Nokia 800 Tough: dead after 30 seconds, but it got better
The Nokia 800 Tough is said to be as robust as the 3310 was back in the day. A test shows: maybe not quite. But a screwdriver is all it takes to revive it.
Anyone who has been following my articles for a while knows that I love rugged phones. I don't know why, but holding such a device in my hands just makes me happy every time. Cat Phones are often put to the test by throwing them on the floor or kicking them along the ground while filming what happens.
I want to do the same with the Nokia 800 Tough, which isn't that tough after all. It looks like it, but our reader Giuseppe Centoducato managed to break it in less than a second.
The Nokia what?
The Nokia 800 Tough is Nokia’s venture into the world of rugged phones. And there are many reasons to suggest this could be a success. Remember the Nokia 3310? Rumour has it’s now used to produce bulletproof vests. And this device wasn't intended to be a rugged or a tough phone at that time. But it really is indestructible. Should the universe end one day, my friend’s seemingly immortal cat will make the last ever call with a Nokia 3310. And it will be left with 78% battery.
The 800, however, was explicitly built as a «Tough» model and aims to be comparable to Bullitt's licensed Cat and Land Rover phones. It is IP68 certified, optimised for high and low temperatures and is designed to fall on concrete grounds without breaking.
In addition to its hard shell, there are many more reasons why the 800 phone sounds good: KaiOS as a slim, simple operating system features not only Google Assistant and WhatsApp, but also Snake. There's a 2-megapixel camera to take pictures and capture videos. And the battery probably lasts for days. I will never find out.
My conclusion of the above-mentioned reasons: Hell yeah, Nokia Rugged Phone!
And then comes Guiseppe
I'm filming the kicking-along-the-ground video outside our office building. Guiseppe watches and laughs. We start taking and mention its impact strength. Kicking it along the concrete ground and dropping it from the hand onto the floor are no problem for this phone. The back bezel comes loose a bit, but you can easily push it back into place again. I’m growing fond of the Nokia 800.
Guiseppe and I decide to turn the drop test into a throw test. «Should withstand it,» we say, closely followed by the fatal conclusion: «There's only one way to find out.»
Guiseppe’s winds up –
and the Nokia 800 Tough goes flying.
It bounces off the concrete wall and lands on the ground.
«That felt amazing,» Giuseppe says, describing the effect that rugged phones have: for years, we've been making sure nothing happens to our phones, every slight fall or drop of water resulting in a moment of panic. For once, Giuseppe could let go.
However, the Nokia 800 Tough doesn’t survive.
It's still running, but can’t be used anymore. The screen shows the last picture the camera took. The wall.
The back plate has come loose at the lower left corner. Unfortunately, not only the back bezel, but also the circuit board has been bent. Bent circuit boards are not cool in general and a near-certain death sentence for a smartphone.
In other words: the phone is broken.
- Time it took to destroy it: 30 seconds.
- Fun factor: High.
Will the Nokia 800 Tough live up to its reputation? Essentially, yes. It takes two guys with a stupid idea and some power to kill this device. But where there is a will, there is a way. And it leads directly into a concrete wall.
The resurrection
Back at the office, I can't help thinking that the Tough should still work. Why? The screen is still working. So I get a screwdriver – I need two Torx, TR6 and TR7 – and start unscrewing it.
It soon turns out that the outer shell is just a shell. There is a second layer inside the device, which contains the water seal. With other phones, this is an adhesive sticker, but the Nokia 800 features a separate rubber strip. As long as all screws are tightened and the rubber seal isn't torn, the seal is tight.
Once I got to the core of the phone, the disillusionment quickly followed. There's only one element that isn't attached to the circuit board and can be removed: the battery. It’s bent and swollen. It’s dead. There might be a chance for the phone to survive, but it will need a new battery.
So I unplug and reconnect it.
The phone works. And I laugh.
That’s exactly what sets Nokia apart: Yes, the circuit board has some scratches – thanks to Giuseppe – but the phone still works. You really have very little to worry about with the Nokia 800. It's a simple construction, so there aren't many things that can break.
If I get a new battery, the phone is as good as new – apart from a few scratches on the outside.
Good job, Nokia.
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Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
