Our phones are many things but, unfortunately, delicate is one of them. We shell out as much as $1,000 or more to buy one and the manufacturer has the temerity to assume we’ll immediately wrap it up in an aftermarket case so it can survive even a few days in the real world. There’s no shortcoming quite like that in all the rest of consumer technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rugged phones, however, which natively endure the world’s hazards, cut a fairly svelte figure and offer features ordinary phones lack, are growing in popularity: Research and Markets projects rugged phone sales<\/a> to grow at a compound annual rate of 6.7% from 2020 to 2027, compared to just 3.7% sales growth for all smartphones from 2022-2025, according to IDC<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even though the\u00a0iPhone 12<\/span>\u00a0did pass our scratch and drop test<\/span> with flying colors, Apple’s standard warranty denies coverage for any damage caused by moisture<\/a>, even though the company promotes its “superstrong materials and water resistance<\/a>.” Its arch-rival Samsung Galaxy S21 proved itself\u00a0not-so-hardy in its own ways<\/span>. Enter rugged phones.<\/p>\n Read more:\u00a0<\/strong>Best waterproof camera for shooting underwater video<\/span><\/p>\n The Samsung XCover Pro<\/a><\/span> and Cat S52<\/a> lay claim to being the lightest and thinnest rugged phones, respectively (though the Cat S52 is only available in the US as a gray-market device<\/a><\/span>). The bigger Cat S62 Pro<\/a>\u00a0offers a powerful FLIR temperature sensor. The diminutive\u00a0UniHertz AtomXL<\/a> writes a new page in the rugged-phone stylebook, while the Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G<\/a>\u00a0supports ultrawideband 5G on Verizon, and the\u00a0Sonim XP8<\/a> makes no apologies for the rugged lines that envelope a device you’ll see in the hands of many first responders.<\/p>\n <\/a> These phones laugh at being dropped on a hard floor, dunked in water or even immersed in liquid cleaner<\/a> — that last one being a pretty neat trick at a time when we’re disinfecting everything<\/em>. The ruggedness credential for most phones is Military Standard 810-G, which encompasses a lot of specifications<\/a>\u00a0but is commonly described as the ability to withstand a 1.5-meter (4.9-foot) drop without damage. All the phones in our list are rated either 810-G or the newer 810-H.<\/p>\n A phone’s resistance to foreign matter is signified by an IP code<\/span>, typically IP68. The 6 in IP68 means the phone is closed to dust and grit, while the 8 means the phone is protected against water immersion “under conditions … agreed between the manufacturer and user<\/a>,” according to the International Electrotechnical Commission, which oversees the standard. That means not all IP68 ratings are the same. It can denote immersion resistance ranging from 5 feet for 30 minutes for the Samsung XCover Pro, 6.5 feet for 30 minutes with the Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G, or 5 feet for 35 minutes with the Cat S62 Pro. Read the tech specs before you buy, but all the phones on our list have some level of IP68 protection. The Sonim XP8 and Cat S62 Pro achieve a high enough IP rating that they can also resist direct sprays of liquid. <\/p>\n <\/a> Note that some of the phones in this roundup have a tethered cap that seals their USB-C jack. These caps are tedious in daily use and complicate placing the phone in a desktop charging stand unless you have the Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G, which supports Qi wireless charging pad, allowing the port door to stay closed while charging.<\/p>\n With fires, power outages, floods and other unusual events becoming more usual, many people are joining local neighborhood response groups or\u00a0CERT teams<\/a>, which rely on radio-style communications but not necessarily with actual radios. Push to Talk over cellular apps such as Zello<\/a>\u00a0allow a phone to work like a walkie-talkie with anyone else running the same app. Sprint and Verizon offer similar services as plan options.\u00a0 <\/p>\n So many ways to have a walkie-talkie on your phone. PTToC apps for both consumers, enterprises and first responders have proliferated in recent years with the expansion of 4G LTE that allows them to behave very much like an actual radio, but with far more smarts.<\/p>\n <\/span> All of the phones on our list except the Cat S52 have at least one dedicated button that can be set to Push to Talk, and the Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G has three programmable buttons. All of the phones can map a button to Zello, the most popular PTT platform<\/a>. That gives you far better walkie-talkie ergonomics than pressing a virtual talk button on the screen. <\/p>\n Most of the phones in our roundup have at least one assignable hardware button that can be mapped to several functions such as Push to Talk, using the camera or sending out an emergency beacon alert via an app.<\/p>\n <\/span> The Unihertz AtomXL is also a “real” radio<\/a>. It’s able to communicate with the FCC Part 90<\/a> radios, often known as “business radios,” with the use of a small external antenna that ships with the phone. Technically, the AtomXL can also communicate with GMRS and FRS radios, which are often carried by neighborhood volunteers, as well as with some ham radios, but it’s not FCC approved to do so. In any of these modes, it has 0.5- and 1.5-watt output power levels. <\/p>\n The Unihertz Atom XL can communicate with FRS and GMRS radios, as well as with UHF ham radios, though such use is pending US approval by the FCC.