I often think that Land Rover should sell brand new cars with mud and dirt all over them. I’m actually saddened a bit when I see a sparkling clean one driving around. Land Rover builds 4×4’s which are specifically designed to go off road, so they should be dirty, covered in mud splatters, and only available in Brown. Potential buyers should be asked “And when are you going off road?” before they purchase, if they can’t give a satisfactory answer, they can’t buy one. 4×4 owners should brag about how dirty their cars are, and be allowed into a special ‘My car’s a dirty 4×4’ club.
Samsung S5690 Xtreme Xcover.
Samsung seem to have cottoned onto this. They’ve recently unveiled their new Smartphone, the Galaxy S5690 Extreme Xcover, and it’s a tough phone that seems to be built for going off road, but will you want to? We investigate.
How tough is it?
With an IP rating of 67 (the highest available), this smart phone is totally protected against dust, and long periods of immersion under pressure water. In fact, there are already numerous videos on YouTube of willing volunteers ‘accidentally’ dropping their handsets into baths, sinks, or classes of water with no problems. One video even shows a man watching a video on his smartphone, while it’s submerged in a large jug of clear water. Samsung say it can be submerged for around 30 minutes before it’ll need to come up for air. (That’s better than a Dolphin!)
How smart is it?
It’s running on the Android V2.3 (Gingerbread) platform with a 3.6 inch capacitive touch screen (with toughened glass), and a 3.15 MP camera with LED flash and autofocus. Pair that with access to the Android App Store, music and video players, Samsung’s Social Hub, Google search and the ability to edit documents, images and videos on the move, and suddenly we’re talking about a serious player.
Also it looks good, a bit rugged certainly, but still it’s not ugly. There are not many good looking tough phones around, and unless you work in a building site – or are particularly butter fingered – you wouldn’t want one. But this could change your mind, as it looks like any other stylish Android powered smart phone (when it doesn’t have dirt all over it).
As far as we can see, this seems like a great all round smart phone. A good looking device that works hard, plays hard, does its job and likes a swim.
So, much like Land Rover owners, although you can – and should – go off road with it, you probably won’t because you love it too much.
Click here to see a more detailed spec and price for Samsung S5690 Galaxy Extreme.
We also have a special offer available on this handset exclusive for the Building trade.
Pingback: How do you like your eggs? | connectingbusiness