Samsung Rugby Reviews

1. Front LCD is very fragile

12 Sep 2009 by Debbie Brodie

20%2out of 10

My husband had a Samsung Rudgby phone for five weeks, when a crack formed on the front LCD cover. He had not dropped it, banged it or otherwise abused it. I checked it out carefully, not a scuff anywhere. He went to the AT&T store, and was told he would have to deal with Samsung. Samsung said go to AT&T, and so it went. Samsung would not even consider that the phone was defective. They asked us to send it in to be reviewed by the techs. The techs could not determine the cause of the crack, but we were told that they would not repair or replace the phone. Plus the warranty was now void because it had cracked. My husband has had cell phones since the 80's with never a problem. If this is a rugged phone (military grade)it was either a)defective or b)a piece of junk being advertised as a rugged phone. We bought another phone, a Mortorola Tundra. Shame on Samsung for not standing behind their products.

Pros

Cons

Samsung does not stand behind defective products. Poor reception quality compared to the Tundra.

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2. Don't get your hopes up.

19 May 2009 by Firefighter Dave

43.3%4.3out of 10

I bought this phone for its rugged specifications. I'm an active person (firefighter) and I thought I'd like some additional protection. The specs are nothing more than window dressing. The phone got wet, admittedly immersed, and failed.

When warranty work was sought, Samsung simply voided the warranty for the reason of "moisture."

Worthless company, worthless product.Samsung Rugby A837 Phone, Black (AT&T)Samsung Rugby A837 Phone, Yellow (AT&T)

Pros

Cons

Heavy and bulky. You give up the nice feel and light weight for what is supposed to be a rugged phone. The phone doesn't deliver and neither does the factory.

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3 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

3.

7 Apr 2009 by cltemb

56.7%5.7out of 10

not worth it.  Not as durable as they claim.  Will not cover damage under warranty.  Lcd cracked within 2 weeks.

Pros

nice size phone. Easy to see the screen inside. Fits nice in bigger hands.

Cons

lcd cracked in 2 weeks. Paid full price for phone. Warranty will not cover the damage.

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2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

4. great phone really durable

12 Dec 2008 by dave scearce

93.3%9.3out of 10

I purchased the Samsung Rugby because of the durability.  I am really hard on a phone as with everything else I own.  Of course I dropped it in the toilet accidentilly and after some major disinffecting it was still working great.  I work on cars a lot and accidentally ran over this great phone with the passenger front tire of a 2500 diesel dodge truck and not a single scratch the phone just will not die, thank you god!!!  It is about time that their is a phone that can stand my torture..

Pros

virtually indestructable, PTT works great, withstands moisture
large keys

Cons

only nice color is yellow

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6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

5. Needs a Couple of Improvements

31 Oct 2008 by akita256

53.3%5.3out of 10

I tried for about 3 weeks and took it back.  It's rugged but doesn't come with a longer warranty. The PTT button is easily pushed by accident.  The coating/paint on the outside edges started flaking off as I have seen noted in other reviews by users.  I didn't like not being able to access a phone number stored in the address book if a default had been set to a different number.  There is an ability to set a default for a voice number and one for a text number which is nice, but once the default was set, I couldn't find a way to send a text to another number which seems to make storing other numbers in the address book rather pointless. The ringtones that come on the phone are limited and none of them are very good.  The menu choices seem rather limited as well but maybe this is true with all Samsung phones as I have never had one before. 

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4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

6. Finally, a man-sized phone

23 Sep 2008 by MdniteEagl

90%9out of 10

Disclosure:  I'm a guy with fairly large hands. These small slim phones were literally a pain, as my hand would cramp after just 5 minutes, and it was difficult to position the phone where the ear-speaker would allow me to hear, but the mic could still pick up what I was saying.

I spotted the Rugby the week of its release on the AT&T Wireless website, and I did some quick research. Not much there since the phone is that new (released September 15 2008), but there was plenty of incorrect info on some of the cell phone websites... particularly the screen sizes -- the main screen is 176x220 (250K color), the external is 96x96 (64K color)... many sites incorrectly list the main as 128x160 and don't even tell you what the external is. But what really piqued my interest was the size - it was a full quarter-inch wider than my current Nokia 6102i, and over a half-inch longer when folded. And at nearly 5 ounces, it has some meat to it. In fact, when this phone is open, it's the same length as the handset of my regular corded home phone.

I ordered the yellow unit from AT&T since I qualified for it as an upgrade phone. The SIM is a little tricky to get in and out as the slot is recessed and partially covered when the card is inserted. But once in, it was ready to go. I spent a few minutes getting the settings where I wanted them, and was quickly able to make calls, send/receive text and multimedia messages, and take/send pictures with the camera. With the Edge and 3G networks available, internet is much faster than with the Nokia. The memory is expandable with a microSD card, and once I got used to them, the menus were easy to follow.

But what I appreciate the most is the size and feel... it's almost as good as holding a standard corded-phone handset. It has a nice beefy feel to it, it's very long when open - it easily reaches from my ear to mouth, and the buttons are nicely sized/spaced. You can understand the military-spec rating when you hold it, as you can tell this phone is substantial and can take a hit.

I can't speak for the Push-To-Talk (not a PTT customer), but everything else is just as advertised. The only complaint I have is the cover of the charger slot is very flimsy, and I can see that disappearing by accident one day. But since most phones have an exposed slot anyway, it's probably not that big a deal unless you really do use the phone in a harsh environment.

Since 1999, I've owned 3 Nokias and one Motorola... this is my first Samsung phone. And so far, I am very impressed.

Pros

Navigation
Video Share
PTT
3G/Edge speed
Full-size phone
Very fast recharge

Cons

SIM/microSD card access
Charger port cover

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22 out of 22 people found this review helpful.

7. Durable phone, great phone

22 Sep 2008 by Anonymous

90%9out of 10

Being a lifelong Nextel user due to my job (contractor), I've needed a rugged phone and PTT. Where I live, Nextel isn't that great and I only really used it for PTT and on-the-job communications. AT&T by far has the superior network over everyone (Sprint Nextel, Verizon, T-Mobile) and I've used them for years as my non-work phone. When Verizon released their G'Zone Boulder, I cancelled my Nextel line and decided to give them a try. It was a mistake. Their PTT service is awful, with very high latency between messages and bad quality. Call quality is decent, but PTT is miserable. I was also due for an upgrade for my AT&T line so I decided to get the Rugby because of it's rugged design and PTT. Side-by-side, I tested the Rugby and AT&T vs the G'Zone and Verizon. Not only is the Rugby not bogged down by Verizon's mediocre UI, but AT&T's PTT network has zero latency and is very comprable to that of iDEN. I cancelled and returned the G'Zone and now just use the Rugby. It's been a great phone and I couldn't be more satisfied.

Pros

PTT
Rugged Design
AT&T's network
3G for data
Not as bulky as some iDEN phones.
Great Keypad

Cons

Could had made the screens a bit bigger, but it isn't major downside unless you're picky for large screens.

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17 out of 19 people found this review helpful.