I need a Karsus proof phone.

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KarsusTG

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So I am a little hard on my phones. I have typically stayed with the cheaper phones because of this but I think it's just me doing something wrong. I have gone through 7 phones in 2 years. Most recently one fell out of my pocket and into a hot tub I was working on. Lost one when it fell off the side of my truck into the gravel. I lost 3 phones on the motorcycle, one from dust and two from rain (I ride pretty much as my primary vehicle, so rain or shine.)

Currently I have been given an iphone 4s. It's only pro is it was free. It overheats with general use when I am outside and the weather is warm and I have already cracked the back when I got in a fight last week.

So I am looking for a phone that will stand up to actual every day use. Something I can not worry about dirt/sand/rain screwing up from it being mounted on my motorcycle handlebars. I really hate this iPhone and don't want to deal with apples bullcrap so android is probably where I should go.

The only programs I really use on my phone are Waze, Audible, and Pandora with bluetooth headphones/helmet. I do use it as a camera from time to time.

Looking for an unlocked phone compatible with AT&T and less than $500. Pref. less than $400.

I was thinking about those "tough" phones but they are always WAY behind on OS and features for some reason or another. I was also thinking maybe just a super uber case from hell on a moderate level phone.

I dunno, gimme you guys and gals opinions on the matter.
 
Nokia 3210 coated in tar.

Or just stop being a damn klutz.. Buy some shit phone with a decent case because you will fuck up/loose whatever you get, you are one of 'those' people.

Managed to get a few years out of a V3i in my leathers, as a daily, rain/shine. You have no excuse!

Sorry if this seems harsh but you need a kick up your ass.
 
You would spend $495 for a phone to use Waze and Pandora?

BLU R1 $60

Keep it in a holster instead of a pistol (or a second one) if you're walking or a hardened pistol case that can somehow be carried/strapped on your motorcycle. They will be tougher.

Edit: Maybe an empty holster or just black object in there will freak people out, bright orange case for the phone might work. Or you know what I mean, storage cases are for sale that are for storing much more lethal objects from the elements or dropping them beyond your pockets.

And this would look ugly but you could probably put a small phone like iPhone SE in some kind of beefy glove designed to protect hands from impact, so falling to the ground protects the phone from the shock as well.
 
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Get a Galaxy S6 Active used from Ebay, Craigslist, or somewhere (S7 probably over your limit) then put a tempered glass screen protector on the front, and throw it in an Otterbox case.

Hopefully that lasts you a little while.
 
Ultima99 said:
Get a Galaxy S6 Active used from Ebay, Craigslist, or somewhere (S7 probably over your limit) then put a tempered glass screen protector on the front, and throw it in an Otterbox case.

Hopefully that lasts you a little while.
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I agree with most of this.

Problem is, an additional screen protector (other than the Otterbox's plastic slip-cover) is going to prevent you from using the Otterbox. Or, at least, it will with a Defender series. Of course, the nice thing with the Defender series is that it's fairly durable all by itself.

The only thing I worry about is his requirement for something that doesn't warm up a lot under general use.
 
Any of the Galaxy S Active phones sound exactly like what you're looking for. Samsung phones in general take forever to get updated anyways, but the active variants seem to get updated around the same time as their normal Sx counterparts. The S5 and S5 active actually just got updated to Marshmallow about a week ago... only almost a year after Marshmallow launched on Nexus phones!

Other than that, I'd much rather get a phone that caters to all my other preferences first, then get a case that is suitable for my environment/use. But it sounds like you should really have a water/dust proof phone, which the Galaxy Active phones are really the only ones I would consider that have all that, or the newer S7/Note 7 phones that are out of your budget unless you finance them through AT&T.
 
sounds like op just has to be smart enough to install the screen protector and protective case. I have worked outside in the rain year round and if your pocket is getting that wet, your doing something wrong!
 
S7 Active with a screen protector. Mine has held up pretty well, dropped it several times already and just minor scuffs. Also its water resistant.
 
