Sonim Technologies says SLED accessory on LTE smartphone will support direct mode, P25 trunking, ad-hoc gateway

With this in mind, Sonim Technologies plans to increase the battery power included with the SLED “by about 200 milliamp hours,” Escalle said during the APCO session.

“We’re going to have a bigger battery as an option, if you’re going to use the accessories,” Escalle said during the session.

This enhanced battery and the addition of a full-feature P25 board to support full conventional trunking will result in the overall Sonim XP8-SLED package almost doubling in thickness compared to prototypes shown to date, he said.

Even with the SLED enhancements going beyond providing direct-mode P25 connectivity, Sonim plans to price the XP8-SLED package for less than $1,000 according to Escalle.

“That is the objective,” Escalle said. “If we do that, we think we have a heck of a deal going.”

Sonim Technologies hopes to demonstrate the SLED accessory in “the December or January timeframe—maybe before,” Escalle said during the APCO session. Until then, Sonim Technologies is finalizing work to ensure that there is no interference as the XP8-SLED package operates in the P25 and LTE modes and completing approval processes, he said.

Escalle said there is no technical reason why P25 system providers should have any problems allowing the SLED accessory to operate on their networks.

“I would hope not,” Escalle said during the APCO session. “If it’s a P25 CAP-approved device and … standard-compliant, I would hope that the systems would allow that, just like any other subscriber.