Sanyo SCP-7050

One look at the SCP-7050 and you know it means business--outdoor business. The phone's rubberized, easy-to-grip surface is a telltale sign that it's built for a rugged lifestyle. Military-certified for dust, shock, and vibration, it claims to be tough enough to withstand grueling environments such as construction and industrial sites. Based on our tests, it proved practical and generally durable.
 
Weighing 4.1 ounces and measuring 3.6 x 2 x 1.1 inches, the SCP-7050 feels light in your hand. The pull-out antenna is definitely old-school, and the front cover is somewhat standard fare, consisting of a grille over the speaker and a 0.8-inch, black-and-white screen. With its rugged fit and finish, this clamshell looks more like a Nextel phone than it does a Sprint phone. Its keypad is also rugged, featuring buttons with nonslip surfaces, so they're easy to press. We also appreciated the relatively large 1.8-inch internal screen.
 
The SCP-7050 isn't built for multimedia. It's first and foremost a solid, simple-to-use cell phone. It worked well during our calls, providing clear though occasionally scratchy sound. The handset was loud enough for us to hear the person on the other end of the call while we were in a room full of people, as well as while we were outside on a mildly windy day. The speakerphone was also decent, but as with our experience with the handset, our calls sometimes had harsh background noise. If you fancy Bluetooth headsets, you can pair the SCP-7050 with one of the in-ear Bluetooth 1.1 types.
 
Among your choices for downloadable apps is the subscription-based Sprint Navigation (formerly known as TeleNav). It uses the phone's integrated GPS to help pinpoint the handset's location and deliver local listings and mapping information to your phone. For $10 a month (or $3 per day), Sprint Navigation provides audible turn-by-turn driving directions to get you where you need to go--a handy tool for business travelers and field workers alike. If we made a wrong turn, it recalculated our location via the GPS signal and continued with revised directions. This reroute process took five seconds or longer, depending on the complexity of the route. Sprint also offers package data plans with unlimited Sprint Navigation: $20 for the Power Vision Navigation Pack or $25 for the Power Vision Ultimate (or Business) Pack.
 
This phone also supports Sprint's push-to-talk service. Unfortunately, you can't use PTT with folks on the carrier's sister company, Nextel, which uses a more robust PTT service. That's because Sprint's and Nextel's PTT technologies are incompatible. The phone is capable of basic messaging functions as well: We sent and received text messages, IM'ed our buddies (tip: for speedier access, launch the IM client through the Messaging menu instead of using the Web option), recorded voice memos, and used voice-activated dialing, but it required recording voice tags first, which was clunky and laborious.
 
To round out the package, the SCP-7050 is equipped with a capable Web browser. Launching the browser, however, was a lengthy affair. On average, it took 15 seconds to reach Sprint's homepage. From there, hopping from one link to another was relatively swift: We called up a variety of information, including news, weather, traffic, sports, and options to buy ringtones, games, and additional applications, each taking between three and five seconds to load. Downloading a ringtone, for example, took about eight to ten seconds. Ringtones sounded awfully scratchy from the speaker, like an old-time AM radio.
 
Despite some drawbacks, the Sanyo SCP-7050 is a good choice for business users who are hard on their phones, as well as for outdoorsy types. Getting built-in GPS in a rugged package for $150 is a good deal, and the phone and Web functionality are plenty good for general use.