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.