Millenarian nonsense aside, one thing is for certain, natural disasters of ever increasing severity and frequency are on the rise. So, hope for the best but prepare for the worst is what I say, which is why I recently trooped to Greenhills and traded in a couple of my old unused Sony Ericsson Phones for a Samsung B2100 Xplorer. This isn't a full enumeration of the features of the Xplorer. If you're after that, read all about it
here. This is about stuff
I like about the phone.
The B2100 Xplorer (
Marine as it is known in South Asian markets) is Samsung's latest foray into the rugged phone market. Prior to the Xplorer Samsung released the
B2700 earlier this year. It was the spitting image of the Xplorer and one would be hard pressed to spot the external differences, but look deeper and you'll see that the differences are more than just cosmetic. The B2700 sports 3G connectivity, while the Xplorer merely has EDGE. The camera was also downgraded from 2MP on the 2700 to a mere 1.3MP on the Xplorer. It also lacks a compass, pedometer, and altimeter, unlike its older relation.
Apparently devoid of a lot of the B2700's features, is there anything new that the Xplorer brings to the table? Something new? An advantage perhaps? The answer is yes, the Xplorer may lack some features but it has an innocuous, albeit, very important advantage over the B2700: a back door lock.
Torture tests conducted by GSMArena.com on the B2700 revealed one potentially fatal design flaw. The back portion of the B2700 tended to pop off during certain tests. The phone did survive since these tests were conducted in a dry environment. But if the lid popped off during a typhoon, think:
catastrophic failure. The Xplorer's lock definitely puts my mind at ease.
The Xplorer is also relatively cheaper than the B2700, a direct result of dumping 3G and those other apps. But perhaps the biggest advantage of the Xplorer is it's battery life. Rated at 600 hours stand-by time and 9 hours talk time,it's almost
twice the performance of the B2700! A commmon complaint on the B2700 was it's miserable battery life. Most likely the altimeter/compass/pedometer were energy guzzlers.
So, was the trade off worth it? Definitely! The Xplorer's lack of features may have turned into what others may see as nothing more than a waterproof and shock proof basic phone, but for most users like me, this is exactly what we are looking for. Besides, if I find myself in an outdoor activity, I'd probably be wearing my Suunto Vector so I wouldn't need another digital compass or altimeter. Specially one which might suck the life out of my only lifeline with the outside world.
Basic, basic, basic. If you're looking for a phone with a built-in TV or microwave oven, look elsewhere. The Xplorer is a basic phone. B-A-S-I-C. Which is why I love it!
So, is the Samsung Xplorer all that it's cracked up to be? I haven't intentionally flung it against the pavement nor do I intend to, but I did accidentally drop it on our tiled dining room floor from a height of about 1 meter. It landed on it's bottom (ouch!) and upon inspection, no damage was noted. In the old days a drop like that would have seriously damaged or even killed a Nokia 8210. Not so with the Xplorer, built like a Tiger Tank, it just shrugged off the assault.
Another thing I absolutely love about the Xplorer is its Mil-Spec (military specification) water resistance. It may be just for 1 meter and for only 30 minutes, but considering that most phones won't survive being exposed to rain, that's plenty.
By the way, I think the 1 meter/30 min. thing is the limit of its standards ((IP57, MIL-STD-810F) ratings. If one were to push it even further, I think the Xplorer would still survive with flying colors. And how, you may ask do I plan to "push things even further"? Well, for starters I plan to use this as an underwater camera on my next visit to the pool this summer. The built-in camera functions with ease even underwater! No need to buy a dedicated underwater housing for my digital camera.
Hmm. So this is how a goldfish sees the world from inside that bowl.
Speaking of photos, the Xplorer takes decent enough photos. Better than I'd expected, but it could have been better.
For actual sized pic, click
here. Like most (if not all) mobile phones, there is some smudging of fine detail but hey, I didn't buy this to replace my DSLR. Good enough for swimming pool use. One small thing which disappointed me was the lack of EXIF data in photos. Come on Samsung, no EXIF data?! You can do better than that. How about a fix in a software update?
Finally, one more noteworthy feature worth mentioning is the Xplorer's built-in flashlight (
torch to folks from the Commonwealth). Definitely brighter than those found in Sony Ericsson or Nokia phones, I estimate the brightness to be around 6 lumens.
I arrived at this figure after comparing it to my Fenix L2D flashlight's minimum output level of 9 lumens. 6 lumens of a purplish LED beam may seem paltry to
flashoholics like me, but in real world use that's plenty and should satisfy most folks. An added bonus is the lanyard hole which sits in the middle of the top portion of the phone. Unlike most mobiles the Xplorer's sizable lanyard hole is large enough to fit parachute cord. Nice going Samsung!
This isn't my first rugged phone, I used to own a
Nokia 6250 before it was stolen from me eight years ago. This isn't definitely going to be my last. Mobile phones no matter how tough are in the end, still disposable items. Nothing we can do about it, it's just the way things are. For now, the Xplorer serves my needs, and that is all that matters.
