The Galaxy S7 Active might be built to take a bruising, but it looks ready to engage in jungle warfare – just get a load of that mad camouflage pattern on the back.
Samsung’s latest rugged mobile just launched exclusively on AT&T in the US, and wouldn’t look out of place in the back pocket of ZZ Top-lookalikes Duck Dynasty. The Galaxy S7 Edge is one of the best looking phones around, so it’s impressive just how ugly the S7 Active turned out.
Still, that extra padding means the S7 Active can absorb a lot of punishment. It is IP68 certified for dust and water down to 5 feet, has been MIL-spec tested for drops and has a shatter-resistant screen. Knock it onto concrete from four feet and it should simply shrug it off.
Not bad when you consider there’s still a 5.1in, QHD resolution AMOLED display under all that protection.
The other adventurer-friendly upgrade is the bigger battery, up from 3000mAh in the vanilla S7 to 4000mAh here. That’ll definitely get you through a whole day without needing to rely on battery backups.
Beyond the love-it-or-hate-it styling, though, the Active is still an S7 underneath.
That means you get top-spec components, like a Snapdragon 820 CPU, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. There’s a 12MP camera at the back, a 5MP snapper on the front, and a fingerprint sensor – for unlocking the phone when you aren’t wearing expedition gear.
It’s going on sale next week in the US, where it’ll set you back $26.50 a month on AT&T’s Next plan. No word on whether it’s heading to South Africa and other locations just yet though. Oh, and don’t worry: you can get it without the camouflage pattern too.
