
The Sonim phones come with an
unheard of 3 year Unconditional Guarantee.
They come with a durable mold cast rubber casing, shock and vibration
rated to 1.65m drop to concrete, rated for a stream of water at a 90
degree angle, non porous casing withstands micro particles of dust and
moisture, can operate at temperatures of -20c to + 60c, Scratch
resistant screen, and key buttons tested 500k pushes.
We have even seen a video where these phones have been thrown into a concrete mixer full of cement and still function perfectly. These are a bit short of features many people expect to have as standard these days, no camera for one, but comes equipped with what you need to make phone calls and operate bluetooth accessories. Most tradies would says that's all they need. Its a bit bigger and bulkier again over its little brother but thing thing is as tough as they come and is classed by the manufacturer Sonim as full Military Spec. It comes with the same unconditional warranty and technical specifications as its little brother. A Next G Version is not available.
So if you are planning an invasion of any third world countries or looking to take on a muddy trench soon we suggest this might just be the phone for you.
MODELS BELOW NO LONGER AVAILABLE
SAMSUNG B2700 TRADIES PHONE
This Shock, Splash and dust
resistant mobile phone from Samsung is proving incredibly popular and
has a range of features sure to impress. It is a quad band phone that
will work on Optus 3g network and also Telstra and Optus GSM networks in
Australia. A Next G version is not available. Includes a 2Mp camera
with flash light, Bluetooth v2, Vibration Alert, FM radio, High Volume,
Stereo speakers, MP3 Player, Video calling, Video recorder, Video
playback, Flashlight, Compass, Pedometer, Altimeter, Organiser, Voice
Memo, Stopwatch, 26Mb internal memory and takes a Micro SD card for
expanded memory and up to 5hrs talk time.
SAMSUNG B2700
TRADIE PHONE
The Samsung B2700 tradie phone
feels reasonably solid and rugged to hold in your hand and has a
military look to it. Size is not too bad however it is not the smallest
mobile phone we have handled and weight wise is not too bad in your
shirt pocket. It feels just right. The keys are little bit hard to press
but that is primarily due to the rubber coating. One thing we did find
annoying is that to get to the SD card you have to remove the battery
and the screw down rear of the phone, meaning you wont switch memory
cards in a hurry.
We used the samsung B2700 Tradesman
phone for a week and tested it by droppng it in the sink (full) and
dropping it on a regular basis from heights of up to 6ft with out any
problem at all. While we would not recomend immersing this phone for any
length of time we had no trouble at all with it after our testing.
Several Telaustralia customers have been using this phone for about 3
months now and the feedback from them has been very positive. No issues
at all. One of our customers that does commercial irigation, was
replacing at least one phone a month due to drops into muddy trench's,
replaced their entire 16 phone fleet with the Samsung B2700 tough phone
and in the 4 months since report no issues at all.
SONIM XP1 TOUGH PHONE
While the Sonim XP 1 doesn't have
as much in the way of features as the Samsung B2700 ot and its even
tougher brother the Sonim XP3 take tough phones to a whole new level.
SONIM XP1 TOUGH
PHONE
While the Sonim XP1 phones are very
tough they are a bit short on features. They are GSM only so no 3G or
next G models available as yet. They do come with Bluetooth, and a high
volume speaker set, very loud ring tones and large number display so
while being a tradies phone to speak of the Sonim XP1 would probably
also be suitable for anyone with failing eye sight or with hearing
problems. Being designed with a noisy work site in mind, there will be
no issue hearing the ring tones and the speaker phone has to be heard to
be believed how loud it is.
We got hold of the Sonim XP 1
tradie phone and the first thing we did was throw it... hard against a
brick wall ....that didn't break it so we stood on it and bounced up and
down with the heel of our boot ...again not a scratch. This thing wont
win any beauty contest but this a brick and just as tough. A little bit
large in the pocket and definitely hefty but nothing that we didn't get
used to. In fact when we think back, some of our earlier phones 3-5
years ago were bigger and heavier. The keys are large and easy to use
and there is a primary directional control that allows you to navigate
around the screen. The Sonim XP 1 has a talk time of 7hrs.