Samsung B2700: photos
Mobile phones are generally designed to sit comfortably in hand, pocket or bag as you go about your daily routine. However, some are designed for more demanding environments.
Rugged handsets are aimed at professionals working in challenging locations, or at consumers with active lifestyles. Samsung's B2700 leans towards the latter category, but could work well for professionals too.
The B2700 is available for £170, SIM-free.
The Samsung B2700 is designed to be dust- and water-resistant, meeting the IP54 standard. The outer casing is made from a rubbery material, while the number pad is formed from a single sheet rather than comprising individual keys.
The B2700's appeal to outdoor types will be enhanced by the presence of an altimeter, compass and pedometer. However, we reckon that its battery life is just as (if not more) appealing, and that might endear it to a wider audience.
We asked the phone to play music continually from a full charge, which it did for 22 hours. This is excellent by mobile phone standards, and you should be able to rely on it for several days at a stretch away from mains power.
Offsetting the good battery life is a small screen, which measures 1.9in. across the diagonal and has a resolution of just 176 by 220 pixels.
The B2700 is a 3G phone, but it lacks HSDPA support. It has 26MB of internal memory, and a microSD card slot under the backplate for extra storage capacity. A 2-megapixel camera (without flash or self portrait mirror) produces fairly average shots; the lens isn't protected in any way against knocks or scratching.
One very useful feature is a bright LED light found on the top edge of the phone, which comes with grey, blue or red accents. Anyone working in dark places — a plumber or an electrician for example — could find this reason enough to like this mobile phone.
Other features include an FM radio, a voice recorder, an email client, plus an RSS reader, calendar, task manager, stopwatch, unit converter, timer and calculator.