Nextel Direct Connect and PowerSource Phones

The Nextel i680 Submerge is the phone I posted about.  In the FCC filings, the camera is merely a 1.3 Megapixel camera, but it can be submerged under water for up to 30 minutes (but at a depth of only 1 meter) without incurring any damage (allegedly) assuming you fastened the battery cover on the back properly.

Personally, I'm not too impressed with it.  After all, ruggedized phones already are water resistant.  So what's the point of making it water resistant up to 1 meter?  I mean, do we have construction workers operating near pools and/or rivers now where they drop their phones repeatedly?

re: "So what's the point of making it water resistant up to 1 meter? I mean, do we have construction workers operating near pools and/or rivers now where they drop their phones repeatedly?"

QJ, you're being a bit to literal here. As the other poster pointed out, there is absolutely a physical difference between being water-resistant (effectively just splash-proof), or actually submersible (able to withstand water intrusion at small relative pressure for a specified period of time).

More to the point, a device that can withstand submersion, even if only to a depth of 1m for 30 minutes, is far better able to withstand the usual incidental contacts with water (drops into a puddle, or a swimming pool, etc), but also it makes the device far more resistant to dust intrusion, which IS a big deal to almost every living human using a cell phone. I have countless friends with non-ruggedized phones from VZ/ATT/Sprint wherein the display has gotten dusty on the inside just from day-to-day living, being stuffed in pants pockets, purses, etc, and the display becomes almost unreadable in daylight within a year or two. Not a single one of my Nextel Moto phones has ever gotten a spec of dust inside the display, one of them after seven years of use.

The i680 being submersible to 1m for 30 minutes is a small improvement, yes, but it is a tangible, real-world improvement nonetheless.

Credit where it is due, and why don't we save the bashing for things that have not improved, not those that have improved?

  - Nxtl4me