Opening day for my son’s very first year of tee ball could not have been more cold and dreary. It had rained all night and it was threatening to rain all day. The actual game and parades had already been cancelled, but we still had to show up for the team photos.
Every Little League team in our city was required to show up in the same park that day. I found ours huddled under a tree, which was as close as they could get to the shelter of the lone covered awning where the photographer was stationed.
Go Cardinals!
As we waited our turn, the parents and coaches for our team created a barrier around the boys and I could tell exactly what every single one of them was thinking at that moment.
“Stay out of the mud. Don’t go anywhere. Stand still. Keep those stupid white pants clean! Who thought it was a good idea for little boys to wear white anyway!?”
Out came the smartphones with their cracked screens, scuffed cases, and dinged corners. It was pretty easy to figure out what had happened to them… Kids!
Enough parents happily acquiesce their devices to their young children in order to keep them amused and out of trouble that there’s a name for it– the “Pass-back Effect“. As in, you pass your shiny, new devices over to your young kids. Unfortunately, the devices are seldom returned to the parents in the same pristine condition…
On this particular day, the boys were nicely taking turns with Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja on their parents’ phones. So I reached into my handbag to add my smartphone to the mix—the one I was given to review by putting it through the “kid ringer” (so to speak…)
An assistant coach caught a glimpse of the shiny screen with nary a fingerprint, much less a scratch, and the smooth case and warned his own son, “That’s a new phone… Don’t touch it!”
I laughed and told the boys, “Oh no. I want you to play with this phone. Do your worst, kids!” Then, I showed them the Doodle Biker app. It’s the one where you have to tilt your phone to the left and to the right in order to race your way through the levels… possibly dropping it in a puddle in the process. Oops!
Samsung’s new Rugby® Smart phone wasn’t in our home a day before it was dubbed the “Indestructible Phone”.
Designed to be dust-proof, water-proof, weather-proof, and even “drop-proof” (up to 6.6 feet), my family was eager to take this military-grade device to the limit!
“Can we run the car over it? Can we put it in the dryer? Can we throw it in our pond?” my son wanted to know.
“No. No. No.” my husband said, secretly coveting the new device.
“But I am supposed to test the phone, Mike!” I insisted.
Well, I can’t think of a better test for an “Indestructible Phone” than handing it to a team of antsy 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old boys standing within spitting distance of a mud puddle… Even then, I knew the phone would do a good job surviving the day. I could not say the same for their white baseball pants.
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The Specs:
The Samsung Rugby® Smart (SGH-I847) is designed to go up against almost anything– extreme temperatures, rain, dust, sand, high humidity, solar radiation, salt, fog, and thermal shock. The rubber seals over the ports help to keep out dirt and moisture and a screw lock on the battery cover provides added protection for the internal components. The plastic case keeps the phone thin and lightweight, but still protects it from the elements and drops up to 6.6 feet.
The display is a 3.7-inch Super AMOLED™ touch screen with a layer of scratch resistant Corning Gorilla Glass as added protection against bumps, scratches, and drops. With a resolution of 480×800 pixels, I was impressed with how brilliant the images appear on the screen. Colors are crisp and video graphics were bright and smooth.
The phone runs on Android™ 2.3 Gingerbread, which is a popular operating system because of its streamlined interface, simple navigation, and easy-to-use features like copy-and-paste, battery life monitoring, and built-in task manager. Paired with AT&T’s 4g network, this phone runs with amazing speed and efficiency!
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A Final Endorsement
And just in case you need a more winning endorsement… this is the first smartphone that I’ve brought into this home that finally… FINALLY… convinced my economical husband that he NEEDS a smartphone. (New Year’s Tech Resolution #4, check!)
Disclosure: I was provide with a Samsung Rugby® Smart Android Smartphone for the purpose of doing this review. The thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
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Features I like about this phone: I like that it’s part of the ATT network (we are longtime, happy customers), I like that it’s a Droid (my husband was the first to bring a Droid into our pro-Apple home earlier this year, and…well…me likey), and I absolutely LOVE that it’s waterproof!! The fact that it can be dropped and survive comes in a close second. What an awesome phone!
I love that it is drop proof!! Water proof is another huge benefit for me. You have me SO intrigued!
I like many features, but the weather-proof is getting my attention. I’ve accidentally left my phone in the car, the swim bag, the trunk (oops!) while out in the summer and have ended up finding a half-cooked phone. With the hot Phoenix summers it would be nice to have something that could withstand the hot/cold transition as well as take a few hours in a warm car without dying.
Thanks for sharing the features and first-hand real world experience with this phone.
SUN, SAND, AND SALT-PROOF!!! And of course, water-proof! Being in San Diego, we spend a lot of time on/in/near the ocean, in the sunshine, where sand is guaranteed to sneak its way into EVERYTHING you own!
I am seriously amazed!