UKC

Hi All,

I am after some advice and recommendations on tough smart phones, I currently have an old iphone 5 hand me down that is slowly giving up the go, I tough phone would seem the best option. more interested in battery life and photo ability, than anything else.

keen to hear what people have, whats good and bad, thing to look out for and where people brought them.

many thanks Rob

In reply to ecrinscollective:

I have an Ulefone 7e. Properly tough and waterproof. It regularly gets dropped and soaked (I answer it in the shower sometimes!! lol) It has a great battery life and reasonably camera (not fantastic but much better than my previous one).

What I don't like about it is that it's huge and weighs a tonne! 

For me, the robustness is more important than the weight though.

In reply to ecrinscollective:

Hi, after several Sony smartphones dying outdoors for various reasons I eventually settled on a Getnord Leo lastyear biught direct from Getnord.

Its pretty big and heavy compared to an iphone tho I got used to that fairly quickly.

Battery is phenomenal (for a smartphone) it runs a full two days with everything on. Battery is great in winter conditions. Its waterproof (in practical use) Android so works like a smartphone. Camera is decent tho not exceptional.  

Main selling points for me were really tough and great battery.  One upside to the huge size is if you get stuck somwhere and want to watch a film the screen is adevuate and the battery will last.

Hope this helps...and im sure there are plenty of other options...But for what its worth I'd happily buy the same phone again if i managed to loose it!

P

In reply to girlymonkey:

Thanks for that, I don't mind a bit of extra weight, Do you mind telling me where you got it, I looked at the Ulefone 9 something, but a lot of online shops selling it looked a little dodgy, I am sure its just me but feed back would be good.

cheers  

In reply to ecrinscollective:

A newer iPhone with a Mous or Otterbox case?

In reply to ecrinscollective:

CAT phones are certainly tough. Mine has survived being well and truly battered and soaked. The battery is great and last 2 or 3 days of normal use. In the hills with the phone in flight mode but using the GPS and camera I've gone a week or more without charging. You can even charge another device off of the phone. T

The camera isn't brilliant on mine, certainly compared with modern smarts phones, I get the impression that high quality cameras are quite fragile so not fitted in tough phones. 

In reply to Graeme G:

I thought about the i phone and case option, that's what i have been using with mu old 5, but i am worried about battery life, I am based in the alps and in winter I make a online ski touring guide, I use my phone a lot from nav, to mapping out the routes to taking photos, add in the cold, and i can see an iphone lasting all day, plus having enough in reserve if something goes wrong to call PGHM?

In reply to Graeme G:

I've got an Otterbox, it adds a bit of volume to the phone. But they do seem well built and a good fit. 

Ps. Not a newer iPhone though!! 

In reply to ecrinscollective:

Batteries. Generally it's big screens that eat battery life other than heavy GPS use. Look for a small screen but larger battery size, say 4000 plus. 

In reply to ecrinscollective:

Huawei phones have excellent batteries, and excellent cameras. Waterproof too, but I have mine in a protective case. It depends how you feel about Huawei though.

If I was buying a new phone now I'd get a Oneplus Nord and put it in a case.     

In reply to ecrinscollective:

Fair point. I have an XR. Using the screen a lot definitely eats battery life.

In reply to ecrinscollective:

I've got a Blackview BV8000. Had it a few years now. This was after recommendations/witnessing them in use from an expedition company. 

In reply to ecrinscollective:

what about a case with inbuilt battery for charging? my mates use them at festivals

In reply to Graeme G:

And AppleCare. Good camera, reliability and the iPhones last longer than alternatives. 

iPhone 12 mini is a joy to use. 

In reply to PPP:

This. I treat my phones terribly, put them in a pretty generic otter box case and I've got 4 years out of my last two iPhones. In reality, I probably could have got the batteries replaced and kept using them, but I'm a bit of a sucker for new tech. Never really understood the obsession people seem to have with "tough" phones - what you tend to get is a low spec phone with a terrible camera in thick plastic. Get a good phone, get a good case, get a spare battery pack if you rag it that much and put it in a ziplock bag if it's really pissing down. 

