The limits of endurance

First thing in the morning, I pulled a Motorola cellphone from the freezer where it had spent the night. I threw it on the floor a few times - my idea of a warm-up - then punched the on switch and placed a call. It worked fine.

So did a different Motorola phone that I ran over with my car, and a Panasonic laptop that I dropped repeatedly and doused with water. I did have a spot of trouble with a Dell laptop. After a night in the deep freeze and repeated 3-foot drops onto a hardwood floor, it wouldn't boot up. Turns out the battery was dead - frigid temperatures can do that. But once plugged into a wall outlet, the Dell ran without a hitch.

Not a typical morning for me, but then these aren't typical laptops and cellphones. They're ruggedized devices, built to cope with an unusual degree of physical abuse. Ruggedized equipment is measured against the standards of the US military, which has drawn up tough "milspec" standards for devices that can resist extremes of heat, cold, dust, moisture, and violent shocks. Soldiers need such gear, but so do the rest of us. What's so unusual about splashing Coke on a computer keyboard or dropping a cellphone onto the sidewalk? Most people could benefit from the greater durability of these gadgets.

But toughness costs money, and quite a bit of it when it comes to laptops. The Dell Latitude XFR D630 that I so merrily abused sells for about $5,300, and the soggy Panasonic Toughbook 74 costs about $3,300. You would do as well buying three or four cheap laptops and replacing them one by one as they shatter. Unless you're a soldier in Fallujah or a hurricane relief worker in Louisiana. When lives depend on a trustworthy computer, 5 grand seems pretty reasonable.

Dell delivers a lot of computer for the money - 9 pounds' worth. Much of the extra weight comes from the Latitude XFR's case, made of magnesium alloy and shock-absorbing plastic composites. There's an isolation mounting for the hard drive, to prevent shock damage, but Dell sent me a unit with an even tougher option - a 64-gigabyte flash drive, with no moving parts to be damaged by violent impacts.

Since you'd never tuck this beast under your arm, it's got a briefcase-like handle bolted on. Inside the handle there's a stylus for use with the laptop's touch-sensitive screen. A worker wearing heavy gloves can use the stylus to operate the computer, instead of fiddling with the touchpad and mouse buttons.

Every port for plugging in accessories - USB, Ethernet, external monitor, even the power cord - is sealed behind heavy rubber or plastic covers to block dust and moisture. The XFR is not dishwasher-safe; too many cooling vents. But the condensation that coated the laptop after I pulled it from the freezer didn't dampen its performance, and a steady stream of water from my kitchen faucet couldn't penetrate the moisture-shielded keyboard.

At five times the price of a standard laptop, the Latitude XFR is probably five times the computer most people will ever need. By contrast, the Panasonic Toughbook 74, costs only twice as much as the typical full-featured portable. It's a "semi-rugged" design that's meant for corporate warriors, and falls well short of milspec standards. For instance, the Dell is designed to be dropped repeatedly onto a hard surface from a height of 3 feet. The Toughbook is only tested to a height of 1 foot. Still, I flung it around from much higher and saw no ill effects.

But the Toughbook flunked my moisture test. Panasonic officials told me the Toughbook's moisture-resistant keyboard could cope with 4 ounces of liquid. Sure enough, it shrugged off a minor spill. But when was the last time you saw a 4-ounce cup of coffee? I dumped a 12-ounce cup of water over the Toughbook's keyboard, and was dismayed to see the screen go blank. When I hit the power button, it booted up again and was ready for action. After a minute or so, it died again. Semi-rugged, indeed. The Toughbook 74 can handle a good deal of smacking around, but be careful about taking it to Starbucks.

For tough technology that anyone can afford, forget laptops and order a ruggedized cellphone. They cost only a little more than standard phones, but are designed to tolerate a great deal of abuse.

Motorola Inc. sent me two armored phones, the Adventure V750 and the Renegade V950. Both bear little resemblance to the clunky styling of earlier ruggedized models. Indeed, they're almost as trim and sleek as the famous Motorola Razr phones.

The Adventure is available only for customers of Verizon Wireless, and costs $120 with a two-year service contract. It's considered "milspec-lite," hardened against some perils - dust, shock, and temperature extremes - but not others, such as high humidity or blowing rain.

The Renegade is exclusive to the Sprint Nextel wireless network, and costs $130 with a two-year contract and a $50 mail-in rebate. Sheathed in black rubber, it looks tougher than the Adventure and is certified to resist humidity and rain. After a night in my freezer, the phone performed flawlessly.

Yet the Renegade came up short in what I call the Michelin test: I ran my car over it. While the Adventure was unharmed by the experience, my Ford shattered the glass covering the Renegade's two-megapixel camera. But the Renegade's camera still worked, as did the phone's other functions.

My misadventures are a reminder that "ruggedized" doesn't mean "invulnerable." Slap them around hard enough and any of these devices will crack. But in a world of terrorism, hurricanes, and 20-ounce soft drinks, there's something to be said for a little extra protection.

DELL LATITUDE XFR D630
$3,900 ($5,300 for version tested)
Pro: Shrugs off water, freezing cold, multiple drops.
Con: Suffered damage to carry handle; freezing drained the battery.

PANASONIC TOUGHBOOK 74
$3,200 ($3,300 for version tested)
Pro: Undamaged by repeated drops.
Con: Knocked out by 12 ounces of water on keyboard.

MOTOROLA ADVENTURE V750
Available from Verizon Wireless for $120 with a two-year service contract.
Pro: Unharmed by freezing cold, repeated drops, being rolled over by car.
Con: Limited protection against moisture.

MOTOROLA RENEGADE V950
Available from Sprint Nextel for $130 with a two-year contract and a $50 mail-in rebate.
Pro: Tough rubberized case; unharmed by multiple drops.
Con: Shield of built-in camera cracked after being rolled over by a car.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com.