Today we get a look at one of the newer phones to get out of Sprint Nextel, the Motorola i686 Brute. You expected a pretty hard-nosed phone from a phone with a name like “the Beast”, and that’s what you get. But you get everything, but a rugged phone? The answer? Yes. Yes, you will.

The Motorola Brute i686 is a flip phone such as Samsung Xplorer B2100 that hardened (with military grade specifications, dust, shock, vibration, temperature, that bizarre threat known as salt fog, and more), but also offers Bluetooth connectivity, a microSD card slot, a USB port, GPS, speakerphone, web browser, SMS and MMS messaging, mobile email, a phone book with space for six hundred contacts, Direct Connect system, a two megapixel camera, it even throws in video and a trajectories, and a battery that yields just before six hours of talk time on a single charge.
Simple and strong is the name of the game this phone, which is exactly what you get here. Remember this if you have applications and data connections and such like, but if you are looking to go almost anywhere a phone that will handle the basics well, then you’ll definitely want to get your hands on one of these for yourself. Of course, there are problems beyond the lack of features: there is no external camera shutters, for example, it can be a problem for some. And I do not know why this phone has no 3.5mm headphone jack, frankly, I’ve said this before, but I maintain that 3.5 mm headphone jack should be standard. Yet, for those who are in a lot of crazy situations outdoors, and a phone that will survive these situations, the Motorola i686 Brute should do nicely.