Not each smartphone stakes its declare on speedy processors, huge gorgeous screens or slim and sexy physiques. Some take a comparatively modest set of specs. Add a bit of wrinkle to make them stand out from the gang. The Samsung Rugby Smart is one such system. Though it provides Android to what we'll now consult with as the Rugby Dumb, we will already inform you this handset is not for the spec snobs among you. But, if you are extra involved with durability and tank-like construction, you may want to stay around some time. This AT&T-branded cellphone is built to mil-spec 810F requirements, meaning it is shockproof, dustproof and can be immersed in up to a meter of water for as much as half-hour. If these are qualities you desire in a phone, meet us past the break to see how it stacks up in opposition to its competitors.

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Samsung

75
Score

Engadget

seventy five

Critics
1 overview

70

Users - Not but scored

N/A

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Pros

Solidly built, reflective clothing fabric comparatively sleek designBest alternative in its nicheLong battery lifeDecent photograph high quality

Cons

Frustratingly slowNot all bloatware is uninstallable

Hardware

The Samsung Rugby Smart is well the sleekest of the supposedly military-grade smartphones we've laid hands on... a minimum of because the Motorola Defy. That's not saying a lot, though. The field isn't significantly crowded, and in comparison with telephones like the G'zOne Commando, even a brick would seem like an ergonomic miracle. At 12.19mm thick the Rugby is hardly svelte, but it's almost a full 3mm thinner than the Commando. (To offer you some perspective, the Galaxy Nexus is one other 3mm skinnier still. Essentially the most notable bodily difference between the Commando. AT&T's durable new addition is the top. Despite having a slightly larger screen (3.7 inches versus 3.6), the Rugby Smart is definitely 6.1mm shorter. It's fairly pedestrian in appearance. There's very little that hints at its abuse-absorbent design. The physique is usual primarily out of plastic, with rubberized grips on the aspect and a sheet of robust, scratch-resistant glass up front masking a 480 x 800 Super AMOLED panel (sure, kiddies, meaning that is PenTile). Sadly that display and protecting cover conspire to keep sunlight visibility to a minimal. The display merely does not get bright enough. The glass is extremely reflective.

The Rugby bucks the current pattern towards capacitive keys, and as a substitute sports activities 4 bodily buttons up entrance. They're frivolously textured and depress with a somewhat satisfying click on, although for all sound produced they've surprisingly little journey. The precise edge of the phone is home to the facility / lock key. Over on the left is the quantity rocker. A nifty trick: hold down volume-up to use the blindingly vibrant LED flash as a torch. In what has become a pretty commonplace layout, the micro-USB port lives on the underside, with the headphone jack up top. Both are hidden behind plastic doorways designed to maintain out dust and dirt. You'll additionally discover the pair of cameras in the same old locations -- the primary 5-megapixel shooter 'spherical back. A 1.3-megapixel cam up front in the top left-hand nook.3-megapixel cam up entrance in the top left-hand nook.

Despite being largely plastic, the phone feels solid in the hand, if not precisely "premium." The rubberized grips lend some gravitas to its design and, at 4.4 ounces, it weighs barely less than the glass-and-steel iPhone 4S. The rounded backplate and its raised diamond sample don't really feel fairly as tactile as comfortable touch plastic, but the phone ought to relaxation comfortably in your hand nonetheless. Probably the most distinguishing physical characteristic is the lock on the rear, which holds the battery cowl in place. It would not seal the door any tighter to keep out water, but it does forestall it from flying off when dropped -- say, 10 feet onto a rock-strewn driveway (guilty).

Underneath that impeccably sealed hood is a reasonably paltry 512MB of RAM and a 1.4GHz, single-core Snapdragon S2. For informal use these components are passable, if noticeably slower than what you'll discover in competing gadgets. While the efficiency is not unbearable, per se, there does appear to be a little bit of lag to virtually every motion -- sufficient to infuriate the more impatient amongst us. In benchmarks the cellphone constantly brings up the rear. Sure, its relatively high clock speed helps it keep tempo in the only-thread Linpack (it even edges out the decidedly greater-finish Droid RAZR), however its 4,319.45ms end in SunSpider is without doubt one of the worse runs we have seen in recent memory, as was its 41.5fps average in the graphics check NenaMark.

Benchmark

Rugby Smart

Huawei Honor

Pantech Burst

AT&T Galaxy Note

Quadrant v2 1,386 N/A 3,189 2,667

NenaMark 1 (fps) 41.Forty eight 52.2 56 54.9

NenaMark 2 (fps) 22.Eight 30.3 53 36.Three

Neocore 59.Four 59.9 56.2 55.6

Linpack single-thread (MFLOPS) 50.09 52.83 50.1 42.98

SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms, decrease scores are better) 4,319.Forty five 2,428 2,692 3,059

Vellamo 758 N/A 1,151 554

When compared to the rest of the rugged smartphone area, nevertheless, those numbers are pretty darn good. The Commando, its primary competitor at this level in time, settles for a measly 800MHz single-core CPU. Perhaps an even bigger plus right here is the inclusion of 4G (or faux-G, as it had been). While the other navy-grade Android telephones we've seen have been stuck with aging EVDO radios, the Rugby Smart packs an HSPA+ antenna that pulled down a median of 7.1Mbps -- about 5 instances what you possibly can realistically count on from the Commando or Motorola Admiral, a rugged phone offered through Sprint. The Rugby Smart's add speeds had been equally spectacular, hovering round 6.2Mbps near our New York City hideout.

