Tough Phones: Motorola’s ES400

There is always something intriguing whenever a manufacturer announces a new gadget that is built to withstand the rigors of wear and tear. After all, in the electronics industry, great devices and tough shells rarely go together. More often than not, the more impressive a device is, the more easily broken it is. This seems to be an unspoken rule of technology –products’ capabilities are often proportional to how easily it breaks.

As said, tough devices are few and far in between, but in an era where everyone carries around mobile phones –more particularly, touch screen smart phones. There is always that danger of getting your handset exposed to harsh elements, impacts, drops, shocks and more. Keeping devices safe is a constant worry and the Motorola ES400 is designed to lessen that concern.

The device can easily be mistaken for a Sonim handset –especially with its uniquely designed housing that seems to have been built to resist and absorb the impact of shocks more easily. At the same time, the device is bulkier than what is common for a smart phone. But at only 159 grams, it still manages to stay within the reasonable weight for smart phone loaded with a keyboard.

The ES400 has a MIL-STD 810G rating, this means that it can resist and withstand certain levels of heat, fog, humidity, and shock. It is also rated to be able to take drops from as high as 90cm.

Lastly, it has an IP42 waterproof rating, but that does not mean you should try to drown this handset into a bowl of water.

In terms of software, the phone is using Windows Mobile 6.5.3 –which many enterprise users will be familiar with. However, this will be using the new Windows Embedded Handheld version (as opposed to Embedded Compact) and will be integrating some features from Windows 7.