rugged android phone

Posted June 15th, 2010 by cool

If you are looking for a rugged Android phone this may exactly be what you are looking for.
This phone was originally build for windows mobile, but nowadays they also ship it with android.
And I have to say, it actually looks nice for a rugged phone.

This is the Bluebird Pidion BIP-6000

The phone is IP65 sealed and tested for drops from 1.8 meter on a steel surface. This would be the first android phone surviving a dive in the swimming pool (even when there is no water).

The little friend has build in barcode and rfid reader combined with Linux this makes for some great hacking around. I know there's an app for scanning barcodes but a hardware scanner is much quicker.

The phone is not only very rugged and watertight, it's also equipped with all the features you would expect from a modern mobile phone plus everything else. It has assisted gps for fast location finding, touchscreen and a keyboard, support for ethernet (cradle), rs232 and usb interfaces, multiband gsm, HSDPA, infrared, bleutooth and wlan.

While most geeks may not be frequenting the north pole, this android which can handle -20C to 55C / -4F to 131F is a real hackers dream.
Here's a screenshot of android running on the device

Specifications

Physical Characteristics:

Dimensions (W x H x D): 80 x 160 x 35.5mm / 3.1 x 6.3 x 1.4 inch
Weight (including battery): 407g / 14.3oz
Display: 3.5" VGA TFT TouchWindow LCD with backlight
Touch Panel: Analog resistance type
Keypad Option: Numeric / QWERTY
Battery: Rechargeable, 3.7V, 4400mAh, Li-ion
Expansion: MicroSD slot
SIM Slot: 1 SIM
Ethernet: Supported (cradle)
Audio: High volume speaker, Headset jack
Camera: 3 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash
GPS: Integrated Assisted-GPS (A-GPS)

Performance Characteristics:

CPU: PXA 320, 806MHz
OS: Windows Mobile 6.1 / Windows CE 6.0 / Linux
Memory: 256MB RAM / 512MB ROM
Interface: RS-232C, USB 1.1 Host & Client

User Environment Characteristics:

Operating Temp: -20C to 55C / -4F to 131F
Storage Temp: -25C to 70C / -13F to 158F
Humidity: 5% to 95% non-condensing
Drop Spec: 6ft. / 1.8m drop to steel surface, 2 drops per 6 sides
Rain / Dust Protection: IP65

Integrated Radios:

WWAN: GSM / HSDPA (850, 900, 1800, 1900 and 2100 MHz)
WLAN: IEEE 802.11b/g
WPAN: Bluetooth Class II V2.0 + EDR, IrDA 1.2

Data Capture:

Barcode: 1D & PDF417 Laser Class II or 1D & 2D CMOS Imager
RFID: Integrated RFID, ISO 14443 A/B, ISO 15693

MIL-STD-810F Tested:

Drop, Vibration, Shock, Ingress, Temperature, Altitude, Humidity

On my wishlist

Some real fine specs for taking your favorite OS in to the wild. Would be great if it had some integrated solar panel. But that's just me. I think it's a very nice device and if it wasn't so expensive(Price: $1650-2100, probably normal as it's aimed at industrial applications) I would like it as my gsm. On the wishlist.

More info at sdgsystems

Looking for more cool Linux stuff? blogrol is here

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Performance will be mediocre...

Anonymous 1 year 33 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago

It's using a PXA320, that's an earlier generation of SoC, really and compares roughly to an OMAP2 in ability. Android will be "Okay" on that platform, but will only do decently with something like Froyo with the JIT boosting performance of Android apps- unless you go native ARM. And if you do that, while the OMAP2 was impressive for it's day, my Droid dances circles around my old N800. At 800MHz, it'll be more akin to the Snapdragon Moto fielded in their Backflip phone, without the 3D ability.

It's cool that they fielded an armored Android phone. What's disappointing is that they could have reached for something more along the lines of the Droid or the Impressive with it and they didn't. They took an "okay" performer for WinMo 5/6 and put Android on it.