Smartphones have a reputation of being high maintenance. Don’t drop them, don’t be rough with them, don’t put them too close to the cooking range- the list of don’ts can be pretty endless. That’s why we especially like Samsung’s Galaxy Rugby Pro. It’s rugged. With a name like Rugby, what else can it be? You can believe that even if it were tackled by the entire team of All-Blacks it probably wouldn’t be too worse for wear! Not just a tough, sturdy body, this phone offers you fast internet speeds thanks to LTE and a potent processor- making the Rugby Pro a superb combination of looks and strength.
The performance comes from the Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core 1.5 GHz processor and Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Together, they ensure the phone ranks up there with the other high-end devices that Samsung has to offer. There’s 4.87 GB of internal storage and a micro SD slot for 32 and 64 GB cards.
The 4” screen has a 480X800 pixel Super AMOLED display, so images are rich and color-laden. The QWERTY keyboard on screen is easy to use as well. The power port is at the bottom of the screen, the power button on the right, function keys are beneath the display, the headphone jack on the top, volume controls and a customizable key are on the left.
What’s a smartphone without apps? The Rugby can easily handle the 600,000 and more games and applications you have access to on the Google Play Store. That’s a large number, but the phone comes with five home screens with preloaded apps that you can personalize and fill with your own. You can disable apps so you don’t have to see them.
You can move through the apps menu via a thin strip at the bottom of the home screen. We like Kies Air that lets you use the desktop web browser to see your contacts, media files and text messages on your phone. You many also enjoy the S voice, Samsung’s voice assistant. It’s useful for voice search and commands. There’s bloatware on the Rugby, like a code scanner from QR etc. But that’s to be expected. Like we said, there is an option to disable apps.
The camera isn’t great; a 5 megapixel piece with slightly slow shutter speeds that need 1.1 seconds to get a picture. The camera tends to lean towards soft pictures but the details and the colors are good. Video recording is decent at 30 frames per second. The front facing camera is an average 1.3 megapixels, good for video chat and self-portraits.
This is a heavier phone than the Rugby Smart, at 5.6 ounces and has 5.4X2.65X0.50” dimensions. It is made of strong black plastic and the bigger size means a bigger display as well. There’s plastic on the sides of the phone for better grip. We said this was a rugged phone and it is. It withstands dust, rain, extreme temperatures, rain and shock. Dropping it time and time might not be such a great idea though! Voice quality is good, though an outdoor conversation on speakerphone isn’t always great.
If you’re looking for a strong smartphone, you can’t go wrong with the Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro. Yes, there are other high-end phones that have more to offer, but in terms of sheer ruggedness, you can’t beat the Rugby.
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