Samsung SGH Rugby Cell Phone

I am very hard on my stuff so when I buy my things I try to find military-grade items that I can use to supplement the longevity of my things. With my last phone I wound up using the insurance all 4 times to get replacement phones. I have been through 8 phones in the last 2 years and I have hit that point that I figured I will have to sacrifice my love of technology and gadgets for durability.

I began a search for “Military Phones” and found the Samsung Rugby SGH A837. What impressed me was that it was mil-spec (short for military-specification) under the MIL-STD-810F (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIL-STD-810F). I will let you read the details of this military standard but it sounded like the phone for me. My phones have had screens cracked, dropped to death, sunk in mud puddles/toilets/cups of coffee, slobbered to oblivion by my kids, etcetera. (just….don’t ask).

At the time I ordered the Rugby, there were no sales or specials on the phone so I had to purchase the phone for $100. Steep price, but at that point I was willing to try anything and when you do the math, at $50 per replacement phone (on the AT&T insurance) I would theoretically be spending much less.

The Rugby is build very ruggedly. The feel of the phone in the hands is surprisingly solid with virtually no movement, twisting, or looseness. Its size is very compact and fairly slim line (lets delineate iPhone slim from flip-phone slim) for a flip phone and can easily slip into the “secret” pocket on my jeans. For good measure, I added a clip on plastic case to the phone. Even with that, I can still fit it easily in my Nite Ize holster and the plastic case adds several millimeters to the phone on all sides.

The phone is made from a very hard plastic that even an involuntary phone-slaughterer has trouble breaking or scratching. The front of the phone has raised ribbing on the edges that gives it some extra grip when flipping it open and on a side-note, it adds a nice “masculine” touch to the phone. The front screen is small but with my track record on screens the smaller is better and easier to protect. The screen will display time in nice large numbers.

The front speaker is quite large compared to others I have owned which makes for a very nice and clear sound when on speaker phone and when playing music. The grill on the speaker is very sturdy and made of a tough metal. I have managed to put some dings in the grill with no effect what-so-ever to the speaker itself.

The back has a pebbled surface to increase gripping ability. There is a small screw-like mechanism that locks the back on. It holds the backing very snug and encases the battery in what looks like a silicone or rubber lining that protects against water seeping in and short-circuiting the battery (the largest majority of my phone deaths were battery related I discovered) so this was a brilliant move for the milspec-ing of this phone.

At the top of the back there is a small metal hook. I couldn’t find anything in the manual about its function but it seems like it would make a good hook for a lanyard system if you like your cell phone around your neck. The hook seems to be one of the sturdiest parts of the phone.

On the left side (relative to the front of the phone) there is a PTT (push to talk) button. I want to reiterate a problem another reviewer said. Frequently when I flip the phone open I trigger the PTT button and I have to cancel the “PTT charges will apply. Do you wish to initialize PTT?” message. A slight nuisance but small in the grand scheme of things.

Below the PTT button is the Volume Up and Down toggle that will change the hearing volume when in a call, or the ringer volume when not in a call. One thing I am very fond of is, when there is no call you can put the phone on silent by voluming all the way down. With some phones it will beep every time you volume the phone down but this one does not. This is a very nice feature when you forget to silence your phone in a staff meeting or at the movies and want to do so discreetly. Well played Samsung firmware.

On the right side (again, relative to the front of the phone) there is the charger plug/headphones plug combined. When it comes to phones, the word proprietary is one thing that irritates me the most. I loathe proprietary head phones. I’d like to use my V-Moda Red Roxx with this phone. Asi es la vida I guess. The plug access has a plastic cover with a rubber plug on the inside. This again aids in preventing water from entering the phone.

When flipped open the phone’s keys are easy to access. I find myself wishing they were raised and rounded a little better for feeling the distinctions between the different keys. Small potatoes in my opinion. The navigation keys are fairly easy to use. The left, right, up, and down navigation key is textured which makes it easy to get a thumb-grip on. The Call and Hang Up/Power Down buttons are located conveniently on each side of the clear button.

