Why did we take the Samsung B2100 Solid Extreme phone to the gym, dunk it in the shower and boil it in the steam room? Numerous reasons: to time our steam, listen to music, take pictures of our feet, and even try calling a few friends. But mostly the reason was: because we could. The B2100 makes that kind of crazy stuff possible, thanks to its rugged rubber exterior and waterproof flanges.
All this ruggedness won't drain your wallet, either. The B2100
is available for free on a £15-per-month contract if you sign up for 24
months, or for about £90 SIM-free.
Tough as nails
The B2100 is compliant with the MIL-STD-810F (this should only be said in the
loudest drill-sergeant voice you can muster) military standard. Samsung says it can withstand 'blowing
rain, dust, shock, salt fog, humidity, water, immersion, solar radiation,
vibration and extreme temperature'. That all sounds great, although we're pretty
sure that 'solar radiation' just means 'sun'. Anyway, the B2100 lived up to its
rating in our tests.
After making sure that the rubbery cover on the proprietary headphone socket was on, and the battery cover was locked tight, we took the B2100 for a boot-camp workout of 20 minutes in the steam room and 5 minutes in the shower. Throughout, the phone worked fine for surfing, music (without headphones, so the cover could stay closed) and calls. After we were kicked out of the gym for bringing a camera phone into the shower area, we opened the back cover and it was as dry as a bone inside.
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