Tough but simple phones

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shiznatix
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Tough but simple phones

Post by shiznatix »

Hi everyone,

Before you say "google it", I did already and have some ideas but I want to see what you guys think or have experienced.

I am looking for a phone that is rock solid durable but doesn't have a million stupid "features". The features that I require:
1) Make phone calls
2) Send/receive text messages (only text, no MMS garbage)
3) Calender (just so I can see what day of the month it is, I don't need to put my appointments or whatever there)
4) Alarm clock (it would be awesome 9000 if I could program it to set the alarm automatically depending on the day)
5) Water proof up to 5 meters. I don't mean resistant, it should be able to receive a phone call at 5 meters of salt and fresh water
6) Shock resistant (I drop my phone almost once a day)

I don't want anything else really, I don't want internet, email, mms, gps, *insert feature that i will never use here*. But the phone has to be very durable, I do a lot of scuba diving so water is always an issue (the red sea caused the death of my last phone). Plus I live in Estonia where there is a ton of snow (seriously, it is snowing right now) so it will be dropped in the snow a lot. Also, I do a bunch of skydiving so it need to be able to take a good hit if I fall on it with decent speed (not asking for it to be able to survive a fall from 4km but you get the idea).

So, I need a simple phone which is not flashy at all that can do just the basic things that I need. If it had some noise cancellation that would be good too since when riding on a boat somewhere the wind can make hearing difficult for both parties. Of course, the cheaper the better.

Any suggestions?
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Eran
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Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:36 am
Location: Israel, ME

Re: Tough but simple phones

Post by Eran »

I use the Nokia 6230i. It's a bit long in the tooth now, but it's built like a tank and comparatively good UI.
http://www.forum.nokia.com/Devices/Devi ... ons/6230i/
josh
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Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 3:23 pm
Location: Palm beach, Florida

Re: Tough but simple phones

Post by josh »

When I got pushed in a pool at a party 3yrs ago by a "friend" it broke my old 'Chocolate' slider phone. I loved that one because it made me feel like I was in the matrix the way it slid out. I looked into the waterproof phones but they were extremely bulky & heavy for what they were. Instead I got a Samsung Alias which is good for texting. Now, since I was exceeding my minutes I changed carriers, I now have unlimited minutes & unlimited interweb, running on a Samsung galaxy S (droid). Its basically like an iphone. Think its not tough? WHen I got mine I was babying it. I bought the protector skin for it, and was so paranoid. Before buying the protector I was asking the guy at the mall if I can drop the demo phones, he was like sure drop it on the tile. I thought he was being sarcastic because I have a history of taking people literal and getting myself into huge trouble, so I was like you drop it. He did, and I noticed the phone wasn't even operational (before or after the drop). So I said dude, do it with a real phone that is up & running. Without missing a beat he takes his phone out of his pocket (Galaxy S) and throws it just about as hard as he can (underhand) in the mall. I swear it flew 30ft and when it hit the tile the 'front', 'back', and the battery were laying 10ft away from each other. After putting the battery back in and sliding the backplate back on, the phone booted right back up, no scratches.

There is also phone insurance they offered me for $5 a month. A lot of people I know use that. It covers you loosing your phone, but not water damage. So if you drop it in the pool, say you lost it. The catch is a deductible around 1/5th the cost of the phone, and a limit of 2 new phones per year (and of course your replacement phone is the same model as the one you "lost")

Maybe the droid Galaxy S isn't "simple" but it really is. You can merge & split your contacts, use your gmail, click on phone numbers to automatically call them, programmable alarms, everything you just mentioned except water proof.. Its only as complex as you make it (I'm not into the "app" craze and had them put parental controls so I don't use that stuff). Honestly if you're willing to trade away the programmable alarms, some of the older waterproof models should be best for you. I thought I would never use the features on my droid but I am actually making a lot of use of them. 'visual voicemail' (why sit there pressing 9, 7, 4 and listening to prompts, instead of tapping on the screen "play the message from mom", "play on speaker", "call back"). Once a month I close a deal over email while I'm out at the supermarket waiting at the deli or something, so email is paying off too. Its got this 'swype' texting you type faster than you can on a computer. its even got voice recognition, I can hammer out emails on the phone faster than I can on the PC sometimes. Also google voice = free or extremely cheap calling all around the world over VOIP (doesn't use your minutes, just your data plan)
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