There are most likely four to five main companies that you think of when talking about smartphones, so it’s great to see a small company push its way into the highly competitive market and create an option designed with outdoor enthusiasts in mind – all for €199.

Hong Kong-based company RugGear create a range of tough phones that are able to withstand pretty much anything that you’re able to throw at them, including the brand new RG650, an affordable travel companion for adventurous folk.

One of the RG650’s selling points is the protection from the elements that it can provide. We can all think of a time we’ve hidden our smartphone in a drybag in fear that it will fall victim to the classic downfall of almost all smartphone models – the dreaded water, mud or impact death.

“95 million smartphones are damaged by impacts every year and it’s costing consumers almost $30 billion altogether…”

The tough exterior has been kept down to a relatively small footprint (compared to other phones in this niche) and they’ve managed to cram a fairly decent 4200 mAh battery inside to keep up over a couple days on the hill, even when it drops down to -20 Celcius. Just for comparison, the newest version of the Samsung Galaxy carries a 3000 mAh battery.

Another feature that we thought was clever was the ability to adjust the brightness of the screen up to 500 Nits (that’s bright), giving you full use in strong sunlight. RugGear also claim that this screen can be used when wet and with gloves on.

One immediate downside we can see is that it only has 2GB of RAM – not anything to text home about considering the smartphone giants are getting at least 6GB in their handsets. Maybe we’re asking a bit too much from a €199 waterproof and shockproof smartphone though.

Head over to the RugGear website for more information.