Samsung Rugby User Reviews

Got wet from rain, front display is out of service, main display is half burned!
Waste of money, and time!
Red this reviews, did not believe them, but it's true, ONLY LOOKS RUGGED, but IT IS NOT WATER RESISTENT!!!!!
Bought this phone from europe...now iţm sorry...

After less than two months of use the front screen cracked when the phone vibrated for an incoming text message. About two weeks later the phone got wet and quit working all together. AT&T will not help in any way because they say it is physical damage. This phone is advertised top be "Military Spec" and water resistant. It is NOT!!! I had a cheap Nokia go-phone which was much tougher and even continued to work after being completely submersed in water. I took out the battery, let it dry and it was fine. I bought this phone and added a 2 year contract because it was supposed to be tough ... but it is junk! After reading the other reviews I agree that AT&T customer service is a joke and so is this phone. Save your money and buy a cheap Nokia, you could get about 10 of them for the price of one of these!

Less than a year ago I decided to upgrade to a new phone. I work in construction, so I wanted something strong and durable. I spent about 200 dollars on this military grade phone (so they say). This thing is not near a tough as they say it is. It did not even make a whole month before the front of it cracked. Then last night while i was in walmart, it fell off my side and broke in half. The top section totally sperated from the bottom. I would not recommend this phone to anyone wanting a durable phone. I have had the free contract phones that lasted three times as long a this pile of junk!

I am a boy scout who goes camping alot so as you ca imagine this phone takes alot of abuse. I have had this phone for about 6 months and it is really rugged. I accidentally jumped in my pool with my last phone and it died so i decided i needed a more rugged phone. I have dropped this phone over 300 times both accidentally and on purpose. It has all the features of any other phone including web, email, PTT, music player, record audio, GPS, SMS, MMS, world clock, several alarms, auto power up, speaker phone, blue tooth, camera, calender, yellow pages, micro sd memory card slot, video share, USB, external screen, large external speaker, heavy duty lanyard, large keys, and loud internal speaker

I recently purchased a Rugby for much the same reason as most of you I'm sure.  I need something beefy, It's just too hard for me to handle a dainty little phone.  Overall I take very good care of my electronics.  But working as an aircraft mechanic, I need an exceptionally tough phone to be able to talk to engineers and designers while they talk me through different components.  I needed a phone that could take a beating if I were to say...inadvertently drop it, temporarily expose it to a chemical or solvent, etc.  For these reasons, I've always been weary of purchasing expensive phones.  Instead I would keep my info saved on my simcard and would simply buy a cheap go phone and replace them as needed.  Actually, my last go phone, a $19.95 purchase, took a beating for 2 years with no problems.  It fell out of my shirt pocket several times over that 2 year period.  Once into a bucket of un-reclaimable jet fuel, and once into a bucket of turbine oil.  Both times, I simply took the battery from the phone, gave both the battery and phone a good wipe down, and still it worked just as advertised.  I'd even dropped it from the tail of a 757 once while replacing an anti-collision light.  When it hit the asphalt flightline below, it shattered into 3 pieces.  Battery, phone, and batt cover all flew out 3 different directions.  When I retrieved them, I simply put the battery back in, replaced the cover, pushed the power on button, and it worked same as the day i bought it.  A few scratches obviously, but all cosmetic damage, no problems with functionality.  When I retired that phone to my new Rugby, which I understood to be a military grade spec phone, I thought:  "Wow, this is a no-brainer!  I'm long past due for an upgrade, and if I just add 2 more years to my AT&T plan, I can get this expensive Rugby for the same price as I would generally pay for a cheap go phone."  Boy was I ever WRONG!!!!!  What a fool I was to make that mistake!  Not only did I waste my upgrade, my time, and my money on this phone.  I got suckered into renewing my contract with AT&T for two more years, and I think we all know just how pathetic this phone company is when it comes to customer service!  I only had this phone for 3 months, when it was introduced to its first real test.  Which was mere child's play compared to the abuse my cheap little go phones would take.  I left my phone on the countertop near the sink, I had just had my morning shave.  A little, and I stress A LITTLE, bit of shaving cream and water were in the sink.  My toddler son had accidently knocked my Rugby into the sink.  "No worries I thought to myself, it's a brand new Rugby, it can take MUCH worse than that".  Where as most parents would scold their child over such an incident, I wasn't even worried about the phone.  I scolded him to please be more careful when my shaving razor was out.  As is usual, I took the backing off the phone and no evidence of water was inside.  But just to be safe, I removed the battery and I gave it and the phone a proper wipe down.  I reinserted the battery, turned the phone back on....and nothing.  Nothing happened.  After wasting half an hour fooling with this piece of garbage, I finally got it to at least come back on, but it was not working correctly.  It would try to call numbers out of my address book that I didn't dial.  It still doesn't receive texts, and I can't get it to connect to anything.  It somehow still manages to transmit and receive calls.  But I better know the person's number by memory, because I can no longer dial numbers directly from my address book.  Best I can do is look the number up in my address book, memorize it quickly and then make the call by punching in the number manually on my keypad.  Oh, and speaking of the key pad.  Now you have to mash down the numbers to get it to do anything, half the time that still doesn't work, and if you mash any number down too hard, the phone either shuts down, or again, calls a number from my address book that I didn't want it to call.  Every time I use this junkpile phone, it's like a shot in the dark..  Will it actually call the person I want?  Or will it call yet another half-wit AT&T operator who instead of helping me with my phone situation, would rather try to convince me to extend my contract further or offer me another "better" plan.  What a nightmare.  I finally trashed that piece of ( expletive! ) and will be looking for another cheap go phone to do it's job instead!  Good riddance.                

