Samsung designed a super-rugged tactical smartphone for military use — take a look

[rangerrebew]

Samsung designed a super-rugged tactical smartphone for military use — take a look
Mary Meisenzahl
 

    Samsung released the Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition phone.

    It's a military smartphone designed for special operations.

    It uses an Android operating system and can integrate with radios, drone feeds, and GPS.
 

Samsung released its design for the Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition, a smartphone for Department of Defense operators and the federal government. Every aspect of the phone was designed for maximum practicality, from extra encryption to drone feed integration and off-grid communication.

https://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s20-tactical-edition-for-dod-and-federal-goverment-2020-8

[Elderberry]

The “Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition” is a shock-and-awe campaign against reality

ars Technica by Ron Amadeo - 5/21/2020

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/05/the-galaxy-s20-tactical-edition-is-a-shock-and-awe-campaign-against-reality/

Samsung’s “mission-ready military smartphone” is a regular S20 with lots of hype.

The most industry-leading and innovative division of Samsung—the marketing department—has conjured a new version of the Galaxy S20 out of thin air. Samsung has produced a press release and website breathlessly touting the "Samsung Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition (TE)," a "mission-ready smartphone solution tailored to the unique needs of operators in the federal government and Department of Defense (DoD)." It seems to be a regular Galaxy S20, but in a case.

The case is actually neat

The S20 Tactical Edition comes with what looks like a Juggernaut case, a $290 accessory designed for military and police use. In addition to a very, very big camo-colored bumper around the perimeter, it has a glass (glass? Really?) screen protector, stainless steel buttons, and is sealed to an IP67 rating. The Galaxy S20 is already sealed to IP68 dust and water resistance, but this case would be your new first line of defense.

The Juggernaut case also supports some wild military configurations. A "Quick disconnect USB-C" cable can screw into the bottom of the juggernaut case, giving you a rock-solid secure connection for charging and tethering. This USB cable, which is another $290, terminates in a Glenair 804-series connector, a military-spec breakaway plug that can connect to all your other military gear without worrying about the delicacy of USB-C. There are also a ton of awesome mounts the case slots into, like a forearm mount, a mount for parachute harnesses, body-armor chest mounts, and vehicle mounts.

The "Tactical Edition" branding might be over the top, but Samsung is addressing a real market here. The military has all sorts of Android apps with jargony acronym names, like ATAK, the "Android Tactical Assault Kit," APASS, the "Android Precision Assault Strike Suite," and KILSWITCH, the (deep breath) "Kinetic Integrated Low-Cost Software Integrated Tactical Combat Handheld." The goal of all of these is what you would expect: communication, mapping, and targeting, and the S20, in a big rubber case, is probably a great platform to run them on.

More at link.

[Elderberry]

I am a big fan of Samsung phones. Once I lost a Samsung Rugby phone. I looked everywhere. No phone. I then realized I was washing work clothes, including some I had wore earlier in the day. I stopped the washer and felt down in the tub. I found the phone at the bottom of the tub. I wiped it off and the phone awakened fine. I made a call and everything worked except the ear speaker. On speaker it worked fine. Later the ear speaker dried out and worked fine too. The screen protector was scuffed by the washer's agitator. That was the only damage to being washed.