N4CR said:
Nokia 3210 coated in tar.
Or just stop being a damn klutz.. Buy some shit phone with a decent case because you will fuck up/loose whatever you get, you are one of 'those' people.
Managed to get a few years out of a V3i in my leathers, as a daily, rain/shine. You have no excuse!
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Some of it is me being a clutz, honestly when it fell out of my shirt pocket into the hot tub I just laughed. But most of it is not. If it cant survive a fall from the tailgate because it vibrated off the end while in a case it is just not surviving general use IMO. Or simple road dust. I mean come on...



singe_101 said:
You would spend $495 for a phone to use Waze and Pandora?

BLU R1 $60

Keep it in a holster instead of a pistol (or a second one) if you're walking or a hardened pistol case that can somehow be carried/strapped on your motorcycle. They will be tougher.

Edit: Maybe an empty holster or just black object in there will freak people out, bright orange case for the phone might work. Or you know what I mean, storage cases are for sale that are for storing much more lethal objects from the elements or dropping them beyond your pockets.

And this would look ugly but you could probably put a small phone like iPhone SE in some kind of beefy glove designed to protect hands from impact, so falling to the ground protects the phone from the shock as well.
Click to expand...

I like the holster idea but I am full up. Beretta on right side and multi tool/pack on the left. I typically throw my phone in either my shirt pocket or my right cargo pocket which is where it was when I got attacked last week.

As far as a cheap $60 phone, never again. They constantly freeze up when trying to give directions/rerouting you. When you are doing 70-80mph and it takes a minute to figure out you missed a turn or tell you you need to turn you are already another mile down the road, then the process starts again.. then again.. It's frustrating as hell.


Ultima99 said:
Get a Galaxy S6 Active used from Ebay, Craigslist, or somewhere (S7 probably over your limit) then put a tempered glass screen protector on the front, and throw it in an Otterbox case.

Hopefully that lasts you a little while.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much exactly what I was looking for. I will look up grabbing one this week. Otterbox is the best case for these?
 
13 years of cell phone use. Never broke one. I still have them in drawers. This includes about 30 trips to metal shows, airplane trips, and drunken adventures.

7 in 2 years. Hmmmm. Maybe a beeper and a phone booth would be better for you.
 
CanonicalAbstract said:
Deffo Otterbox. I don't wrap my phones in anything else.
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They're a bit too bulky and overpriced, IMO. Great cases if you don't care about either of those though I suppose.

I've put a Supcase Beetle on my last couple phones and don't think you can have better protection for how small they are. Had one on my last phone (One M8) and it survived falling from a roller coaster into gravel, and also from a tall carnival ride onto pavement, in addition to several small spills onto pavement. Only damage was near the charging port since it was the only somewhat exposed part, but it still worked great. Same case is on my current 6P and it's taken a few tumbles onto pavement and tile and is still like new. For their price and size, I can't recommend them enough. I've had friends buy them on my recommendations as well and they have praised it for saving their phones through some hard drops.
 
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T4rd said:
They're a bit too bulky and overpriced, IMO. Great cases if you don't care about either of those though I suppose.

I've put a Supcase Beetle on my last couple phones and don't think you can have better protection for how small they are. Had one on my last phone (One M8) and it survived falling from a roller coaster into gravel, and also from a tall carnival ride onto pavement, in addition to several small spills onto pavement. Only damage was near the charging port since it was the only somewhat exposed part, but it still worked great. Same case is on my current 6P and it's taken a few tumbles onto pavement and tile and is still like new. For their price and size, I can't recommend them enough. I've had friends buy them on my recommendations as well and they have praised it for saving their phones through some hard drops.
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The biggest thing that won me over as a total OBox Fanboi is the customer service. They were quick to send me out a full replacement when the rubber surround on my Note 5 cracked and came loose. Ever since then, I've been sold.
 
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CanonicalAbstract said:
The biggest thing that won me over as a total OBox Fanboi is the customer service. They were quick to send me out a full replacement when the rubber surround on my Note 5 cracked and came loose. Ever since then, I've been sold.
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Another plus for them!
 
