After a plunge of about 3,000 feet during a parachuting trip, the Canon Rebel XT still worked, if not flawlessly.
(Credit: Calin Leucuta)Camera makers tout the ruggedness of their higher-end products, but apparently even an entry-level SLR can withstand a 3,000-foot drop under the right circumstances.
The camcorder didn't fare as well as the SLR.
(Credit: Calin Leucuta)So discovered Marius Ivascu, a parachuting instructor in Florida whose Canon Rebel XT detached from his helmet mount and took the fast way back to Earth on a skydiving trip. The camera mount detached when Ivascu deployed his parachute, recounted Calin Leucuta, a photographer and friend of Ivascu who earlier had sold him the camera.
After searching for less than a half hour after he landed, Ivascu found the camera and a video camera that had been mounted next to it.
"The video camera cracked open, dead, done deal. The Rebel took the fall a little better, just a crack in the left side of the plastic body," Leucuta said on his blog. "With a glimmer of hope, Marius presses the playback button: Quelle surprise! The camera turns on, displays the last image taken, like nothing happened."
... Read moreHow you choose to protect--or not protect--your iPhone is a matter of personal choice. Sure, plenty of people like to leave their iPhone naked, reasoning that any protective cover diminishes its sleekness. But the majority of iPhone owners realize it's probably a good idea to give your precious device some degree of armor, particularly if you don't like the idea of seeing your iPhone's lovely finish dinged and scratched up over time.
Going rugged isn't always pretty.
If that's the kind of heavy-duty shielding you're looking for, this is the list for you. Now, we can't guarantee all these cases will protect your iPhone--and particularly its screen--in the event it gets dropped or has a large object fall on it, but at least they give it a better chance of surviving unscathed.
While we tried to pick tough, protective cases that look good and don't make your iPhone too bulky, we should point out that a few of the cases have more extreme designs that aren't intended for everyday use. We should also note that some of the more rugged cases can be a bit of a chore to remove and aren't friendly toward iPod docks. And finally, before slipping your iPhone into any of these case, be sure to wipe your iPhone off carefully because having any bigger dirt particles wedged between your case and the back of your iPhone or the chrome trim can lead to scratches.
Click on any image to begin slideshow.
Note: The top 20 is listed in alphabetical order, not by ranking. If you don't agree with our choices or feel we missed some, please submit a comment, and we'll consider making changes in our next update of the list.
When Panasonic, Fujifilm, and Canon announced rugged cameras this year, it was odd that Casio didn't pop one out, too, given its predilection for shock-resistant products. Well, I guess November isn't too late to join the market, as Wednesday the company added the Exilim EX-G1 to its digital camera lineup.
(Credit:
Casio)
The $299 0.8-inch thick, ultracompact 12-megapixel camera can withstand a 7-foot drop because of a two-layer construction with a stainless steel outer casing, a resin ring protecting the lens, and a polycarbonate cover on the body side near the shutter. The wrist-strap holder is made of die-cast zinc and that little dial thingy sticking out the side seals and secures the external memory slot door.
Also included are two types of detachable shock-absorbing protectors. There's more, but let's just say the thing is built to take drops and significant abuse as well as dives down to 10 feet for up to an hour and is freezeproof to 14 degrees Fahrenheit--all without impacting photo quality or shooting performance.
That said, the camera's regular features are less impressive, especially the internal 3x f3.9-5.4 38-114mm lens. There are plenty of Best Shot scene modes including Casio's chroma key Dynamic Photo mode. However, none of the high-speed shooting modes are available since it uses a CCD sensor and not the high-speed CMOS; the features are a logical fit for a rugged camera, though. For active shooters it does have Casio's Multi Motion option allowing you to take a series of shots and put them in one photo and interval shooting. Movies record at a wide-screen standard-def resolution of 848x480 at 30fps or 640x480 if you prefer a 4:3 aspect ratio, so no HD movies, either.
