I love Samsung phones. I can’t lie. I didn’t a couple years ago, but they’ve really stepped up. So I got this Rugby Smart a couple weeks ago – and about a year or so ago – this would have been a great pick. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice phone. It’s snappy, and the screen is great. However, it’s running Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread without any hope of an upgrade. So for the sake of this blog, we’re going to ignore that.
For a smaller phone this thing is great! I had a lot of fun using it. It’s touted as water, dust, shock and temperature proof. I didn’t really put it to the test on those, but as for dust proof, it’s pretty solid. All of the connections are covered – even the power port! I didn’t dump it in water because, well, I’m not that brave. I was out in the rain with it for a few moments and it did just fine. But so did my Galaxy Nexus. And it seems to do great in cold weather!
Now this phone isn’t the fastest one out there, but with a single core 1.4 ghz processor, it still packs a big enough punch. This isn’t the phone you’re going to watch a lot of YouTube videos on or play a lot of involved games, but if you’re in need of a phone with access to Google’s great apps this could be a great phone for you. Especially if you don’t care about having the latest software from Google.
The camera isn’t spectacular, but it still takes decent pictures. And the battery life was on point. I easily got a full day out of it and then some. Once, I forgot to plug it in overnight and still had about 15 percent battery the next morning. So, this one will last you with moderate usage. The Rugby Smart has four physical buttons, options, home, back and search – which took a lot of getting used to. I’m not a fan of actual buttons, but they weren’t horrible after a few days.
As for a phone – it works. It has great sounding calls and was snappy on AT&T’s HSPA+ network. I’ve been really pleased with HSPA+ compared to Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE. It’s a solid network.
If you need the biggest, newest device out there, this one isn’t for you. But if you’re looking for a nice little Android phone, this could be it. Check it out for yourself.
Got questions for me? Leave a comment below or tweet me @Doctor_Droid.
