Water-resistance is a very important factor for a Rugged phone , but when you decide to purchase rugged phone , all information you get from them is the IP ratings, actually there are quite a lot more to consider about water resistance
IP ratings
Firstly let ‘s start from the most famous standard – Ingress Protection ( IP ) , it consist of two digits, you can see IP 67, IP 54 , IP 68 on the datasheet, the first digit stands for the resistance against dust , today let ‘s focus on the second digit , what does it mean to us ? Let ‘s see the chart below from wiki
| Level | Object size protected agaist | Effective against |
| 0 | Not protected | |
| 1 | Dripping water | Dripping water (vertically falling drops) shall have no harmfull effect. |
| 2 | Dripping water when tilted up to 15° | Vertically dripping water shall have no harmful effect when the enclosure is tilted at an angle up to 15° from its normal position. |
| 3 | Spraying water | Water falling as a spray at any angle up to 60 °from the vertical shall have no harmful effect. |
| 4 | Splashing water | Water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect. |
| 5 | Water jets | Water projected by a nozzle (6.3mm) against enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects. |
| 6 | Powerful water jets | Water projected in powerful jets (12.5mm nozzle) against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects. |
| 7 | Immersion up to 1m | Ingress of water in harmful quantity shall not be possible when the enclosure is immersed in water under defined conditions of pressure and time (up to 1 m of submersion). |
| 8 | Immersion beyond 1m | The equipment is suitable for continuous immersion in water under conditions which shall be specified by the manufacturer. Normally, this will mean that the equipment is hermetically sealed. However, with certain types of equipment, it can mean that water can enter but only in such a manner that it produces no harmful effects. |
The Higher Number is , the better ?
Not actually , IP 54 or IP 65 can cover most cases, only if When you need to work at the environment that rains heavily or near the river , or I dont see the necessary to ask for a IP 67 or IP 68 , but just as screen resolution , The factory has entered a IP competition, so you barely see any IP 54 / 65 phone in the market now
Test the device yourself
IP XX is mainly tested in the lab , To apply it in our real situation we need to test it by ourself , Rugged Tech Tester will always abuse the device as much as possible before shipping to our customers, When it claim to meet the IP 65 , We will spray the device from any angle , it should survive according to the IP standard or it is a fake advertisement , when it is IP 67 /68 , leave it in a pool and take it half an hour back to see if it runs OK
Watch out the Micro USB connector
When the rugged hardware has been charged for many times , the rubber flap of USB connector is easy to get lost , by then it is easy to get leaked , so make sure the flap is good or prepare some replacements , Some manufacturer has already use the magnetic connector to charge to avoid this issue