Of course, most of the camera's cost goes to its build quality, which allows you to take photos and video where you haven't been able to before or were simply afraid to use a regular camera. The G1 is pretty cool looking and incredibly small, too, and I'm confident it'll live up to--and probably beyond--Casio's durability claims. And, well, it's nice to have one more rugged camera option particularly from a company that knows how to do shockproof/waterproof devices.
On Sale Now: $275.00 - $299.99
View the latest prices for Casio Exilim EX-G1 (red)
On Sale Now: $275.00 - $299.99
View the latest prices for Casio Exilim EX-G1 (black)
Motorola Quantico
(Credit: Motorola)Motorola has released yet another rugged phone, and it's called the Quantico.
Like the Motorola Tundra, it won't win any design awards for its rough-and-tumble exterior. It's encased in a shell made of chrome, glass, and rubber that is military-certified to withstand a 30-minute dip in up to a meter of water, extreme pressure, temperature, dust, shock, vibration, and rain.
It also rocks GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, a speakerphone, and a 1.3-megapixel camera. No word on carriers just yet, but the tri-band CDMA spec gives us a pretty good hint it'll either go with Verizon, Sprint, or one of the regional carriers like Cricket and MetroPCS.
Testing a rugged phone like the Sonim XP3 Quest is always fun. It's not every day that you get to throw a handset down the stairs as part of the review. With most phones, a drop to the floor and even a few drops of water can render it useless. But with the XP3, it's all part of the fun.
As the successor to the XP1, the XP3 is also built like a tank, bit it goes a step further by being able to withstand a full dunking. We did just that, and even placed a call to the Sonim while it was taking a dip. Besides the aforementioned fall down the stairs, we also used it to hammer a nail, we tried to hammer a nail in its display, we dropped it onto a concrete floor, and we tried to stomp it into oblivion. We didn't run it over a car or freeze it in ice as other reviewers have, but it survived our torture tests without a scratch. This is one phone that's built to last.
Inside the XP3 isn't as exciting. Feature are pretty minimal--a 2-megapixel camera and GPS are the most notable offerings--and we don't like that it lacks multimedia messaging. Call quality is decent even if we didn't test the call quality while underwater.
For the full story, check out XP3 Review, our photo gallery, and video. As an unlocked phone it is expensive ($399), though it's available at Best Buy.
The XP3 isn't a looker, but it's strong.
(Credit: Sonim)Last year we reviewed the Sonim XP1, one of the most durable cell phones we've ever had the pleasure of throwing to the floor. As it never made it to a U.S. carrier, the XP1 wasn't widely available in the United States. But thanks to Best Buy's welcome interest in unlocked phones, an XP1 descendant will live in a big box store.
You wouldn't call the Sonim XP3 Quest attractive--the yellow version is particularly ugly--but brawn before beauty is the whole point. Sonim claims the phone can withstand drops to a concrete floor, excessive shock and vibration, punctures and pressure, extreme temperatures, dust and particles, and even a full dunk underwater. Sonim has a nifty video on its Web site showing the phone enduring torture tests. We're expecting a review model so we'll see just what it can handle.
Features include a 2-megapixel camera, a music player, GPS with turn-by-turn directions, Bluetooth, messaging, a music player with an FM radio, a flashlight, and an external memory card slot. At $399 it's not cheap, but you should be able to shoot it out of a cannon.
(Credit:
WireImage/J. McCarthy)
Casio might be ripe to the world of mobile phones, but it certainly made a splash last night with a unique party for the launch of its Exilim C721, a versatile phone that combines rugged durability and a 5.1-megapixel camera in a stylish handset.
Casio canonized the launch by offering the Exilim mobile to several handpicked photographers with the challenge to use the short-form medium to document a week of their lives. Ricky Powell, Richard Kern, Dave Potes, and 11 other prominent artists were all in attendance at last night's event at the Stephen Weiss Studio in downtown New York, where several wall-to-wall digital projects were used to bring their distinctively playful snapshots to elaborate scale.