I have had my Rugby a few months.  I only purchased a rugged so that it would last until my contract was up.  I work in an office and have not abused or dropped my phone.  I opened the phone and the plastic hinge broke in two.  I went to AT&T and was told that I could upgrage another number in my plan but there was nothig they could do.   I phoned Samsung and they told me they could repair at my expense starting at 70.00 and depending on what they have to do the cost would likely go up.  I told them I am not that thrilled with their phone the reception stinks that I would rather spend my money on a phone that I can hear on. 

DO NOT BELIEVE This phone will stand up to abuse.  I have had Nokia's that were much cheaper that lasted longer than this over advertised, overpriced piece of junk.
 

My last phone was a sony erricson. I had it for 3 years. It was dropped dozens of times as well as off of ladders as I am a contractor. It still works like new but looks very ratty so I unfortunately bought this Rugby.

1) I first noticed that that callers voices were not as clear.

2) If you put it in your pocket you won't be able to hear it ring unless your in a relatively quiet place.

3) Paint chips off the phone

4) The front lense cracked after a couple months and then stopped functioning. but there was never any pressure applied to it. I have no idea who is calling without opening the phone and answering the call. What I know about acrylic is that it will crack on it's own if there is even the slightest manufacturers flaw on the edge. I know because I cut plastic letters as part of my job as a sign maker. The lense should have been made of polycarbonate NOT ACRYLIC on a military spec phone so Samsung has lied about this product. What is worse is they won't cover the warranty. AT&T won't help either.

My husband had a Samsung Rudgby phone for five weeks, when a crack formed on the front LCD cover. He had not dropped it, banged it or otherwise abused it. I checked it out carefully, not a scuff anywhere. He went to the AT&T store, and was told he would have to deal with Samsung. Samsung said go to AT&T, and so it went. Samsung would not even consider that the phone was defective. They asked us to send it in to be reviewed by the techs. The techs could not determine the cause of the crack, but we were told that they would not repair or replace the phone. Plus the warranty was now void because it had cracked. My husband has had cell phones since the 80's with never a problem. If this is a rugged phone (military grade)it was either a)defective or b)a piece of junk being advertised as a rugged phone. We bought another phone, a Mortorola Tundra. Shame on Samsung for not standing behind their products.

I bought this phone for its rugged specifications. I'm an active person (firefighter) and I thought I'd like some additional protection. The specs are nothing more than window dressing. The phone got wet, admittedly immersed, and failed. When warranty work was sought, Samsung simply voided the warranty for the reason of "moisture." Worthless company, worthless product.Samsung Rugby A837 Phone, Black (AT&T)Samsung Rugby A837 Phone, Yellow (AT&T)

not worth it.  Not as durable as they claim.  Will not cover damage under warranty.  Lcd cracked within 2 weeks.

