A guide to choosing the best Toughphone

Recently we’ve started to see more and more rugged phones make their way onto the shelves.  The first to launch was the JCB Toughphone in early 2008. The promotional videos from JCB showed the phone being thrown into cement mixers, driven over by diggers and then washed down with a pressure washer. Surprisingly it still worked for calls – something that your everyday phone can’t do.

While rugged handsets aren’t anything new, manufacturers all seem to be making more of an effort to produce something that is near indestructible. Since the JCB Toughphone was launched, Nokia, Samsung, Land Rover and Sonim have all released tough durable handsets, they all look different and the price of the handsets varies considerably.

Getting the right phone for your needs is vital – particularly if you need a phone that can take more abuse than normal. The last thing you’ll want to do is have to replace it a few months down the line because it wasn’t quite strong enough. Currently there are 6 rugged phones available, but what’s the difference between them, what are IP ratings and more importantly, which should you go for?

This guide should hopefully make deciding which one to go for a little bit easier.

Sonim
Sonim aren’t really that well known when it comes to mobile phones, but they’re the company behind the JCB Toughphone and the more recent Land Rover S1. Sonim handsets are more about function than looks or features, although the Land Rover S1 (or XP3.20 Quest) are the most advanced rugged phones available and the only ones to feature built in GPS.

JCB Toughphone (Sonim XP1)
The original Toughphone.  While it may seem basic in some ways, the Toughphone is designed to be a work tool that works no matter where you are rather than being loaded with the latest features. The menu system on the phone is simple to use and has a calendar, voice recorder, stopwatch and timer. The phone also has an extra loud speaker, so if you are using the phone in a noisy environment, you shouldn’t have any problems in hearing the person on the other end of the phone.

It’s bright housing will withstand drops onto concrete from upto 1.6 metres and it’s been given an IP rating of IP54, which means that it’s protected against dust and low pressure jets of water with limited ingress. Limited ingress means that some dust or water could get into the phone, but shouldn’t interfere with using the ph0ne. See below for more information on IP Ratings. The Toughphone will suit people that work outside or in dusty environments that just want a simple phone for work. The JCB Toughphone comes with a no quibble 3 year warranty, so if anything does go wrong with it, just call JCB and they’ll repair/replace it.

Sonim XP3 Enduro
This is an upgraded version of the JCB Toughphone.  The user interface hasn’t really changed, but the phone is much tougher.  the XP3 Enduro has an IP Rating of IP57 which means that it is protected against dust (limited ingress) and long periods of being under water. It can withstand greater drops too – upto 2m onto concrete. Battery life is slightly better than that of the JCB Toughphone. For the difference in price compared to the JCB, the JCB Toughphone is a better buy unless you really need your phone to be completely waterproof. As with the JCB Toughphone, the XP3 Enduro comes with a 3yr no quibble warranty.

Land Rover S1
The Land Rover S1 is very similar to the XP3, but with a few extra features. It has the highest possible IP Rating of IP67 – making it the toughest of all of the rugged handsets currently available. An IP67 rating means that it is totally protected against dust and long periods of being under water.  It also packs in a 2 megapixel camera with flash, support for Micro SD memory cards,  FM Radio & MP3 Player and can be synchronised with outlook on your PC to keep all your contacts and appointments up to date. The loudspeaker has been improved too, and can now go upto 105db. The Land Rover S1 is the only rugged handset to feature built in GPS and comes with turn by turn Sat Nav pre installed. The Land Rover S1 comes with the same 3 year ‘no quibble’ warranty as the rest of the Sonim range.

Solid Phones From Samsung
Not long after the launch of the JCB Toughphone, Samsung introduced the M110 Solid. In terms of features it was very similar to the JCB. The M110 had the same IP rating, but was slightly smaller and lighter, had a camera (with flash), FM radio and better battery life for less money. Needless to say it proved very popular, but has now been discontinued and replaced with two similar handsets. The Samsung B2100 Solid Extreme and the Samsung B2700.

Samsung B2100 Solid Extreme
This is the direct replacement for the M110, with just about everything on it getting an upgrade. The B2100 has a bigger, clearer screen and now uses the standard Samsung Menu system. The camera has been upgraded to 1.3 megapixels and now supports video recording. Bluetooth has also been improved with support for Stereo Bluetooth headsets. As well as packing in a memory card slot and a Stereo FM radio, the B2100 can now handle MP3 and video files, making it a true multimedia handset. Another significant improvement is to the microphone – the B2100 now has 2 microphones to help eliminate background noise. This works by one microphone picking up background noise and the other picking up your voice. A bit of clever software then removes the background noise from the audio that the person on the other end of the line hears. Battery life is up too with an extra hour of talktime and 600 hours standby. As with all Samsung phones it comes with a 2 year warranty, but this won’t cover the phone against broken screens or water damage so you’ll still need to be reasonably careful.