Edit to add: it's using it that kills the battery, because the screen is the prime user of energy. My iPhone 12 will happily keep charge for a couple of days if I only use it sparingly!

In reply to ecrinscollective:

Sadly it ended up being Amazon. Couldn't find anything else other than random chinese shops selling it

In reply to ecrinscollective:

I decided to get the guys at work tough phones, had black view, ulefone and another budget brand. Had lots of problems, charging failures, screens packing in, mic and speakers stopping. 

Some are still going strong and others failed within months and 2 didn't work out of the box. 

In reply to ecrinscollective:

I've got a Doogee S80 which is incredibly rugged and absolutely waterproof (still, after a year and a half of abuse). Its got a 10000mAh battery which lasts 4 or 5 days of normal use, which for me includes a fair bit of nav on viewranger.

The downside is that it's big and heavy due to the battery.

In reply to ecrinscollective:

If you want to have the phone available for emergency use, surely the solution to that is to have a separate inexpensive phone which can be kept out of harm's way and charged until needed.  The dangers of being 100% reliant on a single device which is constantly exposed seems a little fraught to me.

In reply to ecrinscollective:

Another Ulefone user here. I bought an Armour X8 from Amazon back in October, think it was £140. It's been great so far, only issue is the piss-poor placement of the fingerprint sensor (something I don't even want in a phone) on the right-hand side of the phone. Fine for unlocking but it takes a screenshot every time you cover the sensor for a couple of seconds, I've ended up sticking tape over it. Battery life is good though, camera is decent.

It's currently £116.99 on Amazon thanks to a £50 off voucher and a good bargain.

In reply to ecrinscollective:

Thanks for all the advice gang.

I guess I will have to do a bit more digging, I understand that an newer Iphone or similar is a far better phone to use, but battery life really worries me, a few friend have them and the don't seam to last a day tour in the cold even with very little use. A few end up having to carry a powerbank which I guess is an option, but feels like buy an more expensive phone a case and powerbank, when something else does it better.

As for using it during the day and needing it for emergency calls, it looks like a tougher model that is cold resistant should do that for a day tour, I'd use it to nav as a quick aid but always carry a map, and for photos often have a bigger camera in the bag if I can be bothered to get it out, so guess my thinking is if i notice the phone losing charge a lot in the day, I can put it away and use other things. 

May see which mate are getting an upgrade and go for another hand me down to get me through.

thanks again 

In reply to ecrinscollective:

Where do they carry them? In an internal pocket as close to your skin as possible will extend battery life no end cf putting it in your rucksack. Cold kills batteries. 

In reply to ianstevens:

I have mine in a cargo type pocket in ski pants, it's  there for easy of access and keeps it away from transceiver. most other some thing similar.

  

In reply to ecrinscollective:

Sounds pretty chilly - would be better under some layers if possible.

In reply to GrahamD:

I agree.

A few years ago, I bought a Nokia phone from Tesco for £15, including £10 of calls.  It's tiny, lightweight, the battery lasts a month on standby (switched on!), and it's very robust.      

Cheers

Al

In reply to ecrinscollective:

I've got this from this shop.  I've used them before to buy kitchen appliances.  

https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/sm-g398fzkdu07/samsung-smg398fzkdu07-x...

It does the job.  I haven't tried it in wet conditions but i have dropped it already, onto a quarry tiled floor from chest height with no issues.   I got a gel case and screen protecter to go with it.  I think the screen is going to be the weak link so its worth putting one on.  

Photos seem fine, I'm no expert.  

In reply to ecrinscollective: whatever you do , don’t go Mtb img when it’s really cold and wet ,  get really cold feet and then when you get changed put a really comfy battered pair of old 5.10 s on and wander around wondering  what s that in your shoe , but not look . I can confirm that small  iPhone s not in cases really really don’t like this .

 Hence why I’m looking at this thread . New ( to me ) iPhone going in VERY tough case before it leaves the house .