The Samsung Rugby II AT&T GoPhone

Another trip to AT&T's GoPhone website pointed me to another cell phone for seniors candidate. The Samsung Rugby II is not a new phone and is designed for users who want rugged and durable handsets. However, since it is included in the carrier's GoPhone packages, it became an affordable option for budget restricted users like seniors.

The Rugby II is designed to take hits and keep on working. It's built to resist dust, shock, vibration, rain, humidity, and extreme temperatures. So how does these rugged qualities seniors who might want to purchase this handset? Well, seniors do not have a lot of cash to spend o buying phones so a device with a long shelf life and can survive massive amounts of falls is suited to their lifestyle. A durable phone will eliminate the need to buy a new handset every few months.

Now let's look at the features that make the Rugby II a good mobile phone for the elderly. Frist let's look at the handset's main display. The internal screen measures 2.2-inches and supports 262,000 colors, which allows it to provide plenty of space and brightness for the weak vision of some elderly consumers. Users can also adjust the brightness, the backlighting time, and the dialing-font, size, type, and color tome the information on the screen easier to see.

The key pad and th navigation array for this handset is also user-friendly. The keypad buttons are a bit flat but they are spacious and separated from each other so the user will not find it hard to dial numbers or compose messages.

The Samsung Rugby II is more of a mid-range device so it offers a few advanced features. Most of these are not really important for senior users but it still nice to have them on a solid device. The key features for this handset include:

• 2.0-megapixel camera with video
• instant messaging
• Web-based POP3 e-mail support
• stereo Bluetooth
• USB mass storage
• PC syncing
• PTT for making walkie-talkie calls

Performance-wise, the Rugby II can compete with other cell phones for senior citizens in the market. The phone's voice quality is smooth and clear, the volume was loud, and we observed that the speakerphone and PTT audio quality are solid.

That's it for this rugged handset for seniors. Stay tuned as we feature other senior related stuff such as plans, services and more phones.