Nokia Is Finally Working On A Ruggedized Phone

Nokia is finally working on a ruggedized phone, though they have yet to officially announce it. It is believed to be the Nokia 3720, leaked several weeks ago, but not yet confirmed by Nokia. The Conversations team has a handful of units and have been testing them in a knock-up of different real-life situations, including being dropped from high distances and the ever-popular pint of beer test.

The phone miraculously manages to survive each test, which is a good sign. Unfortunately, from the videos, we can see that this is most likely going to be an S40-powered featurephone, or dumbphone, as I like to call them. That means it will *not* run the Symbian operating system, will not be able to multitask, and will most likely include a crap camera, no GPS, and other limiting features. It’s a shame, really.

With Ovi Maps now offering walking maps, new phones including built-in compasses, and high resolution cameras, it makes little sense that Nokia doesn’t currently offer a fully ruggedized smartphone powered by Symbian. After my experience with the Casio G’zOne Boulder and a few other ruggedized phones, I can easily say that I would purchase one, as it would be handy in many an outdoor activity. They did once before, with the 5500, but it was only tri-band GSM, and a NAM variant was never built.

At least we know that Nokia apparently knows how to manufacture the phone. Now all we need is for them to design a smarter one. Below are all five videos, showing various tests:

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