BARCELONA – Bear Grylls may endorse the Kyocera Torque, but he was nowhere to be seen at the device’s first public appearance here at Mobile World Congress. Then again, this is probably the first and only time you’ll find the Kyocera Torque amidst so much red wine, croquettes, and jamón ibérico. You’re more likely to find it tucked in a tool belt on a construction site.

The Kyocera Torque is Sprint’s first Direct Connect device to feature 4G LTE connectivity. That means you can finally get the convenience of push-to-talk on a phone that can also tap into super fast Web speeds.

Built to military spec 810G, the Torque is made to withstand water, dust, shock, vibration, solar radiation, humidity, and extreme temperatures. Those figures are no joke – Sprint is quoting exactly 26 four-foot drops before the Torque tweaks out. It also meets IP67 standards for dust and water immersion, so it can withstand heavy dust for six hours, or three feet of water for 30 minutes. I got to see these claims in action, when the phone was submerged in a shallow tank of water (which you can see in the slideshow) and dirtied up with some sand. It got a little wet and dirty, but was no worse for the wear.

As far at the design goes, it feels a lot like other rugged phones we’ve tested, with a thick, rubberized casing. There are rubbery covers for the headphone and power ports, which must be covered for the phone to be fully waterproof.

Perhaps the coolest feature is the inclusion of Kyocera’s Smart Sonic Receiver audio technology, which eliminates the need for a traditional speaker. The phone actually uses vibrations to transmit sounds directly to the eardrum. So when you place the phone within the vicinity of your ear, you can hear it, even though there’s no speaker. It’s crazy. It reminds me of those electronic lollipops that played music by vibrating your skull, but 10 times better and a hundred times less uncomfortable.

The rugged features of this phone are legit, and 4G LTE inclusion is great, but like most tough phones, the specs are only so-so. The 4-inch, 800-by-480-pixel display looks fine, but isn’t anything to get excited about. And Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is really starting to get long in the tooth. At least the dual-core 1.2-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor should pump out enough power to keep things moving at a decent clip, and the 2500mAh battery should keep you going all day. It looks like a good alternative to the Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro on AT&T, especially if you need push-to-talk.

The Kyocera Torque will be available on March 8 for $99.99 from Sprint. Check back for a review as soon as it becomes available.