The B2100 has an IP 57 rating which which means that it is protected against dust (limited ingress) and long periods of being under water.

Samsung B2700
You’d think that with this phone having a higher number and a higher price tag that this would be an even tougher version of the B2100, but that’s not the case. Instead the B2700 does drop a couple of IP points and has a rating of IP54 rather than IP57. The B2700 is a 3G handset that’s got pretty much everything that the B2100 has, but with the addition of a slightly larger display and a 2 megapixel camera. The B2700 also has a digital compass and pedometer, making it a great choice for walkers, hikers and those that enjoy an active lifestyle. Battery life is quoted as up to 350 hours stand by and 5 hours talktime, but you can easily increase this by turning off 3G. Chances are you won’t get a signal and you won’t need the internet when you’re out hiking! The warranty is the same as the B2100, 2 years and it doesn’t cover broken screens or water damage.

Nokia 3720 Classic
Nokia have joined this party fashionably late as usual, and have decided on a more conventional look to their rugged handset. At first glance, the 3720 looks like most other Nokia handsets, it’s only when you look closer you’ll notice that it is in fact a more rugged handset. The handset uses the same menu system that’s found on pretty much all Nokia handsets, so if you’re already a Nokia user, you’ll find this the easiest handset to switch to. The Nokia 3720 Classic achieved an IP rating of IP54, the same as the JCB Toughphone and the Samsung B2700. It has the biggest screen (2.2 inches) of any of the rugged phones, which is unusual as the screen is normally the most fragile part of a phone, and the smaller it is, the less likely it is to break. The Nokia 3720 has a 2 megapixel camera with flash, MicroSD memory card slot, voice recorder, MP3 player and support for Stereo Bluetooth. The 3720 Classic has Nokia maps pre-installed so you can use it for Sat Nav, but you’ll need to buy a separate GPS receiver as it doesn’t have one built in. Battery life is good too with up to 7 hours talk time and 408 hours stand by. As with all Nokia phones it comes with a standard 2 year warranty which doesn’t cover broken screens or water damage so you’ll still need to be reasonably careful.

Decisions, Decisions…
Its clear from looking at the handsets that each phone has been designed with a particular type of user in mind.  The Samsung B2700 is more of a social/sports phone, where as the ‘all singing, all dancing’ Land Rover S1 is more suited to those who work outdoors or in harsh conditions where a standard phone would only last a matter of weeks. It is the most expensive though, but with it’s 3 year, no quibble warranty it means that you’ll have a working one for at least three years. To help you compare all of the handsets mentioned here, I’ve put a table together that shows the main features of each phone.

Features	JCB	Sonim XP3	Land Rover S1	Samsung B2100	Samsung B2700	Nokia 3720
IP Rating	54	57	67	57	54	54
Size	114 x 50 x 22	119 x 56 x 25	119 x 56 x 25	113 x 49 x 17	115 x 52 x 18	115 x 47 x 15
Weight	130g	140g	170g	103g	114g	94g
Memory Card			up to 2GB	up to 2GB	up to 8GB	up to 8GB
Bluetooth
Radio
GPS
3G
MP3 Player
Torch
Compass
Talk Time (hrs)	5	5.5	11.5	9	5	7
Standby (hrs)	200	220	1000	600	350	408

IP Ratings:
Until the JCB Tough Phone came along I’d never heard of IP Ratings, but to fully understand the differences between the phones, you need to have a bit of an understanding of what they are and how they’re made up.

An IP rating basically tells you how well a phone is protected against solid objects and how well it’s protected against liquids. Each phone is rated based on the degree of protection against dust and liquids, and that rating forms part of the IP number. For example, a score of IP54 means it scored a 5 for protection against solids and a 4 for protection against liquids. This table breaks down exactly what each score means:

IP First Number: Protection against Solids		IP Second Number: Protection against Liquids
0	No Special Protection	0	Protected against vertically falling drops of water
1	Protected against solids objects over 50mm	1	Protected against direct sprays up to 15 degrees from the vertical
2	Protected against solids objects over 12mm	2	Protected against direct sprays up to 60 degrees from the vertical
3	Protected against solids objects over 2.5mm	3	Protected against sprays from all directions – limited ingress permitted
4	Protected against solids objects over 1mm	4	Protected against low pressure jets if water from all directions – limited ingress permitted
5	Protected against dust – limited ingress	5	Protected against strong jets of water e.g. for use on shipdecks – limited ingress permitted
6	Totally protected against dust	6	Protected against the effects of temporary immersion between 15cm and 1m for 30 minutes
		7	Protected against long periods of immersion under pressure