Samsung Rugby II SGH-A847 – comfortable design
Sum and Substance:
Thumbs Up:
Comfortable and durable design, good feature set, has voice dialing feature, performance is better than the previous Rugby.
Thumbs Down:
The phone has proprietary headphones jack, the memory card slot is inconveniently located behind the battery.
Inside the Trunk:
Technology: GSM/UMTS
Band: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 2100/1900/850 MHz
Phone design: Folder type
Caller ID: Yes
Other features: Bluetooth, speakerphone, AGPS.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Samsung Rugby II SGH-A847 internal display is 2.2 inches big and has a resolution of 240×320 pixels with support for 262,144 colors. The external display supports 65,536 colors. The camera has two megapixel resolution. Supported audio formats are AAC and MP3. The phone has internal memory of 70 MB. Voice features include push-to-talk, speaker phone, recording, commands and dialing. PIM features include calculator, calendar, and alarm. Phone book features include caller groups, multiple numbers per contact, picture ID, ring ID and 1000 names entry capacity.
Messaging and data Features include text messages, Voicemail, Multimedia messages (MMS), Instant messages, E-Mail, WAP.
Razzle Dazzle:
It is difficult to tell what is the difference between Rugby and Rugby II. The latter has a different color layout but the design is largely the same. Above the display on the lid, there is a big speaker for PTT calls. The sides are ribbed and hence it is comfortable to hold the phone in the hand. The exterior is made of tough plastic and it will easily stand tough situations.
Inside Dope:
Samsung follows the rule ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ with this new phone. The feature set and design is quite similar to its predecessor. Both have the same rugged design but the Rugby II has better call quality and it also has voice dialing feature which is getting increasingly popular these days. There are a few drawbacks though, there is no 3.5 mm headphones jack yet. The cost of this device is $99 and you have to sign a two year service agreement with AT&T. The phone is also available without the contract for $249.
The external display shows photo caller ID, signal strength, battery life, time and date. The external display is bigger than what you normally have on clamshell phones and this screen also shows recent call log. You cannot use the external display as a viewfinder for the self-portrait photos which is a bit disappointing. On the phone’s left, there is the volume rocker and PTT button. You can find these buttons easily during the call. On the right, there is microUSB charging port, headphones jack, and speaker phone button. The phone has a 2.5 mm headphones jack which means you cannot plug in your favorite headphones directly on to the player; you will have to purchase the clunky adapter. On the back, the battery has a locking mechanism for keeping the moisture out but it is easy to remove. The memory card slot too is located here, close to the battery.
Samsung Rugby II SGH-A847 has an internal display of 2.2 inches and it supports 262k colors. This screen is bigger than what you had in the Rugby. The display is vibrant and bright, and text looks sharp. You can change the backlight time, brightness and dialing font’s color, type and size.
Navigation array of the Samsung Rugby II SGH-A847 is similar to its predecessors. The toggle button is covered in textured material and the navigation controls are all flush with the phone’s surface. The OK button in the middle of the navigation bar is used for launching Web browser in the standby mode but we would have liked if the button was dedicated for menu instead. There are two soft buttons, Talk and End (power) buttons, clear control, GPS shortcut button and Favorites menu button. The four way navigation button can be used as shortcuts for oft used applications.
The keypad buttons are also quite flat on the phones surface but they are still easier to press because the buttons are well separated from each other. Feature set on this phone is largely the same as its predecessor. The phone book is limited to 1000 entries and a single field can take multiple entries. There is also AT&T’s Address Book feature, 6 polyphonic ringtones, multimedia and text messaging, IM, POP3 e-mail support and lots of organizer features. Some advanced features include stereo Bluetooth, PC syncing, USB mass storage, AT&T’s PTT network and AT&T’s Video Share application. The GPS can be used to access AT&T Family Map, AT&T navigation service, Loopt, AllSport GPS, Trimble Outdoors, Where, GPS TimeTrack and TeleNav Track. Remember that you will have to pay extra for all these services.
Samsung Rugby II SGH-A847 is a 3D device and hence supports service of AT&T’s Cellular Video which gives lots of video streaming content. There is also AT&T Music Mobile which lets you download songs wirelessly. Speaking of music, the phone offers services like Billboard Mobile channel, community section, Music ID application, music videos and AT&T radio. Samsung Rugby II SGH-A847 has a 2 megapixel camera and it offers 4 resolution options along with 3 quality settings. The camera also lets you record videos. For storing all this content, there is a microSD card which accepts up to 32 GB cards.
Nitty Gritty:
This is an improvement over the previous model. We would certainly recommend it to you.