The 1,650mAh battery was greater than enough to get by a day of regular utilization, and maybe a bit more. Under the pressure of our fixed manhandling early in the evaluate course of we had to pause and cost midday, but that might probably make us the exception reasonably than the rule. On our normal battery drain take a look at it stunned by blowing previous the 11-hour mark which, if we hadn't witnessed it ourselves and double checked the settings, we'd never imagine. It lastly petered out after eleven hours and 38 minutes of looping a film.

Software

We're positive the laggy performance of the sub-par hardware isn't helped any by the TouchWiz'd Gingerbread that limps alongside on the tiny screen. And, let's not child ourselves, 3.7 inches is small by at present's standards, and you will realize it as you try to peck out messages with the cramped on-screen keyboard. Now, the fourth iteration of Sammy's Android pores and skin is definitely an unlimited improvement over its predecessors and one of the less offensive customizations on the market, however that doesn't suggest you have to like it. Manufacturer-designed interfaces continue to be a contentious issue, particularly around the Engadget compound. That being said, we might moderately deal with TouchWiz than Blur on the Admiral or whatever it is that Casio did to Android with the Commando. Less contentious is bloatware --. There's plenty of it right here. Present and accounted for: AT&T Code Scanner, FamilyMap, Navigator, Live Tv, myAT&T, Qik, QuickOffice, YellowPages, AllShare and, of course, Sammy's various "hubs." A few of the included software program is uninstallable and, though there's thankfully no Let's Golf in sight, we might still want to have the ability to remove any app we would like.

The lone brilliant spot, as far as we're involved, is Kies air which turns your cellphone into tiny server that you would be able to connect with wirelessly and manage your mobile from the comfort of your desktop browser. It did not always work as smoothly as we would have hoped, occasionally refusing to download files from the cellphone, however it's nonetheless a very good deal slicker than plugging into a Pc and opening your file supervisor. You can even connect a pair of Samsung handsets. Share content material between them with the app.

Camera

The 5-megapixel digicam definitely isn't a revelation, however it's a succesful enough performer. In reality, pictures and video aren't materially completely different from those we captured with the Galaxy Nexus. Now, we weren't exactly blown away by that gadget's shooter either, but that is because it is a flagship handset and our expectations were loftier. The Rugby, however, is a center-of-the-highway system. Pics taken underneath particularly vibrant sunlight look a tad hazy and darker photos show important noise, but not less than the color reproduction and white balance are first rate. Given very best lighting, it even manages to capture some slightly spectacular macro pictures.

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Video high quality, then again, is a bit disappointing. That single-core processor means you are topping out at just 720p, and noise reduction is principally nonexistent. Again, the colour here is evident and balanced, however there's a noticeable amount of artifacting and wobble seen in frames -- even when you are panning slowly. We've seen plenty of phones the place the video can stand next to your common pocket camcorder and hold its own, however this just is not one in all them. It's advantageous for reflective clothing the occasional quick clip, but the films produced are definitely extra YouTube- than Vimeo-quality, should you catch our drift.

Ruggedness

The Rugby's durabilty is something of a combined bag. The fortified glass was as scratch resistant as they arrive, but had been involved about its skill to absorb a robust impact without shattering. We have not hit it with a hammer to find out just how simply it's going to break into 1,000,000 items... but. Still, we dropped the telephone -- repeatedly -- on hardwood floors and rock-covered drive ways and the telephone got here away with little greater than just a few scuffs. Even once we took it as much as 10 toes. We don't have any sandstorms in New York City, so testing its mud-proofing was a bit laborious, but we have been able to submerge it in water. Now, we didn't put it three ft beneath for half an hour, but it is probably higher that method. Here is more info regarding reflective clothing (git.sicom.gov.co) look into our own web site. While it survived a glass of water for 20 minutes and a operating sink for about five, there were some issues after the dunkings -- something the Commando shook off with ease. In the fast aftermath of a thorough soaking the menu button stopped responding and the touchscreen grew to become rather more finicky. It (largely) recovered after we left it out to dry, but the menu key nonetheless sometimes offers us matches. Granted, such abuse would have killed a lesser device -- we have seen even a quick dampening destroy an iPhone -- however we did count on a bit more from Sammy's robust handset.

Wrap-up

Well, that is a reasonably straightforward determination to make, actually. Are you on AT&T? Do you cherish the power to provide your telephone a beating over laying claim to high-shelf specs? Then just about your solely choice is the Rugby Smart. Even if you're free to pick whichever carrier you please, this is still most likely the option to go if you are in the marketplace for a ruggedized smartphone. Though the Commando does appear to stand as much as abuse a bit better, its significantly chunkier design, even paltrier specs and egregiously customized take on Android make the Rugby Smart the clear champion. And, until you completely need a QWERTY keyboard, we will not find a compelling cause to recommend the Admiral over this. That's not to say there aren't drawbacks, obviously. The performance is hardly brisk, and the modest screen might pose a problem to the massive callous fingers for which this was clearly intended. Still, if you are on the lookout for a smartphone you may feel comfy taking out in a hurricane, this is it.