Cell phone choices......durability

Goatman

Goatman

NAXJA Forum User
NAXJA Member
Location
Bakersfield, CA
I'm sure I'm being way too picky, but I'm having a hell of a time deciding on which cell phone to get. I wish my phone wasn't on the blink, I'd just keep it. I have a Samsung and like it because it's slim (I always carry it in my pocket), it's a durable flip phone (I can work on the XJ with it in my pocket and not worry about), the keys are big, and I can usually read the characters on the display without my reading glasses.

I can't seem to find one that's similar. Also, I'm thinking about going to one of the 3G touchscreen phones, but I wonder how they will last in my pocket while I'm leaning all over and crawling underneath the buggy, throwing it in my buggy bag on the trail, and generally being active and outdoors with it. I can just feel myself leaning up against something, right against the phone, and cracking it. What's the durability of a touchscreen phone when you're not careful with it?

I like the Samsung Rugby, but it's too thick, and the screen resolution isn't very good if I use the 3G.
 
I've only bought Motorola products. 60 miles an hour off the top of the jeep to the pavement below; screen cracked, no problem. I kept that one for 2 more years. It was a Razor just like the one I use now pretty darn thin I think. I roof for a living and the thing lives in my pocket.
 
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Samsung seems to make the most rugged phones. I had a A920 3 years ago, ran that phone over once, dropped it from a 3rd floor window, it scuffed up real bad, but the screen and buttons stayed intact.

From my experiences, your fears of a Touch screen are very practical. both of the touch screen phones i had were VERY fragile and did not seem durable at all. although they were nice. just not for an outdoorsy person IMO
 
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Verizons milspec phones, V750 and G'zone, sprint has their version too, called the 700 I think.
 
I had the G-zone, fawkin sweet phone until a full ton ran over it...

At&t has a couple new phones, the tundra and rugby I think they are callled, bad ass
 
What service do you have?

I've had several smart phones now, mostly being HTC's. And they have all been pretty durable really. None of them have broken, I just want more and keep buying the latest and greatest. (On my 3rd HTC right now (HTC Mogul > HTC Vogue (Touch) > HTC Touch Diamond, and had a Moto Q before, then Palms before that).

With that being said, get a good screen protector (esp for a touch screen), and they take a good amount of pressure. I've worked on jeeps with them in my pockets, and I've never had any issues. The only time anything ever went wrong with one, was with my old Palm Treo 650. I dropped a metal tool on it, while working and it scratched the LCD. After that, just that part of the screen didn't work, but everything else worked fine.

Now the Milspec phones are cool, but pretty pricy for what you get imo. My dad just got a new one for AT&T (not sure which), and it's cool and all, but he paid close to $200 for it.

For me, I'll keep using my Smartphones, and keep insurance on it. For $4-7 / month it's worth it in most cases. Though Sprint is raising the price of the deductable for "higher" quality phones from $50 to $100. Which kind of makes it not worth it any more, esp if the phone is only about $250 anyways. ($7 * 24 months) + $100 = 268 over the life of the contract.
 
I have a Samsung P207, 2003 vintage. I've been abusing it since new with no issues. Its been dropped 30' onto concrete, dropped in the river at the boat ramp, run over with the boat trailer in the same incident and it still works great. Original battery even.

Samsung makes great phones and I'll replace mine with another Samsung product whenever this one dies.
 
My El-cheapo LG flip phone is now 3 years old and still going strong on the original battery. Its been washed, dropped, slammed, you name it! The paint is worn off, it was silver now its white. It has signal where the other more expensive phones that my wife/kids own don't even have a chance. I'm gonna be sick wen it finally dies.
 
I have the Rugby and its pretty sweet. I sent a text message from underwater. Then this past weekend I was in a canoe on a lake about 100yards from shore when we flipped over. Took me a while to swim back because I was drunk and fully clothed, but phone survived no problem.
 
I have AT&T service. I like the mil spec Samsung Rugby, it's just pretty big/thick and I've been used to thin phones, like my current Samsung and previous Razor and Ericsson. The Rugby might be the one if I don't go touchscreen. How is the screen size and resolution for checking e-mail? Do you carry it in your pocket?
 
I use the Motorola i880, Military Spec, good battery life. I log aroung 2500-3000 minutes a month and the phone ends up on the shop floor a lot. Its the only phone so far that I can make last a year. The text sending speed is slow.
 
Touch screens would be okay if you got the ultra expensive cases and screen protection for them.
 
tbburg said:
http://www.casiogzone.com/boulder/default_silver.html
Click to expand...
I was very interested in getting this phone until I read about reception issues and a quite earpiece speaker. Have those issues been resolved? This was like 3-4 months ago when I looked into them.

I need a new phone as well (Verizon), but I'm with Goatman, it has to be rugged. I don't care about fancy features either, the less the better. All I want is the ability make a call, to store contacts, and the very occassional text message. A camera might be nice, but not need. My current phone has lasted me a few years and has also had been submerged in oil for a period of time...
 
RCman said:
I was very interested in getting this phone until I read about reception issues and a quite earpiece speaker. Have those issues been resolved? This was like 3-4 months ago when I looked into them.

I need a new phone as well (Verizon), but I'm with Goatman, it has to be rugged. I don't care about fancy features either, the less the better. All I want is the ability make a call, to store contacts, and the very occassional text message. A camera might be nice, but not need. My current phone has lasted me a few years and has also had been submerged in oil for a period of time...
Click to expand...

I have had the V750 for a few months now, so far I like it, good reception, loud ringer, bluetooth and bluetooth streaming work great, battery life is good unless I take it down to the shop where it continuously tries to connect to evdo.
 
I'm a big fan of HTC phones. I have managed to break one, but I dropped the cylinder head from your engine on it. It gets a "get out of broken" free card on that one.. it still worked, in fact, I could still read it, just couldnt use the touch screen.

If you'd like Goatman I can come up to your place with Mike and Avery next weekend, and let you play with mine again. Avery's got another similar HTC touch screen you can play with at the same time. I have a couple of Motorola smartphones here at work I can drag out for comparison, too.
 
tbburg said:
Here's what I'm carrying. Flip-phone, you can beat the snot out of it, and there's always the trick where you walk up and drop it in a glass of water :D That always get's a look
http://www.casiogzone.com/boulder/default_silver.html
Edit:
That's the hi-line version, I actually have the type S:
http://www.casiogzone.com/type_s/default_black.html
Click to expand...

I'm rocking the G'zone as well, got it in September of last year. First phone I have ever really liked that I've had. Call quality suffers slightly due to the waterproofing.
 
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