Rugged smartphone


A rugged smartphone is a smartphone which is completely sealed within a thick housing to protects it against damage from, among other things, water, shock, dust, and vibration.

List of rugged smartphones

There are three general types of Rugged Phone:

Primary standard

IP56 - 5 dust level, 6 level waterproof, 1.5M drop, conventional vibration.

Intermediate standard

IP57 - 5 dust level, 7 level waterproof level, 3M drop, conventional vibration.

Advanced (professional) standards

IP68 - 6 dust level, 8 level waterproof, 5M drop, conventional vibration.
IP69K - In the IEC 60529 rating system, IP6 refers to the product’s ability to resist ingress of dust. The 69K refers to the product’s ability to resist ingress of high temperature / high pressure water. If the device passes all these test then it can be considered as IP69K rated smartphone and can be used in harsh environments with high pressure / steam cleaning.

Testing procedure per ISO 20653

• A spray nozzle that is fed with 80 °C water at 80–100 bar and a flow rate of 14–16 L/min.
• The nozzle is held 10–15 cm from the tested device at angles of 0°, 30°,60° and 90° for 30 seconds each.
• The test device places on a turntable that rotates once every 12 seconds.

MIL-STD-810G

MIL-STD-810G is a U.S. military specification that guarantees a level of durability for a piece of technology. Specifically, it means the equipment has gone through a series of 29 tests, including shock tests, vibration tests, and more. This means it should be field ready, or even “combat ready” in principle. A lot of technology sold to the U.S. military must be MIL-STD-810G compliant.