Nokia's not exactly known for its beefy, ultra-survivable gear, but unless the human race plans on getting a whole lot less clumsy, rugged phones will always be a good idea -- and Espoo's 3720 certainly seems to fill the bill. The Series 40-based candybar features a 2 megapixel cam with LED flash, triband EDGE (sorry, North Americans), FM radio, microSD expansion, and the latest and greatest Bluetooth 2.1, but the real news here is that the phone is built to meet IP54 standards. A quick check with our handy-dandy IP code reference tells us that means that "ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, but it must not enter in sufficient quantity to interfere with the satisfactory operation of the equipment; complete protection against contact" -- in other words, your phone might get nasty dirty, but it'll keep chugging -- and it can withstand "splashing" water. Scuba divers, the search for your perfect phone probably continues. Refreshingly, the 3720 will run just €125 (about $175) unlocked when it ships later this summer.
posted Jul 9th 2009 11:52AM
Espoo?
Is poo?
A quick google search shows Nokia HQ in Finland is in Espoo.
I'll admit it. I like this phone. Simple, durable, reasonable feature set, and it looks good to my eye. The price isn't bad either.
Pity the data rate is multiple generations old, but yeah - nice. Series 40 can do a few tricks S 60 still hasn't learned.
I agree, a simple phone that will make calls and last a very long time sounds great. I've had good experiences with Nokia, and it looks like this one will be a winner. Especially with the price it has been given....
i think thats really quite a nice looking handset
The land rover phones from Sonim that were on Engadget recently seem MUCH better constructed than this....I watched the demo where a Defender drove over the phone, in a puddle of water and mud and it still worked.
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/tag/LandRover/
Useful if your hobbies include driving over phones in a Land Rover Defender...
I don't know about the current generation, but Nokia handsets in the past have been pretty rugged. In fact, they were marketed in some regions as being dust proof.
I had a nokia 6600 - the first Nokia smartphone. I dropped it as I was answering a call - it bounced down 2 flights of stairs and still kept the call.
Exactly. My Nokia E71 survived countless of drops when I go hiking as well as the occasional light rain. They are pretty rugged despite not being marketed as one.
Obviously it won't survive the torture that the 3720 endured (hei Engadget, it can survive more than just 'splashing' water, like being submerged in a pint of beer), but it is good enough for me.
I second that. My 3310 was the best phone I ever had. Everyone had that phone in Europe, and it survived pretty much anything. My sister's fell on a barbecue and stayed there for a couple of seconds while we frantically reached for the tongs. She replaced the battery just to be safe, and it still works after 7 years. No more batteries for it are produced, alas.
correction: the first Nokia smartphone was not the 6600, the first with S60 was the Nokia 7650 and the first over all was the Nokia 9000.
from my experience they are pretty durable, the 3310 was of course a class of its own. the N95 which i have is not known as a very tough phone, but it had a lot of very nasty falls and survived everything with no problems. The worst damage it ever suffered happened last week while it was charging. the cable got tangled with my chair, it got violently pulled off the desk and onto the floor. some of the pins holding the battery cover got broken, but they are still doing their job and the phone is working 100% ok
I recently baked(I recommend rare, about 200F 5-10mins) my e71(without batt) to dry it off after diving into a pool(accident) and proceeding to drop it several times onto concrete. It needed to be restarted and works perfectly.
Nokia phones for the most part have been very reliable for me.
Those buttons should be on-screen
No they shouldn't. Buttons are good.
Ignore miles, just a troll.
(and not a good one like Paul, at least he puts effort)
How would you press them?
The only cellphone I like is the one I think I spent too much money on.
http://conversations.nokia.com/2009/07/09/nokia-3720-classic-rugged-phone-video-montage-and-hands-on/
Yeah, it's pretty rugged :D
Very pretty, I like the metal accents!
Also, is this going to Nextel? The yellow gives it away (even their BlackBerries have yellow all over them)...
no, it's GSM. not even Sprint (who took over Nextel's yellow-and-black branding) will carry it.
but here in Brazil, Vivo (the nation's largest carrier, which uses GSM 850 in many areas) definately won't carry it.