Casio also had the Exilim C721 handsets on display, cleverly submerged in a sterile tank to show off their military-spec (code MIL-STD 810F) resistance to water, rain, shock, dust, salt, fog, and high altitudes. The phones continued to play their video and photo slideshows underwater, and surprisingly maintained their monochrome OLED display as well.
While the phone does come with a pretty stiff price tag ($280 with a two-year service agreement and a $50 mail-in rebate), last night's gala proved that its creative innovation and tough-guy attitude may very well be worth the cost.
Here I am testing the sturdiness of a Samsung M110, Sonim XP1, and Sony Ericsson C702 by putting them inside a working vacuum cleaner. They held up well.
(Credit: Fredrik Stehn)Nokia's new dust-, water-, and shock-resistant GSM phone, the 3720 Classic, is good news for people who've lost one or two mobiles in a pool of water.
It's not the only one on the market, though--well-protected phones for iDEN and CDMA networks have been around for a long time, and starting a few years ago a new series of GSM mobiles from Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and small American manufacturer Sonim were certified according to the so-called IP-54 standard.
All are fresh alternatives to trustworthy and historic companions such as the Ericsson R310 from 2000 (the "shark fin"), the Nokia 5210 from 2002, and the Nokia 5500 Sports from 2006.
American users might not have had the pleasure of torturing these phones, as GSM networks were scarce in the U.S. at the time the Ericsson R310 and Nokia 5210 launched. Furthermore, they were only dual band for European frequencies.
The IP Code that's used for certifying the new models is an international standard that defines protection against dust and water.
The Nokia 3720 Classic is the latest entrant to the water-resistant genre.
(Credit: Nokia)The first digit ranges from 0 to 6 and regards dust, the second ranges from 0 to 8 and regards water. IP-54 means, more or less, that the device is almost completely protected against dust and that it resists splashing water from any direction.
Last year I had great fun putting the Samsung M110, Sonim XP1, and Sony Ericsson C702 to the test (article in Swedish). I put the phones in a vacuum cleaner bag while cleaning, held them under the shower spray, launched them from a second-floor balcony, and dropped them in a glass of beer.
The Samsung M110 turned out to be the clear winner, happily receiving calls even when immersed in a mug of brew.
... Read more
(Credit:
Nokia)
Nokia has officially announced the new Nokia 3720 Classic, a sturdy and durable phone that's IP-54 certified to resist water, dust, and shock.
Early looks at the Nokia 3720 Classic have proved to us that this is certainly one rugged phone (it has to be, after surviving several beatings with a golf club and getting dunked in a pint of beer). It has a battery cover that's locked with a screw to protect the battery and circuitry, and a sealed leakproof design that comes in variety of colors. Unlike a lot of other rugged phones, like the Sonim XP1, the Nokia 3720 Classic is also quite stylish-looking.
It doesn't have too much in the way of features, though. This Series 40 phone has a nice 2.2-inch display, a 2-megapixel camera with LED flash, a microSD card slot with preloaded 1GB card, a stereo FM radio, a LED flashlight, and Bluetooth 2.1, but no GPS. The Nokia 3720 will retail for around 125 Euros some time this summer.
We may not beat the crinoline out of our phones with a golf club, but we can imagine accidentally dropping them in a sink--or even a pint. Nokia's decided to try out both phone-destroying events in a series of YouTube videos showing off its first ruggedized phone, the 3720 Classic.
You can also watch a fat man leave it in his pocket while he does a lap in a cold-looking pool, giving it a rugby punt on a typically gorgeous British day, and dropping it on to concrete off a very tall ladder.
It's not strictly scientific--we're not told if it's the same, unlucky phone, or a series of victims--but we think it looks a deal less fake than the iPhone 3GS that survived a trip to the bottom of a pool. Nokia has gathered the vids together on its rugged phone blog page, where it swears they're genuine.
The 3720 Classic has yet to be officially announced, but the rumor from The Boy Genius Report says we can expect a water- and dust-resistant phone with an FM radio and a built-in torch, similar to Samsung's ruggedized phones, such as the B2700 Bound.
(Source: Crave UK)