I purchased the Samsung Rugby because of the durability.  I am really hard on a phone as with everything else I own.  Of course I dropped it in the toilet accidentilly and after some major disinffecting it was still working great.  I work on cars a lot and accidentally ran over this great phone with the passenger front tire of a 2500 diesel dodge truck and not a single scratch the phone just will not die, thank you god!!!  It is about time that their is a phone that can stand my torture..

I tried for about 3 weeks and took it back.  It's rugged but doesn't come with a longer warranty. The PTT button is easily pushed by accident.  The coating/paint on the outside edges started flaking off as I have seen noted in other reviews by users.  I didn't like not being able to access a phone number stored in the address book if a default had been set to a different number.  There is an ability to set a default for a voice number and one for a text number which is nice, but once the default was set, I couldn't find a way to send a text to another number which seems to make storing other numbers in the address book rather pointless. The ringtones that come on the phone are limited and none of them are very good.  The menu choices seem rather limited as well but maybe this is true with all Samsung phones as I have never had one before. 

Disclosure:  I'm a guy with fairly large hands. These small slim phones were literally a pain, as my hand would cramp after just 5 minutes, and it was difficult to position the phone where the ear-speaker would allow me to hear, but the mic could still pick up what I was saying. I spotted the Rugby the week of its release on the AT&T Wireless website, and I did some quick research. Not much there since the phone is that new (released September 15 2008), but there was plenty of incorrect info on some of the cell phone websites... particularly the screen sizes -- the main screen is 176x220 (250K color), the external is 96x96 (64K color)... many sites incorrectly list the main as 128x160 and don't even tell you what the external is. But what really piqued my interest was the size - it was a full quarter-inch wider than my current Nokia 6102i, and over a half-inch longer when folded. And at nearly 5 ounces, it has some meat to it. In fact, when this phone is open, it's the same length as the handset of my regular corded home phone. I ordered the yellow unit from AT&T since I qualified for it as an upgrade phone. The SIM is a little tricky to get in and out as the slot is recessed and partially covered when the card is inserted. But once in, it was ready to go. I spent a few minutes getting the settings where I wanted them, and was quickly able to make calls, send/receive text and multimedia messages, and take/send pictures with the camera. With the Edge and 3G networks available, internet is much faster than with the Nokia. The memory is expandable with a microSD card, and once I got used to them, the menus were easy to follow. But what I appreciate the most is the size and feel... it's almost as good as holding a standard corded-phone handset. It has a nice beefy feel to it, it's very long when open - it easily reaches from my ear to mouth, and the buttons are nicely sized/spaced. You can understand the military-spec rating when you hold it, as you can tell this phone is substantial and can take a hit. I can't speak for the Push-To-Talk (not a PTT customer), but everything else is just as advertised. The only complaint I have is the cover of the charger slot is very flimsy, and I can see that disappearing by accident one day. But since most phones have an exposed slot anyway, it's probably not that big a deal unless you really do use the phone in a harsh environment. Since 1999, I've owned 3 Nokias and one Motorola... this is my first Samsung phone. And so far, I am very impressed.

Being a lifelong Nextel user due to my job (contractor), I've needed a rugged phone and PTT. Where I live, Nextel isn't that great and I only really used it for PTT and on-the-job communications. AT&T by far has the superior network over everyone (Sprint Nextel, Verizon, T-Mobile) and I've used them for years as my non-work phone. When Verizon released their G'Zone Boulder, I cancelled my Nextel line and decided to give them a try. It was a mistake. Their PTT service is awful, with very high latency between messages and bad quality. Call quality is decent, but PTT is miserable. I was also due for an upgrade for my AT&T line so I decided to get the Rugby because of it's rugged design and PTT. Side-by-side, I tested the Rugby and AT&T vs the G'Zone and Verizon. Not only is the Rugby not bogged down by Verizon's mediocre UI, but AT&T's PTT network has zero latency and is very comprable to that of iDEN. I cancelled and returned the G'Zone and now just use the Rugby. It's been a great phone and I couldn't be more satisfied.