A guide to choosing the best Toughphone

Recently we’ve started to see more and more rugged phones make their way onto the shelves. The first to launch was the JCB Toughphone in early 2008. The promotional videos from JCB showed the phone being thrown into cement mixers, driven over by diggers and then washed down with a pressure washer. Surprisingly it still worked for calls – something that your everyday phone can’t do.

While rugged handsets aren’t anything new, manufacturers all seem to be making more of an effort to produce something that is near indestructible. Since the JCB Toughphone was launched, Nokia, Samsung, Land Rover and Sonim have all released tough durable handsets, they all look different and the price of the handsets varies considerably.

Rugged Handsets from Nokia, Samsung & Sonim

Getting the right phone for your needs is vital – particularly if you need a phone that can take more abuse than normal. The last thing you’ll want to do is have to replace it a few months down the line because it wasn’t quite strong enough. Currently there are 6 rugged phones available, but what’s the difference between them, what are IP ratings and more importantly, which should you go for?

This guide should hopefully make deciding which one to go for a little bit easier.

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