Thanks guys. I ordered the Galaxy S6 Active and Otterbox Defender for it. Should all be here by the end of the week, Monday at the latest. I will update then :p
 
KarsusTG said:
Thanks guys. I ordered the Galaxy S6 Active and Otterbox Defender for it. Should all be here by the end of the week, Monday at the latest. I will update then :p
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Just wanna see the pics now :p kidding :)
 
You guys are awesome. This is the best phone I have ever owned. The camera is just amazing. There is no 3-5 second delay when I click on stuff. I have not dropped it yet, but it's basically the size of a tablet. Not terribly difficult to hold on to.
 
So just a little update.

This phone has had a growing number of cracks. One of our lathe operators dropped a piece of steel on it and put a healthy crack in it. I ran a Clausing mill into the corner of the case... Somewhere along the line one of the buttons became dislodged... Well today I finally killed it. I ran over it with the forklift slick as shit.

I am fairly sure there is no saving this phone... Should I just get another one or is there something else out that might be better for me?
 
I really mean no offense when I say this but holy fuck man, what the hell are you doing with smartphones - is there some unconscious effort on your part (or those of your apparently quite destructive co-workers) to purposely just destroy them whenever they're around or something? :)

If you want a tough phone get a Droid Turbo 2 (note I mean the second model, not the original Droid Turbo) and be done with it - the basically shatterproof display (it's actually multiple layers of plastic, even the actual LCD display too, there's no glass in it whatsoever). I owned one recently and literally threw it [H]ard at a brick wall several times to prove to someone it's a tough fucking device. The brick wall ended up with more damage than the smartphone did, barely a nick on the metal frame worth considering relevant. The phone isn't rated for IP protection (dust and liquid submersion) but it does have a coating on the internal components that protect it to some degrees from small spills if quickly removed and splashes of various kinds. It's entirely possible to get a nice case for it as well and just increase that potential for environmental protection.

Honestly I don't see the phones you're using as the source of the problems here. :D
 
He works in a machine shop. The Turbo 2 won't hold up to any of that stuff.

Karsus, might I suggest a locker, and storing your phone in it during work hours? That's the only damn way you'll be safe.
 
I think the question is what CASE do you want for your smartphone.

No normal phone is going to hold up to your lifestyle without a decent case.
 
DrLobotomy said:
I think the question is what CASE do you want for your smartphone.
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I already said what case he should use.

static-metal.jpg
 
entropism said:
He works in a machine shop. The Turbo 2 won't hold up to any of that stuff.
Click to expand...

Again, I mean no offense with this remark either but that's complete and utter bullshit. I've worked in some pretty horrid environments including machine shops, inside aircraft carriers, in desert environments, along with many other individuals and I personally have never destroyed a smartphone in the past decade in any of those environments.

And again, as I already stated I don't believe the environments are the problem here, there's the absolute responsibility on the owner of said smartphone to know where the phone is at any given moment in time and if they can't account for that placement at a moment's notice then they shouldn't take the phone into said environments to begin with.

One can only excuse "operator error" once or twice, after that it's just plain old clumsiness or just not giving a fuck at all.

As for the Droid Turbo 2 not standing up to the same level of destruction exhibited on that Galaxy S6 Active, I'll put $1 up that you're absolutely wrong. :D
 
Tiberian said:
Again, I mean no offense with this remark either but that's complete and utter bullshit. I've worked in some pretty horrid environments including machine shops
Click to expand...

Yeah, and so have I. With a non "durable" phone. and it came out JUST FINE, without a case. But as this entire thread tells us, this guy would be able to dent carbon steel if you had him hold it long enough.
 
DrLobotomy said:
I think the question is what CASE do you want for your smartphone.

No normal phone is going to hold up to your lifestyle without a decent case.
Click to expand...

It had an otterbox defender, but I never used the snap on front that had the belt clip because it was such a pain in the ass to get the phone out of. Seriously, it takes two hands and 10 seconds to take your phone out of the holster...

entropism said:
I already said what case he should use.

View attachment 21211
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This would be my preferred case.

I would love to just leave it in my truck if at all possible. It's actually my work that usually requires me to have the damn thing right next to me. And it's usually when I am in the middle of something.
 
Then you need to have work provide you with new phones. I hope this is already the case.
 
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