Cell phones today are all about style. They come with huge touch screens, slim bodies and high-tech voice responses. Because of this, many cell phone manufacturers have placed very little importance on durability. Touch screen phones are a few hard landings away from being useless, slim phones are cracking in the pockets of their owners and, as smart as Siri is, it hasn’t figured out how to make the iphone work underwater.

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But there are some manufacturers that are doing the opposite. They’re foregoing style and developing the ultimate communication machines for construction workers, outdoors-men and soldiers. So while most people consider their cell phone to be their most delicate possession, the following technological advances are making other phones (almost) indestructible.

High-Impact Plastics

Advances in plastic manufacturing have allowed cell phone makers to create phone casings that can absorb enormous amounts of damage. From high-tech thermoplastic polymers to re-purposed natural materials, manufacturers are using anything they can to increase the durability of their latest models.

• Rubber – Rubber is the original damage-resistant material. From light padding to whole encasement, rubber is a huge part of durable cell phone development.

• Polystyrene – A strong, foam-like plastic polymer that helps a unit distribute the force of impacts evenly, polystyrene has become the go-to material for ultra-durable phones.

• Metals – Various phones are now being constructed with solid metal frameworks or “skeletons” that can take some of the pressure off of the plastic casing when it comes to resisting serious impacts.

Waterproofing
No matter how advanced of all types electronics may be, they’re still susceptible to their mortal enemy – water. As anyone who’s ever gotten caught in a bad storm, dropped their phone in the sink or forgotten it in the laundry cycle knows, cell phones simply cannot get wet. Even worse, many cell phone companies use evidence of water damage to deny equipment insurance claims, leaving the customer high and dry with a sopping wet phone.

The durable phones market, on the other hand, has become virtually obsessed with waterproofing cell phones. Companies are competing ferociously to see who can make the model that will go the deepest for the longest time and still come up working. Most companies are using combinations of rubber and plastic to achieve this goal, while others are using a revolutionary process called Nano-Coating.

In Nano-Coating, a super-thin layer of polymer is applied to the electronics, making them virtually impenetrable to liquids. Still, the technology isn’t perfect yet, as no phone has been able to claim complete resistance to long-term submersion. There are more than a few that can be plunged for 30 minutes at a time and still work fine. Some of the top models have even been recorded making and receiving calls while submerged. One reviewer commented that he’d taken a $500 outdoor phone and frozen it overnight in a pan of water, then thawed it out the next day and went right on making phone calls.

Screen Reinforcement

Even if a phone can be submerged in water and run over by a car, it’s still nothing more than an expensive paperweight if the user can’t read the screen. Countless otherwise-operable phones have seen early retirement because of cracked displays, and – even worse – most cellphone users will tell you that this vital component is often the easiest to break.

However, rugged cell phone manufacturers are making headway in that area as well. A new compound called Gorilla Glass – a lightweight and ultra-damage-resistant material – has been shown to match durability with regular glass at 1/20th the thickness. Most screens made from Gorilla Glass can take a few hard blows with a hammer before they even begin to crack – making the material the most durable option by far.

And for users who really plan to punish their phones, there’s some upcoming technology that might finally make cracked screens a problem of the past. A company paired with Nokia is working on flexible, bendable displays that may someday allow cell phone users to roll their phones up like a newspaper!

Whether one is an outdoor enthusiast, a hiker, a jogger or just a klutz, there is no reason for to suffer the financial and social pains of a broken cell phone. Thanks to some technological inventiveness, there will soon be a phone out there for every fall, tumble, slip, flood, dive and tussle. And while it may take a slight sacrifice of style, there’s no beating the feeling of getting a $400 phone from the bottom of the pool just in time to answer a phone call.

David Lippincott is the CTO and founder of Chassis Plans, a company that designs and manufactures military-grade computer systems and industrial PC cases designed for rugged environments.

Smartphones have improved in quality so much that even older smartphones can still perform admirably. As smartphone operating systems improve, they become more efficient, so even devices that are more than two years old can sometimes perform well. However, it is always wise to inspect the quality of a smartphone before purchasing it; here are a few tips.

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Check the Screen

In many ways, the screen is the most important part of a smartphone, and a cracked screen can render a smartphone nearly useless. Inspect the screen for small cracks, and look for tiny chips that occur along the edges. Even the smallest of cracks can represent weak points that can easily turn into larger cracks over time. It is also important to check the touchscreen to ensure that all parts of the screen register touches correctly. Download a game and play it for a few minutes to ensure that the screen works well.

Does it Make Calls?

