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Why take a toughphone?

You don't have to be in the construction business to own a Toughphone. Surprisingly there is a wider range of Toughphones than you might think, and they're not all made out of rubber!

JCB

The most obvious are the JCB Toughphones, which even by the name, sound tough. Built to a military specification they are predominantly designed for the construction trade however even the more butter-fingered among us may find them favourable.

Check out the YouTube video at the bottom of the page of all JCB models, the Tradesman, Sitemaster and the Pro-Talk being put through their paces.

If you're worried that a Toughphone is great for withstanding knocks, but not so good in terms of in-built features, think again. The JCB Pro-Talk includes GPS and, believe it or not, has a touch screen! It also has dual SIM functionality, which means you can switch from one network to another in an instant should you need to. It has an 8 channel 2-Way radio, so you can talk to other Pro-Talk users without having to call, and it works just like a walkie-talkie. It also sports a 2 Megapixel camera allowing you to take pictures wherever you go.

Samsung

Samsung also make some Toughphones, the B2100 Solid Extreme, the B2710 Solid Immerse, and more recently the S5690 Galaxy Xtreme and C3350 Eissen.

The Solid Extreme is shock, water and dust resistant, and certified to IP57. It also includes an MP3 player, MP4 player, stopwatch, flashlight and a 3.15 Megapixel camera with video capture. So there's plenty there to keep you entertained whilst being tough as well.

The Solid Immerse is certified with the highest IP rating possible at IP67. It is also 3G and can send email and browse the internet. Other great features include a digital compass and social media integration. Plus it looks cool.

The Galaxy Extreme is a full touch screen smart phone running on Android, and is certified to IP67. Check out our blog on it here.

The C3350 Eissen is a direct replacement for the soon to be retired B2100 Solid Extreme. It fits more into Samsung's basic range, but packs a good business punch. Check out our blog on it here.

Nokia

Nokia has also joined the party with the 3720 Classic. This mobile looks least like a Toughphone than all theothers, it doesn't have the rugged look like all the others, and could easily be mistaken for a "normal" mobile phone. So is it really tough? Well its certified to IP54 so is resistant to dust and water jets, and it also includes a flashlight. It has other "normal" features too with the 2 Megapixel camera, email, MP3 & MP4 players, and a Micro-SD card slot.

In reality, The 3720 is probably not as out-and-out tough as the JCB or Samsung handsets, and perhaps we wouldn't recommend dropping it on the floor from 30 feet, or accidentally dropping it down the toilet, but it should withstand those slippery fingers better than most "normal" phones.

Then there's the Lumia 800. It's not technically a tough phone, and doesn't have an IP rating (so we wouldn't recommend getting it wet or leaving it in a sandpit), however the materials it is made from means you can be a lot more forceful with it, without risk of it breaking. For example, the casing is made of the same resin that makes up Hockey helmets and puks, and the screen is the same glass used in helicopters. So you can grab it from your suit jacket and throw it on your desk.

What are IP ratings?

An IP rating is made up of two factors, protection against solids and protection against liquids. The first number in the IP rating indicates how well the handset is protected against solids (from 0 to 6) and the second number is the indicator for liquids (from 0 to 7). When you put the two numbers together, it forms the IP rating, so for example an IP 54 rating means that the handset is protected against a limited amount of dust and low pressure water jets.

IP first number: Protection against solids
0 - No special protection
1 - Protected against solid objects over 50mm
2 - Protected against solid objects over 12mm
3 - Protected against solid objects over 2.5mm
4 - Protected against solid objects over 1mm
5 - Protected against dust - limited ingress
6 - Totally protected against dust

IP second number: Protection against liquids
0 - Protected against vertically falling drops of water
1 - Protected against direct sprays up to 15 degrees from the vertical
2 - Protected against direct sprays up to 60 degrees from the vertical
3 - Protected against sprays from all directions - limited ingress
4 - Protected against low pressure jets of water from all directions - limited ingress
5 - Protected against strong jets of water e.g. for use on ship decks - limited ingress
6 - Protected against the effects of temporary immersion of water between 15cm and 1m for 30 minutes
7 - Protected against long periods of immersion under pressure

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