Hands-on with the rugged NEC Terrain | Pocketnow

Not long ago we unboxed and showed off the hardware of the NEC Terrain for AT&T. But you weren't content with just that, you wanted to see us abuse it.

Some people might call me "soft". I have a desk-job. I drive a Prius. Other than the goatee, on the outside I'm not what most people would call "rugged". While that may be what most people see, I also build stuff. I get my hands dirty. While I won't claim to be as rugged as others who do really hard work every day, I can certainly value the benefits of a good, durable smartphone that I won't have to worry about breaking. Luckily, the NEC Terrain lives up to its motto: "Made for hard work".

The NEC Terrain is a water-resistant, rugged device that sports a keyboard, and considering that its primary purpose is to be rugged and durable, it's a pretty nice nice phone.

The Terrain is rated IP-67 for dust and water immersion; and Military 810G for shock, extreme temperatures, and salt fog; yet it still manages to cram a push-to-talk button and QWERTY keyboard inside its rugged shell.

On the inside, the NEC Terrain is a little on the light side. Although is has a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 8960 processor, it only has 1GB RAM and a 3.1-inch, 640x480 screen, this smartphone isn't going to win any performance contests. It's running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which seemed a little out of place to us, but overall the device is pretty snappy, and we didn't notice any hanging or lagging -- except when it took us two or three times to tap a somewhat small on-screen button.

If your job has you in "the field" more than in an office, and you want a phone that's a little more durable than the relatively fragile flagship devices from the major OEMs, the NEC Terrain is a great mix of performance, specs, and durability.

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Hands-on with the rugged NEC Terrain | Pocketnow

PocketNow

[joelevi]

Yup, I do. I gets me from point A to Point B. :)

[Scerttle]

Great video man, just a little bit quiet. Some background music would help the atmosphere and hide the recording hiss :)

I like the hesitation at getting the phone out of the water haha

[joelevi]

I would have liked 2GB RAM... but you're right, a dual-core 1.5 seems to power the Terrain just fine.

[MiguelRPD]

I really wish there was a high end portrait qwerty phone. It'll be better that landscape sliders.

[Floydarn]

Sure there's solutions for that too like the Krusell Sealabox but i don't think a waterproof case is the most important thing for a heavy worker, then the phone most just be able to take some big drop damage and there's OtterBox cases that are quite water resistant and very protecting.

[CezarCociorba]

hehe I so loved the chicken part at the end. You should have made them peck the phone for laughs :)) Great video sir. You made my day happyer

[joelevi]

We tried... the silly things wouldn't peck at it!

[wolfmankayl]

I want that phone so much.

I love candybar qwertys with android, especially rugged ones. There needs to be way more candybar qwertys, maybe a lot of people dont like them and cant deal with the smaller screens but there are still a lot of people like myself who dont mind the smaller screen and treasure a physical qwerty.

I do not like sliding keyboards, for me the candybar or a full qwerty clamshell are the best form factors, but the candybar has less moving parts which = more durability.

[gvpgroup]

:55 drops in toilet..."Oh shit my bad!"

[joelevi]

Writing editorials... pretty much one every week day. :)

[joelevi]

I prefer the term "aficionado". ;)

[joelevi]

We tried and tried to get them pecking at it... next time, ostriches!

[lyserg]

Can we get a proper review of this phone?

[TigerLove]

Is this phone a good phone? How does it do video chat? And does it do signatures on texts, and how's the typing on the phone and video chat?

[TheBlackShinigami]

there called blackberry either that or the dell venue lol

[joelevi]

I know... you've all been spoiled by the wondrous hair of Michael Fisher... now you have to see mine... I'm sorry.

[MrPluspack]

hmmm. Lets think about this for a sec. This is obviously a niche product. What devices exist for this market? Im sure some contactor may be considering the benefits a device of such would bring to his workforce.

That's what I love about android. It can be for whatever, wherever, however.

Great job.

[MiguelRPD]

Sadly it doesnt run Android, and I have purchased too many apps to just switch platforms. Plus there are no blackberry 10's for the prepaid market.

[AliAdam]

f**k wat others say, I really like your videos!!!

[vlad]

phone stepped on by chickens...see something new everyday...watch pocketnow lol..