Durability is an essential feature in high-end smartphones if they are to be competitive. However, in the majority of cases, this ruggedness does not extend to the materials themselves. Thick plastics and rubber elements are not regarded as helpful in the pursuit of thinness which, for the majority of smartphone manufacturers, appears to outweigh any concerns relating to physical impact.
Instead, the majority of current handsets appear to focus on preventing the ingress of water and dust in delivering longevity.
Samsung will apparently be taking this resilience one step further with the upcoming Galaxy Note 10, which is set to be unveiled at an event this week. This is just one of the snippets of information concerning the specs of the phablet that have been finding their way online in recent weeks.
Superior survivability
The leaked information reported on sites including TechRadar suggests that the Note 10 will sport IP69 certification for both water resistance and dust protection.
This is higher than the IP68 rating achieved by the last-gen Galaxy Note. Understanding this rating is simple enough; IP69 means that it will have the ability to keep out dust in almost any environment, while even high-pressure jets of water directed at the phone should not be able to find a way in to compromise the internal hardware.
For anyone who has had to turn to gadget insurance to make a claim after dropping their device in a puddle or getting it wet through some other misfortune, this improvement in waterproofing will be most welcome. Of course, why anyone would need a phone that could be subjected to the output of a pressure washer and remain functional is another question entirely.
Other exciting specs
The expected improvement to durability upgrade is by no means the only feature that the new Galaxy Note 10 is expected to bring to the table. An exciting array of fresh colour options are also anticipated, including some rather more vibrant options such as pink, blue and even green.
At a technical level, some sources have been quoted as suggesting that Samsung will actually be dialling back the display resolution of this device to full HD+, which would be a noteworthy step back from the QHD pixel counts that have been prevalent in this series over the past half-decade. There is considerable speculation as to the accuracy of these suggestions because on a device as large as the Note 10, it is clearly important to have a suitably rich pixel density.
Wireless charging capabilities seem to be a rather more reliable prediction, while the inclusion of a 12 megapixel camera array made up of three lenses is also a near certainty. Up front a pinhole camera will sit at the top of the display, allowing Samsung to avoid the trend for notched displays initiated by Apple.
With the Note 10 launching imminently, there is not long to wait to see whether or not any of these rumours are accurate.