I know, I was just teasing Nokia for the yellow, ha ha...
'blue's my color... NOPE! yelloww!'
Looks nice and rugged. I really wish more time went into making phones resistant to common use. Mostly for those of us that are not protective of our tech.
The old upstage by Samsung was a good rugged phone also, I dropped/threw thing thing so many times, not something I can do with a single smart phone (maybe some of the blackberries, they seem pretty durable).
My K810i could withstand more than that, so how can they call it a rugged phone?
Can you create a video montage of your phone being dipped in beer and kicked around like a football. Thanks.
"ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, but it must not enter in sufficient quantity to interfere with the satisfactory operation of the equipment; complete protection against contact"
"it can withstand "splashing" water"
Used to use my phone in the shower, and it got pretty dusty over 18 months.
Thanks.
Well you're just a regular idiot, aren't you?
Well done, attempted to insult my intelligence without any basis for it. I've been beaten, there's no way out of this, how ever will I live this down?
Bloody hell.
Scuba diving with a phone?
Nokia: "Dee dah doo dah, dee dah doo dah."
Diver: "Hehllobubble?"
Caller: "Is that Dave?"
Diver: "Blub blubble yehble blubble. Plop. Wozzuble dudle bubble?"
Caller: "Huh?!"
Diver: "Wotubble? U no-hubble bubble speakuble fishie eh bubble?"
Caller: "Dave, we need to talk about your drinking problem on the double!"
Diver: "Huh-ble?"
Etc.
Hilarious, but I don't think that's quite what they meant.
Not known for rugged phones?
The Nokia 5210 and the 5100 were and are well known throughout the EU and the developing world as being tough, rugged phones.
but did they have a yellow border? everyone knows that yellow border means rugged. that's how I know this one will survive a 1m drop. it's yellow. :)
I had a Nokia 5100, was as rugged as advertised. Lasted me four years before I finally broke the screen.
True dat!
Apparently, engadget's grasp on strength and weakness of mobile devices is limited to, er, iphone 1g/2g/3g/s. That's like FOUR different phones.
@Gary: LOL! Haven't heard that, or any variation on that, before! Good, good stuff.
@Richard: Correction -- Nokia hasn't made a name for itself on rugged phones, not saying Nokia phones aren't well-built or that there haven't been ruggedized models here and there. Outside of Motorola and some of the specialty brands like Sonim, I'd actually say that no major manufacturer has a serious reputation for rugged phones.
@Chris Ziegler
Then I would say that you are wrong and your views are remarkably NA centric.
I have worked extensively in Africa, the mid-east and in central Asia and there, the simple Nokia phones do indeed have developed a reputation as rugged phones, particularly versus the offerings of other manufacturers.
Yes, there was yellow but red one was the most popular.
http://www.ixbt.com/mobile/phonemodel/images/nokia/5210/5210-2.jpg
But the 5000 series phones were just the sportsmen water and drop resistance. The real mans, or really clumpy mans phone was 6250. Could take a hit from dropped so high it could reach terminal velosity. Loose a hammer, no proböem, hit nails with phone.
Playlist of videos of the phone being put through its paces...
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8C5240D8D2A3E24B
including dropped in beer, hit with golf club, jelly(jelo) made with phone inside... etc.
If it is more rugged than a 3310, then it must be basically invincible.
I think the secret in the 3310 is that it was much smaller than its cover. I used to make "races" with my friends at school to see which one of us was able / dared to slide it through the floor faster and farther. (Almost everyone had one.) Outdoors, I mean - concrete floor. We were stupid, yes. But the phone still works, although the battery's good for about two hours.
There are so many times I hate the US's cell phone systems....
So, you say this phone won't actually fall apart like the last 3 shitty Nokias I owned?
I've had two 6555s fall apart, a 6102i, and probably others I can't count.