<\/p>\n <\/span> The Sonim XP8 also has true radio capability via an optional Xpand module that turns it into a transceiver on the 900MHz ISM band<\/a>. That isn’t likely familiar or useful to the average person, though. The XP8 isn’t compatible with the FRS and GMRS radios typically carried by emergency response volunteers. <\/p>\n Several of the phones on our list support dual SIMs, giving them another kind of ruggedness: network resiliency. If you’re willing to spend the money, having two carriers activated on a phone can mean the difference between having service or not during a crisis. Setting up a pair of technically distinct carriers on a phone can substantially reduce your odds of being offline when networks are jammed or damaged. For example, you might activate both Verizon and ATT on a dual-SIM phone. It may seem tempting to get a virtual three-network phone by activating Google Fi<\/span>\u00a0on the other SIM since it taps into both T-Mobile\u00a0and US Cellular, but Fi only juggles those two networks on “Made for Fi” phones<\/a>, which currently only include Google Pixels and Moto G phones — none that are rugged. <\/p>\n The Samsung XCover Pro features both dual physical SIM support as well as a swappable battery.<\/p>\n <\/span> A couple of the phones on our list are available with LTE Band 14 support so they can use ATT FirstNet, a special mobile network that can prioritize you and preempt other network users<\/span> at times of extreme network load, like during natural disasters. You can’t just sign up for FirstNet by having a compatible phone, however; you need to also be sponsored via a participating emergency services organization you’re involved with.<\/p>\n Most of the phones we carry today make a big sacrifice in the name of design: Their speakers aren’t aimed at our ears, but aim sideways out of the phone. A couple of the rugged phones on our list rectify that with front-facing speakers that blow away the meek volume levels on mainstream phones.\u00a0 <\/p>\n The loudest speakers of any phone in this group are the front-facing ones on the Sonim XP8.<\/p>\n <\/span> This is useful for PTT apps, especially when you’re in a hectic or outdoor location. But note my pet peeve: Speakerphone mode is way overused today, so blare sparingly. We don’t want to hear your conversation or FaceTime. Get some earbuds<\/span> when a speakerphone isn’t mission-critical. <\/p>\n The Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G has front-facing speakers that it claims are capable of a 10-decibel sound level, which is in the vicinity of a chainsaw or gas leaf blower<\/a>. The Sonim XP8 has a long history with professional first responders and has developed the screw-down Secure Audio Connector to provide audio and power to a wide range of speakers, mics and combinations of the two<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/a> Remember when many phones had these? They made charge anxiety less of an issue. Just pop in a spare battery and be back at 100% charge in seconds. The Samsung XCover Pro and Sonim XP8 have swappable batteries as part of their ready-for-anything ethos. Even the fastest charge can’t compete with this simple solution. <\/p>\n <\/a> Rugged phones used to treat camera and display quality as elective, but these new models leave little lacking when it comes to these features. They may not have the number of cameras found on flagship phones like the iPhone 12 Pro Max<\/span> or the Samsung Galaxy S21<\/span>, but the cameras they do have are ample in megapixels and take advantage of the Google image processing built into Android. The gallery of comparative shots below is remarkable mostly in how unremarkable the photos are: They’re barely different from the typical snapshot taken with a flagship phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n See all photos<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n +3 More<\/span> <\/a><\/p>\n All the phones on our list use toughened glass. The CAT phones have the latest\u00a0Corning Gorilla Glass 6<\/span>, which is more resistant to repeated and higher drops than its more commonly found\u00a0predecessor<\/a>.<\/p>\n The CAT S62 Pro takes imaging a step further with an integrated FLIR Lepton thermal sensor<\/a> which can measure from -4 to 752 degrees Fahrenheit with a high degree of sensitivity. If you’ve been temperature scanned when entering a building lately, you know that the pandemic has made temperature scanning mainstream. Even after the pandemic subsides, a FLIR sensor is a tool with dozens of uses<\/a>.<\/p>\n The CAT S62 Pro’s FLIR Lepton sensor is designed for use in phones, allowing it to fully integrate into the phone’s body unlike the earlier FLIR sensor in the CAT S61, which required a large top protrusion. <\/p>\n The CAT S62 Pro now fully integrates its FLIR sensor in the form factor of the phone, versus the protuberance that housed it in the earlier CAT 61.<\/p>\n
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\n <\/span><\/p>\n \t \t \t \t \t \t \t \tRuggedness and water resistance <\/h2>\n
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\n <\/span><\/p>\n \t \t \t \t \t \t \t \tPush to Talk <\/h2>\n
\n Brian Cooley\/CNET
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\n Brian Cooley\/CNET
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\n Brian Cooley\/CNET
\n <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \t \t \t \t \t \t \t \tDual SIMs <\/h2>\n
\n Brian Cooley\/CNET
\n <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \t \t \t \t \t \t \t \tFront-facing speakers <\/h2>\n
\n Brian Cooley\/CNET
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\n <\/span><\/p>\n \t \t \t \t \t \t \t \tReplaceable batteries <\/h2>\n
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\n <\/span><\/p>\nNo more apologies for cameras and screens <\/h2>\n
Camera comparison from six top rugged phones<\/h2>\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n \tThermal imaging <\/h2>\n