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If you are one of those folks who has to replace a cell phone every few months because you break it, you need to read this. Nextel and Motorola have produced a cellular phone that is to handheld phones what ruggedized laptops are to portable computers. It's not pretty, it's not stylish, but it includes the features that public safety folks will find most valuable-and it's not horribly expensive.
A survey by electronics manufacturer Siemens, released in late 2004, listed the most common causes of cell phone breakage. Water damage, dropping and breaking the phone, and having it destroyed by a child or a pet were high on the list. One exception was the second most common cause after "dropped the mobile on the ground," and that was "squeezed the cell phone in tight jeans or pockets."
Maybe Americans aren't the only people with obesity issues. Water damage stemmed from several sources, such as using the handset in the rain, dropping it in the toilet, getting too much sweat on it during a workout, or dropping it in the snow. Throwing it onto the ground in anger was right up there, too.
The Nextel Motorola i325 resembles the cellular phone from about two generations ago. It spurns the popular flip-phone form factor in favor of a "candy bar" shape. The phone is larger than a Snickers, though, measuring at 5.1x2.4x1.4 inches while weighing 7.02 ounces. It is even less chic because of its "rubber ducky" antenna that screws into a watertight socket and extends above the top of the phone another 3.75 inches. The antenna is flexible, but not collapsible.
The Nextel Motorola i325 has a small (96x64 pixel) color LCD display and the usual assortment of phone pad keys and buttons. It meets military specifications for dust, shock, vibration, high and low temperatures, pressure, solar radiation, humidity, salt fog, and water resistance. This phone will keep working after the other ones are electronic confetti.
If you are not in an area covered by the Nextel network, then this phone is not going to be of great use to you, as it is configured for the iDEN 800 network which is pretty much the realm of Nextel. Nextel is being acquired by Sprint, but by...