Even though modern smartphones can do much more than older mobile phones, their primary purpose is to place phone calls. Try placing a phone call to a friend, and try to stay on the line for at least a few minutes. In addition, see what type of network the phone is connected to; if the phone is supposed to offer LTE capabilities but is only showing 2G or EDGE speed, the radio might not be working correctly. If you have time, try to download large files. If the file fails to download, the phone might be disconnecting from data connections.

Charging Plug

One of the most common problems on smartphones is worn out or broken charging plugs. Before purchasing any phone, ensure that it charges correctly, and see if the charging is interrupted at any point. Unfortunately, many sellers will place a phone for sale even if they know that the charger is going bad. Confirm with them that you can get a refund if problems occur.

Replaceable Battery?

Fortunately, replacement batteries are fairly cheap, so phones that offer access to the battery are safer purchases than those that do not. If the battery is not replaceable, you may want to give the phone a brief stress test to see how quickly the battery drains. Unfortunately, there is rarely enough time to test a battery fully before purchasing a phone. For this reason, it may be wise to look for used smartphones that come with a refund policy in case battery performance is especially bad.

Eloise Hammond is a professional writer with 10+ years experience. She enjoys hiking, reading and spending time with her family. Also, check out Boost Mobile coupon codes and Verizon discount codes.

Smartphone is a combination of Mobile phone, Gaming Pad and a personal computer. All the features and functions of these electronic gadgets are present in a small package known as Smartphone. A few decades ago people used Personal digital assistants to send text messages. Furthermore the population used the Cell phones to have a voice conversation with the others.

With advancement and development in the technology both cell phones and PDAs contributed a large quantum in the birth of Smartphone. These phones offer a comprehensive internet experience you can browse, surf, download, connect and navigate.

 Some of the Highlights of the Smartphone are:-

1.      Applications

The Smartphone has many applications and software installed on them. You can read any text file, pdf file, open any format photo and can even edit them, listen music and can do video streaming.

2.      Internet

Owning a Smartphone will make you completely forget your laptop. It will give you a high speed of 3G and 4G networks.

3.      Dual Format

Most Smartphone comes with touch screen keypad while many come in keyboard format. So you can buy according to your usage and liking.

4.      Camera

You can capture high definition and resolution pictures and make them unforgettable moments of your life.

Operating System and Processor

A number of brands are available in the market that provides Smartphone under their name. Motorola, Samsung, Intel and Google are some of the world renowned names who have launched this hi-tech machine on the earth. Intel long known to mankind for its contribution in the Information Technology sector developed Intel AZ210 Smartphone with the Intel Atom Processor. The operating system used is the 2.3 version of Android known as Gingerbread which can be promoted to 4.0 version known as Ice Cream Sandwich.

This Smartphone is marketed by the name of XOLO X900 in India launching date of 22 April 2012, by the name of Megafon Mint in Russia launching date of 22 August 2012 and Orange San Diego in the United Kingdom launching date 6 June 2012. It is the first Intel Atom Processor phone in Europe and India. The processor is a solitary or single core CPU and the HT is 1.6 GHz.

Features and Characteristics

Memory

This Smartphone has 1 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage. Certainly you will not feel the need of external memory slot if so much internal built-in space is provided. You need to have Root access to operate it.

Display

Its 4.03 inch display named TFT LCD is covered by Gorilla Glass. The display supports around 16 million colors with a resolution of 1024*600.

Audio

Dual speakers of 0.3 watt output each are installed and microphones with Ambient Noise Cancellation feature are provided with this Smartphone.

Camera

This is one of the prominent features and can be the reason for buying this phone. It has back camera of 8 MP with LED flash. This camera is capable of 8x Zoom and can be set on the auto and manual focus. It can record HD videos of 1080p while the front camera for video calling can record 720p. Various modes such as night, portrait, landscape, Sports, auto is available in the camera.

Media Support

This Smartphone has Android Video player which supports VP8, WMC, MPEG4 video codecs and MIDI, WAV, 3GPP, MP3 audio codecs. It can play at 30 fps full HD 1080p and comes with an inbuilt document reader on which you can read various types of files.

With so many advanced and sophisticated features installed in the Intel Smartphone makes Intel’s own Smartphone, YOLO as a “Small Power Box” capable of boosting your normal life to a “Smart Customized” version. These phones have become an indispensable part of life.

Author Bio

Mark has won the awards on various article directories as a renowned writer. His recent articles on Intel’s own Smartphone, YOLO have been liked by the readers a lot because he had given useful information about this gadget.