rugged

Andy Rubin, the quintessential mouthpiece for Essential, has made a lot of promises regarding his startup’s first ever smartphone. In some cases, especially in terms of shipping date, the Essential PH-1 seemed to be a disappointment. In some other cases, however, the Essential did seem to deliver. One such promise is the phone’s durability despite its elegance and, unsurprisingly, it has caught the attention of JerryRigEverything who was only too happy to put its claims to the test.

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A new speaker has arrived on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, and it claims to be more durable than just about any other consumer-tier speaker on the market. According to the team behind Gigaboom, this speaker is essentially crushproof with the ability to withstand up to 4,000lbs of weight; it is also said to be bulletproof, though it's hard to imagine when that would come in useful for a portable Bluetooth speaker.

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Technology, computers, and mobile devices have permeated every part of our personal lives as well as our work, but not all devices are designed for use in some of the more extreme cases and places. Sometimes, even IP68 and MIL-STD-810G ratings aren’t enough. For those situations, you’ll want something extra, like the new Dell Latitude 7212 Rugged Extreme Tablet that doesn’t skimp on the protection, the specs or, unfortunately, the price.

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Motorola seems to have acquired the skill of spinning words. It says “shatterproof” but never says “scratchproof”. It says “largest phone drop” but it never really says “epic” or even “useful”. In what is unambiguously a marketing move that has no practical purpose, Motorola got 100 people to drop their shatterproof Moto Z2 Force to the ground, pick them up again, and show that they’re all good. Without actually showing that they’re all good.

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The Galaxy Note 8 is due to unveil in about 3 weeks, but Samsung fans’ attention might be split among two high-end smartphones. While it’s not going to hold a candle in terms of design, the Galaxy S8 Active is actually going to be just as capable as the Galaxy S8 or even the Galaxy Note 8 in some aspects. This new batch of images, intended for the user manual, also shows that it might not look so bad after all.

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The folks at ECOXGEAR have created a lantern that's extremely bright, charges smartphones, and has a bottle opener at its base. This device is the ECOXGEAR EcoLantern, and it's also able to connect to your smartphone and speak to you using the iPhone's Siri or Androids' OK Google (Google Assistant). Speakers and waterproofing and lighting and etcetera in tow, this lantern is aimed directly at the "I need one device to do ALL of this stuff whenever I need it" market.

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Finally we get to see the Galaxy S8 Active from its front and if you were worried about thick bezels, now you can breathe in relief. There are still bezels, mind you, but they’re still considerably less than your standard rugged smartphone. It is going to look like the Galaxy S8 in some aspects and even behave like it. That, however, also means it inherits some of the biggest complaints about Samsung’s flagship, specifically its stubborn Bixby button.

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When LG went back to the drawing board, it discovered that users valued reliability and survivability as much as they valued features. Not everyone, however can afford LG's brand of reliability. Some are willing to skimp on the flashy features and specs for an affordable phone that can take them through the day and through life's unexpected and unwanted mishaps. For these consumers, BLU's latest armored phone, the Tank Xtreme Pro, might just fit the bill.

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The Galaxy S8 Active's existence is really no longer in doubt.Even Samsung pretty much confirmed it before yanking out its only "official" leak. But now that the smartphone, with a model number of SM-G892A, has appeared at the FCC, that not only means that it exists, it might also be coming soon. And though we don't exactly have more details to work with, the filing does at least show what the rugged Galaxy S8 variant will look like, at least from the back.

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While rumors claim that the Galaxy Note 8 might just be two months away, a different somewhat flagship smartphone might actually be closer. While Samsung has thankfully stopped making half a dozen "spinoffs" of its flagship brand, it still hasn't thrown in the towel when it comes to its "Active" line of smartphones. Yes, there will apparently also be a Galaxy S8 Active, at least based on this entry in Geekbench, revealing practically the same specs as the original.

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Dozens if not hundreds of smartphones sacrificed on the altar of entertainment and "science", scratch, bent, and dropped from all heights. But how about gaming consoles? Sure, we've seen an NVIDIA SHIELD dropped from a cargo plane, but that marketing stunt was designed so that the SHIELD would land safely. How about a stunt that isn't as safe? That's exactly what the poor Nintendo Switch experienced at the hands of a drone which, controlled by cruel humans, was forced to drop its fellow machine from a thousand feet up in the air.

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Adventurers and active people rejoice! Gone are the days when having rugged equipment meant compromising on quality and capability. These days, even rugged devices are almost as capable as their more premium and more fragile counterparts. Case in point is the new COOLPIX W300 from Nikon. Durable and compact, the digital camera can go anywhere you go, while recording every moment in hi-res 4K UHD.

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