Sales of Samsung's smartphones have slipped of late in comparison to the iPhone, but the chaebol is trying to steal some of the thunder from Apple's WWDC announcements by announcing a new device of its own. The new handset, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active, isn't much in the way of an evolution. Basically it's a S6 that's been …

Japanese mobile phone manufacturer Kyocera is looking to re-enter the European mobile phone market with an exceptionally rugged phone called Torque. It won’t be the first time there have been Kyocera phones on sale in the UK: the company sold GSM devices here 15 years ago with the TG200 and there were dual-mode Iridium/GSM …

IFA 2014Youtube Video At IFA in Berlin yesterday, Panasonic put on its own spin of the ice bucket water challenge, but instead of dowsing charitable folk, it dunked its latest diminutive Toughpads. On show were the new rugged 5-inch HD (1280x720) FZ-E1 Windows 8.1 and FZ-X1 Android 4.2.2 tablets, both featuring data and voice …

PicsGetac has been a major player in the rugged tech market for 25 years, offering tablets, laptops and even servers built to withstand serious physical abuse. The latest in the line is the T800 – a chunky compact 8.1-inch tablet available with Windows 7 or 8.1. Getac T800 pre-production sample Getac T800 pre-production sample, …

ReviewThere’s no doubt that smartphones are getting more robust. Both the Sony Xperia Z and the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 Active boast IP57-rated resistance to dust and water intrusion which is handy if you take your phone to the beach or the pool and come over all clumsy. Drop either of them out of a third-floor window on a …

MWC 2013It’s all very well making a phone waterproof, but over 70 per cent of smartphone deaths are down to a cracked screen. With that in mind, the first smartphone from CAT - yes, Caterpillar, the mechanical digger, truck, footwear and sunglasses manufacturer - sells itself on being drop-proof. From head height onto concrete. It …

ReviewSkinny Ultrabooks may be getting all the press at the moment but what it you want a laptop that will withstand the knocks, drops and tribulations of use on the road and in the great outdoors rather than the board-room? Panasonic’s semi-rugged CF-53 Toughbook may be just the ticket. Panasonic CF-53 Toughbook rugged laptop …

Review Reg Hardware Mobile Week The original Motorola Defy from 2010 was aimed at a niche that no-one else knew was there – rugged cool. The thinking was that rugged phones that were hard to damage were a great idea, but that chunky rubber casings and hard-to-press buttons tended to put people off. Motorola Defy Mini rugged …

Pentax pushed rugged photography into new terrains this week, launching a pair of 16Mp compact cameras that promise to perform under the most demanding of outdoor conditions. The Pentax Optio WG-2 and WG-2 GPS may look like Optimus Prime's caboose, but they're built to pull through even the harshest of Decepticon onslaughts. …

Mobile manufacturer Sonim has extended its range of hardened handsets with what it claims is the world's most rugged NFC phone: the XP1301 Core NFC The XP1301 Core NFC rocks Sonim's familiar form-factor, sharing the fortified body of its other products, such as the XP3300, a long-life battery beast revealed at the Mobile World …

LaCie has shrunk its rubber-wrapped Rugged external hard drive. Well, a little. Despite the word "Mini" being appended to the new drive's handle, it's not radically smaller than the current Rugged. LaCie Rugged Mini It's 135 x 86 x 19mm to the regular Rugged's 145 x 90 x 28mm - 40 per cent smaller by volume, but only a …

ReviewPhone manufacturers today are all too keen to tell us their phones aren’t really phones at all, they’re handheld computers with oodles of processing power and capability. Sometimes, however, a basic communications device is just what you need, especially if your life might depend on it. Samsung Solid Immerse GT-B2710 Hard …

ReviewCalifornia-based phone manufacturer Sonim may not be an instantly recognisable name but it’s no stranger to making robust mobile phones. It was behind the first JCB phone and currently builds the S1 for Land Rover. The XP3300 Force is Sonim’s latest and greatest, the toughest of the tough, the bravest of the brave, the Marshal …

MWC 2011Want a phone with the longest possible talk time? Sonim, a phone maker which specialises in rugged handsets, announced just such a device at Mobile World Congress (MWC) this week. It's the XP3300 Force, and its 126 x 60 x 25mm frame contains a 1750mAh battery that, the company claimed, will let to natter away for 22 hours. …

ReviewHardy products, such as Panasonic's range of Toughbooks, Dell's XFR laptop range, or Olympus's venerable range of Tough cameras, are a tricky sell. Not only do weather proofed, shock-resistant products command inflated prices, it's also difficult to convince the average electronics buyer that they really need the extra strength …

After weeks of leaked pictures and demonstration videos, Nokia has confirmed what the tech world had already guessed: that the 3720 Classic is the company's latest rugged phone. 3720_01 Nokia's 3720: the firm's most rugged phone to date The phone features IP-54 toughness certification concerning dust resistance, protection …

Nokia may have sprung a leak, because details have seeped out online about a handset that’s rumoured to be the Finnish firm’s upcoming rugged handset. Nokia_3720 Nokia's rugged 3720? Image courtesy of Mobile Cowboys The handset manufacturer has launched rugged phones before, such as the 5140i. But a mole has claimed that …

Weaponry globocorp Raytheon has announced the inking of a $12m deal with the US Army, under which the firm and its subcontractors will demonstrate nifty networked smart-map computers for use by American footsoldiers in combat. Troops will be able to see enemies and each other on the digital maps even where GPS satnav is …