A guy went through a swimming pool with it in his pocket - its fairly waterproof i'd say. And the screen would crack on most phones if you dropped them off a ladder or hit them with a golf club.
Not with this one though, and the price is pretty decent to.
Latest and greatest Bluetooth 2.1? How about 3.0?
Ive been waiting for something like this to replace my legendary 2610
rugged and thin looking, i like it. I wanna see this come to the US...
Yeah, if nothing else, Nokia phones are pretty rugged in general. I own a 6650; the thing has a frickin' stainless steel housing.
It looks kind of like a kitchen appliance, but it can make it through hell and back and it runs S60 v3, and it's small and compact.
I'm buying one, bye bye old 1100 i had you for allmost 6 years.
Or... should i hack it? (Does anyone know how, and if i can reprogram the OS?)
Now this is a product that Nokia can do well. Basic phone with no fancy features and one unique feature (ruggedness) for low-mid price. They should just do these and forget the S60 smartphone crap since they can't beat HTC, Blackberry, Palm or Apple.
Hahahaha...
Except in market share that is.
holler
Any idea which networks this'll be ready for? My 7 year old Nokia brick on Verizon is just about broken and this looks like a nice replacement.
To bad it isn't an S60 3rd and doesn't have GPS. My Nokia 5500 Sport has survived a few dozen drops and was recently ejected from a mountain bike traveling 25mph on the local trail. Phone still works like it did the day I got it.
the aesthetic of this phone pleases me
wow this phone looks awesome - i need to replace my ageing nokia 5500 which can take any beating i have thrown at it
you can thow it against a wall and all it does is dent up some (lol my phone looks mashed but still works after dropping into water at beach - dropping down stairs - etc etc)
its good to have a phone you dont have to be so cautious with and can just do what you want
i wish there was more rugged phones out there
anyways after having the 5500 i would definatly buy this one
hmm ive never been a fan of nokias but this doesnt look half bad
Dammit, why nokia?
Why do you take a step backwards with your rugged phones?
You had the 5500, a really nice phone. also the smallest and most solid S60 phone you could get.
A full blown smartphone (back in the days) that you could wash in the sink and drop and freeze to your hearts delight.
Now you produce this. shure it looks nice, und probably is as solid as it should be, but its just a dumb S40 phone.
So if i want to upgrade from my 5500, i just get this, which is esentially the 5410 precedor of the 5500. WTF?
How about a rugged version of the 5800? the lack of buttons would make making it dustproof rahter easy.
Or a rugged E71? This thing already is extremely well made. Make it a bit more solid, and give it some water and dust resitancy and it would be perfect.
Oh well, i just hope my 5800 will last me a while. I just have to get used to the whole "treating your phone nice" concept.
qwert
Sorry, but the 5500 was so robust that one of my friends 5500 lost its keyboard. Well, the rubbery thing over the keyboard. Other parts have gone missing as well, without being abused much. My Motorola smartphone is more robust than that!
I have heard about a few problems with the 5500, but i havent had any.
But i have
used in in way under -20°
dropped in from a few meters
dropped it down a flight of stairs
thrown it against the wall
dropped it in water
cleaned it under running water
put in in the pocket with lots of sand and rocks
and a lot of other abuse.
Still working good.
what is not working however is GPS, WLAN, 3G and the big screen for internet and office. Now wonder, since it never had these, and sadly this doesnt have it either. It even has the older OS.
If you look carefully at the burnt out Saab in the post above, I think I see a Noika 3720 that survived in perfect condition!
The execs at Nokia have some serious noise canceling gear.
Yup. Nokia is doomed.
I doubt it is the most rugged. Look at some of the Motorola phones for industrial use out there.
Though, it does seem to the most nice-looking rugged phone out there.
Nokia 3310...most durable. EVER. PERIOD.
Surprise to see that Nokia is still working on S40 devices, where users are become more focused on VAS and mobile applications. Nokia smartphone series is the success and support lot of quality applications. I am sure S40 doesn't VoIP apps like Skye or vopium so its become useless..