Robustness: the top 30 Symbian-powered smartphones

[slitchfield]

You may remember that, 18 months ago, Christmas 2008, I wrote a feature: Robustness, the Forgotten Factorr, in which I gave my estimates of the most (and least) robust of the (then) current crop of smartphones. As we head into summer in the Northern hemisphere, I thought an update to the 'chart' might be in order, just looking within our Symbian-powered world this time. See below for my illustrated listing and then leave your comments!

Read on in the full article.

The conclusion we can draw from this article is, Non-touchscreen phones are more enduring and can withstand the test of time as opposed to touchscreen phones where majority of them are very fragile.

[jonquirk]

The bullet-proof E61i surely deserves a mention; it came out in May 2007. Even its habit of releasing the back and battery when dropped can be seen as an energy dissipation tactic! Its underwater survival skills are legendary, even mentioned on The Phones Show.

I don't know about Nokia's metal phones, but I've owned quite a few Nokias and the standout device is the N82 by a long way. Two full submersions in water - with electronics and camera module completely soaked, and then after 2 hours drying on a radiator it was fine again. Multiple impacts taking my full body weight onto hard snow during snowboarding. More drops than I can remember. It's a beast.

Show me an iPhone or Android device from those flimsy cheapo Asian manufacturers that can take even a 10th of the punishment and I'll be impressed.

How about this one ?
http://dailymobile.se/2009/09/19/how...-3720-classic/

[slitchfield]

Yes, the E61i might have been top of the list - but I deliberately excluded phones pre-FP1 - have you TRIED using a pre-FP1 phone recently? They're so slow by comparison to modern devices!

E61i and E61 are utter tanks though, yes.

[Dups!]

No offence but why do I get the feeling you included the SEs as tokenism? They are okay-ish but not great just like the N95s (both of them)

Anyway, my vote also goes to the E61, brilliantly assembled.

E71 and E90 are also amazing.

I've had my Nokia N95 8GB for over two years and it's been dropped a lot. It's mostly still working but very annoyingly the speaker for calls is broken -- I have to plug in headphones or use speakerphone to hear the caller. The camera isn't scratched at all, though the main display has a couple of scratches.

My girlfriend's much older Nokia 6600 is working very well.

I wish Nokia would make a new E61 sized phone. I find the keyboards on the E63, E71 and so on just a little too small, and I prefer the bigger 2.8" screen. Yeah the E61 is slow but you could beat a rabid wolf to death with one.

N79, no camera cover??? Better check your specs for N79.

[slitchfield]

Oops. Well spotted. Adjusted text as needed 8-)

ughh, dunno about the e52/55 being in the top 10. Don't their keyboards 'peel' off? I imagine it can't be good during a fall on a hard surface.

Also, the robustness of e61i is a myth, in my opinion. I know of at 6 cases, 3 of which are mine, in which the speaker of this model gives out after moderate falls (3-4 feet on hardwood or carpet). I have 2 e61is in my desk drawer, working flawlessly, except for the speaker/microphones, which negates the purpose of the phone.

Nokia 6120 / 6121 should be in the Top 30 list too.

This FP1 device has a chrome-metal rim (not unlike E51), a sturdy body and weight just under 90g!
I've used this device for 3 years and it survives falls well.

The 5530 got plastic AND metal, not only 'cheap plastic'...

[brentr]

What about the 5500 Sport??