Liquid Metal is an alloy metal (technically, bulk metallic glass) that manages to combine the best features of a wide variety of materials into one product. Liquid Metal also has high corrosion resistance, high tensile strength, and remarkable anti-wear characteristics. It can be thought of as a super strong thermoplastic — a material that can also be heat-formed.

Given its unique properties, Liquid Metal has been used in a number of industries, including in smartphones. However, it has been limited to small-scale applications (Apple made the iPhone 3G/3GS SIM removal tool out of Liquid Metal). But what would happen if a manufacturer would make an entire case out of single piece of Liquid Metal? We’re about to find out as Turing Robotic Industries (TRI) today announced pre-orders for the world’s first liquid metal-frame smartphone.

The Turing Phone uses its own brand of Liquid Metal called Liquidmorphium, which provides excellent shock absorption characteristics. So instead of making a dent in the smartphone casing or cracking/chipping like plastic when dropped, a Turing Phone should in theory “shake it off” while at the same time protecting the fragile display from breaking. Check out this video below of a Liquid Metal ball bearing versus a stainless steel and titanium counterpart:



The Liquidmorphium frame is further protected by nano-coating technology and features an IPx8 waterproof rating, allowing it to survive water depths of up to 30 feet. But the Liquidmorphium isn’t the only trick that TRI has up its sleeve. The Turing Phone uses the company’s end-to-end authentication system which keeps it “entirely insulated from cyber-threats and privacy intrusions.” We’ll have to take Turing’s word for it, but you can never be too safe when the government is snooping around 24-7-365.

The Turing Phone runs Android 5.1 Lollipop and features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 3GB of RAM, a 5.5-inch 1080p display that is covered with Gorilla Glass 4, 13MP rear camera with dual-LED flash, 8MP front-facing camera, fingerprint sensor, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a 3000 mAh battery.



The Turing Phone does not come cheap, with pricing starting at $610 for a 16GB model and escalating quickly to $740 and $870 respectively for the 64GB and 128GB models. But to soften the blow somewhat, Turing is throwing in a Bluetooth headset, Bluetooth speaker, Bluetooth keyboard, and a gaming controller for free to those who pre-order the phone. Pre-orders open up on July 31, but TRI has not yet committed to a shipping date.