The GPS button is to the right of the U.D.L.R. navigation button. I have accidentally hit it a few times but rarely. I have never used or accessed the GPS function on the phone so I cannot accurately comment on it. The Multitasking Key is on the right of the U.D.L.R. navigation key and allows you to switch between applications without closing out what you are using.

The screen is a decent sized and the clarity is fine for a flip phone. The main display will show the time and date, Options and Menu functions and, like many phones, can have the display changed to a picture of your choice. The Options function is very handy and can be customized to keep the tabs used the most quickly readily available. I keep the camera, pictures folder, Bluetooth tools, video, and stopwatch since I use all of those periodically and like to access them quickly.

The camera on the phone has impressed me.  On it's largest setting the pictures are very clear at 1.3 megapixels.  On the lower settings it the camera has 4x zoom, but not on the largest setting.  The camera has a lot of features including the panaromic picture taking.

Firmware on the phone is relatively stable. I rarely need to restart the phone but I have had one issue that has become more recurrent. I use the alarm every morning as my alarm clock. I set the alarm about 30 minutes before I need to be up and snooze it for 15 minutes twice to allow some wake up time. When the alarm goes off I reach over and hit the “Volume Up/Down” button it will typically snooze. Lately, when snoozed, the alarm will go off and it will turn the alarm off. When I flip the phone open it works fine and shows that the alarm is off. When I close it, the front screen says that the phone is snoozing. Strange but not terribly bothersome. The snooze screen will remain on until a restart which will correct the problem.

It has a total of 5 different alarms and since each day I typically have different wake up times, it is very, very nice to have.

Call quality can be pretty poor depending on who I am talking with. The main speaker can be muffled and enunciations can be difficult to hear. It can get quite frustrating from time to time and it only seems to be an issue with certain people. One of the ways I have solved that is by pairing the phone with my BlueAnt Bluetooth device. The sound on it has much better highs. However, with some people I talk to, they sound as clear as ever.

As always, Bluetooth technology is very nice to have and allows me to share and transfer music, home-made ringtones, and pictures to and from the phone with my laptop. Each person in the address book is individually customizable with ringtones and pictures. Always a favorite of mine.

In terms of overall durability, what I consider to be the selling factor for this phone, I have quite effectively put it through its paces. It has taken multiple droppings, almost a full glass of milk spilt on it, and various other abuses including playing hacky-sack with briefly to make a point on its durability. I have not had any problems with it nor have I needed to send it in. A good buddy of mine has an iPhone and we frequently get into debates and play-fights about who’s phone is superior (most of my bantering comes from a jealousy of all the things that his phone does that I cannot have since I would utterly destroy an iPhone in less than a week).

A few weeks ago we were bantering about our phones. I made a comment that I wish I had something on my phone (a dictionary or something) and he pulls out his phone and opens his Dictionary.com app stating “there’s an app for that.” Having experienced a high level of frustration at how many times I had heard that phrase that particular day I playfully proceeded to throw my phone out of my office and down the hall. It bounced no less than 10 times before coming to a rest, flipped open, about 20 – 25 feet down the hall. I looked at him and jokingly asked “can your phone do that?” Incidentally, the phone is perfectly fine and that was approximately 2 months ago.

Overall I recommend this phone. I was afraid that to attain the level of ruggedness I would require I would have to take a hit on features. I was pleasantly proven incorrect. This phone does what most of my old phones did with the added benefit of it being able to sustain a beating. The weaknesses of this phone are dwarfed, for me at least, by the fact that I have had the same phone for over a year now. For someone who perpetually has issues with phone replacements, breakages, etc I strongly recommend it.

As one reviewer noted, many flip phones come off as more “cute” or, as they put it “girly” and I tend to agree. Many flip phones are pretty. As a guy, I don’t want a pretty phone. I want one that smells like steak or sounds like gunfire (dramatic humor added). This is perfect for that. If you added a 120mm smooth bore cannon and some tracks the thing could be an M1A1 Abrams tank as far as I am concerned.