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>> Hi, I'm Kent German, senior editor for CNET.com. Today we're going to take a First Look at the Samsung Rugby 2. This is a new phone for AT&T service. In this phone, I think that AT&T and Samsung are sticking with the philosophy of "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" because actually, this phone looks a lot like the original Samsung Rugby. I think if you put them together, except for the color differences, you probably confuse them as the same phone. They both have this big speaker. They both have a similar external display with the camera down below. They both have this rib design here on the back. And they both have a relatively sturdy design that is made of tough plastic. There's no rubber here, so I really wouldn't bang it around too much, but it should withstand most drops to the floor and average use. External display is pretty big. It does show you a recent call log. You can't use it as a viewfinder for the camera, which is disappointing, especially when it's down below right there. I don't know what the point is. The camera is pretty convenient. When you open and take a photo away from you, it doesn't get anywhere near your fingers. The speaker is convenient. It's used, of course, for the speakerphone, and this phone does use it for push-to-talk, so you can activate AT&T's network. Push-to-talk button is here on the side above the volume rocker. Here on this side, we have a dedicated your phone control. There's also a microUSB port. On the back of the phone, you see the battery cover is a locked, so you have to twist that to get it open. That's just to keep moisture out and to keep in with the rugged design. Main display is pretty standard as far as color, resolution, menu design goes. Pretty easy to use, you know, not the best graphics out there, photos, but for this type of phone, it's perfectly fine. Keep adding controls do have a nice navigation array. It's pretty spacious. It is flat with the surface of the phone like all of the keys down here, so it's a little hard to dial by feel. The toggle does have a different texture, so you could probably feel around there, but when you're dialing, it's going to be difficult to do that by feel. The numbers on the keys are large, which is pretty nice, and you have a pretty bright backlighting. You have to softkeys, a dedicated key for the GPS. That's nice, but GPS isn't a function that I use a whole lot, especially on a phone like this, so I don't think I really need a dedicated key. I'd rather have a dedicated key for the camera. User programmable shortcuts menu here, the talk and end keys, a clear button, and of course, that keypad like I said. Inside, the phone has pretty standard features, almost the same as the Rugby, but it does add voice dialing, which is really nice, and it does bump up the camera resolution a little bit from 1.3 to 2. And it does run on AT&T's 3G network, so you will get access to streaming video and music downloads. I'm Kent German, and this is the Samsung Rugby 2.
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