General Consultant Discussion

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/samsung-galaxy-s4-active-pictures-leak-ahead-of-unveiling Would be nice if somebody would make a phone that doesn't need to be wrapped in a big protective case yet was hugely bulked up itself. This looks interesting although from the picture there doesn't seem to be much of a lip to protect the glass screen.

The piece that you are missing is planned obsolescence. You are simply never going to see that because manufacturers make a ton of money off broken, lost, stolen phones that must be replaced.

Let's say 20% of phones are broken before contract end. If you charged 25% to 35% more for a ruggadized phone (v.s the 1000% more for ancient Windows 6.5 ruggedized warehouse devices) its still a win. Samsung's strategy, right or wrong, seems to be make a phone for every size, style, purpose and budget. Wheras Apple is almost a ""You can have any color you want in a car, as long as it's black"" model. I'm only surprised Samsung doesn't make a galaxy phone with a quality physical keyboard. If BB get's any traction on their new devices, I wouldn't be surprised to see that. I still scratch my head every time a read a review that drools over the HTC one and the aluminum back vs. the 'cheap thin' back of the Galaxy. You know, the one you can peel off in seconds and slap in another 30+ hours of battery life in seconds plus an SD card? Who, except for an Engadget writer who gets phones weekly for free, walks around with a $650 phone not incased in some ugly thick protective case? At that point, it could be made out of dried dog crap and you wouldn't notice. That's why a phone built to be handled naked is intruiging and probably would be less bulky than a 'thin' phone fattened up with some big rubber case.

Plus they get a piece of case sales usually. You're also not taking into account the bedazzled factor. The teen and tween crowd like to customize the outside of their phones.

They've had ruggedized devices for quite some time - they are nothing more than a niche due to the weight and awkward materials. And I totally agree about the reviews of phones done by tech editors who get them all for free. How can you really review stuff when you have no ""skin in the game"". I think the quality/usefulness of reviews have gone way way down.

@RobertWood Did you look at the pictures in the link (I know this isn't official yet). That doesn't look heavy and akward like most 'ruggedized' devices I'm familiar with which usually are based on 5 year old technology.

I hadn't. But most of the tweens and teens I know want a pretty case.

The girls do, but not the boys and not those that are older. Girls have something called a pocketbook where size isn't as important. Us guys have pocket limitations (they gotta make pockets bigger.....) At the same time, girls have smaller hands so gigantic devices like Galaxy Note's and perhaps in Galaxy S3/4 are too big for them to use. I love how they use basketball players to advertise the Galaxy Note 2 :) It's definitely not a one hand device for us mere mortals

No the boys I know around here want camouflage.