cute and trendy disposable things. So I guess fugliness is in the eye of the beholder, but as long as it translates to a phone that's designed for "a higher calling than social status" we're more than happy to be the world's fugliest phone.

