Back in 2018 I purchased a cheap rugged phone. It was something of an impulse buy - I spent a grand total of $209.45AUD with GearBest and waited the obligatory month for it to turn up.

Two years later it has been dropped countless times, it has been taken swimming (and used to take some great underwater video), is on its third screen protector and apart from some impacted corners it frankly looks like new.

Credit where it's due, the impacted corners took some severe falls onto rocks to do the damage.

OK, so a rugged phone is for the fatally clumsy. Is that all?

Nope, not even scratching the surface.

The phone I purchased is known as the King Kong 3 (referred to as "KK3" going forward). What originally drew my interest to the KK3 was the battery: at 6000mAh it's roughly 2 - 3 times larger than most other phones I've used. I thought this was great! I like to use mapping apps while I'm out on a hike and here's a phone that I could use all day long without a worry regarding battery life - and it has the added bonus of waterproofing and drop resistance.

As I've been encouraging the kids to love the outdoors, I've tended to use Geocaching to gamify the experience for them (more on this in a future post). With the KK3 I could safely hand my phone to my daughter while out on a track and not loose any sleep when she dropped it.

On separate occasions I've even managed to get it muddy and sandy. Not to worry, a quick rinse under the tap and we're back to sparkly clean.

So right now everything's sounding great. What are the drawbacks?

• Performance is very average. With 4GB RAM and an Octa Core processor it could be slower, but compared to any modern phone (even lower-mid-range) it's slow.
• The screen isn't great. IPS panel, 720p resolution. It's obvious it's built to take a beating, not dazzle you.
• Likewise the camera is average. I know the best camera is the one you have on hand but don't expect the KK3 to impress you with its photography.
• Software updates Lack of software updates. This is the worst aspect frankly. The KK3 shipped with Android 8.1. Since then it has received a grand total of 1 update, soon after launch to fix some bugs. No security patches, no other updates.
• Other gripes people may have (heavy, average sounding earpiece, etc..) in my opinion aren't issues, but just the reality of having a rugged phone.

Zeroing in on the KK3's cameras

The video camera is easily the best place to kick things off. 1080p max resolution and a stuttery output. I've embedded a sample below but if you want the raw file rather than youtube video download it here.

The KK3's camera setup is quite odd, the main camera has a 13MP sensor but takes 16MP photos. For the most-part, photos taken on the KK3 are washed out and lack saturation, the upscaling to 16MP also means detail is lost. HDR photos produce much richer looking images but the HDR mode is very slow and requires a longer exposure.

Without HDR

With HDR

The selfie camera (if you're into that kind of thing) is more of the same. An 8MP sensor producing 13MP photos that lack detail. Interestingly they seem to be less washed out than the main camera.

Finally there is a bokeh mode. This uses the 2MP secondary camera on the back to produce the effect. Unfortunately there's no object detection, instead the bokeh mode just produces a clear circle around the focal point you select and blurs everything else. Honestly I don't know why they bothered including it.

Concluding

The KK3 is a virtually indestructible brick with a rubbish camera setup. But that's my individual experience, I'm sure there are some other rugged phones with amazing cameras. That being said however, I don't care: I don't regret getting the KK3 and I can overlook it's flaws given it's benefits. A rugged phone, in my opinion, isn't just for people who take their kids out hiking. Mine has certainly survived falls and incidents that would have killed my daily phone and half of those falls were entirely my fault. I do feel the need multiplies the moment you're sharing your phone with your kids however.

If you're looking to buy a rugged phone there are a few options out there. For recognisable brand names there is CAT. Just prepare for the markup that comes with CAT branding. If you're not concerned about branding there are some lesser-known manufacturers that specialise in this market segment. Some of the best reviewed ones include Ulefone, Doogee, Blackview and in my case Cubot.

For me anyway, a rugged phone is an essential tool I use to take the kids outdoors and at $209.45AUD, far cheaper than the screen replacements it has helped me avoid.