Whenever we see a water and shock resistant phone, we automatically assume that it is going to be ugly. And most of the times, this is true because there is a lot of padding on the handset for standing through shocks and water. Brute i680 meets military specifications for elements like salt fog, low and high temperature, vibration and shock and dust. Though it is a water resistant phone you can’t take it with you for swimming with you underwater. But you can use it while talking in the rains. We held the phone under running tap in our labs and the device wasn’t damaged at all. For testing the shock resistance, we put threw the phone around on concrete floor as well as carpet. There wasn’t a single scratch on the device and it was working well too. The Brute i680 is made for Nextel, you can get it for $119 with service. Other features on the phone include a music player, camera which though not the best, are still nice to have on a phone. The call quality is also good, overall we didn’t  [...]

This is an entry level touch screen handset from Motorola but it does have some features up its sleeve that will interest you. We found the display was a bit small and will really get you when you browse through Web pages or try to watch a video. The small display also gives a smaller resolution which adds to the woes. The 2 mega pixel camera located behind the handset is pretty basic and doesn’t come with editing options. But other than that, the features offered are satisfactory and the call quality too is good though we would have appreciated if the volume was a bit louder. You get a music player which plays a wide range of audio formats and we thank Motorola for giving us a 3.5 mm phone jack. It lets you plug in any standard headphones of your choice. The memory card slot is also located on the sides of the phone so you don’t have to go digging inside the battery cover to take it off or change it. The Crush is sold by U.S. Cellular for $69.95 with a 2 year agreement and after a  [...]