Electronic devices and water does not go together, that’s the perception we had till date. Today, most of the smartphones have great cameras, but we are sceptical to use these cameras when at beach or pool or even rafting. But gone are those days, now technology has been advancing pretty fast and there are quite a lot of new smartphones coming with water resistance.
Previously dust and water-proofing used to be features associated with the kind of tough phones or laptops used in extreme conditions, but now they are getting main stream. So how is the water resistance of a phone determined? This is where IP certifications helps. In this article, we will cover some of the best water resistance smartphones available today. As of now IP certification is limited to flagships or premium devices and not entered the mid range or the budget category.
What is IP certification?
IP stands for Ingress Protection and it is a rating system developed by the International Electrotechnical Commission or the IEC. This rating system is now being used to classify different degrees of protection against dust or immersion. The IP rating has two digits, the first one indicates the level of dust-resistance, the second water resistance. Dust-resistance levels go from 0 up to 6 while water-resistance goes from 0 to 9.
So when Samsung says Galaxy S5 is IP67 rated, it means it has dust resistance of 6 (which is max) and water resistance of 7 (out of 9). For each level, there is a depth to which the phone can be immersed into water.
So here is the list of best waterproof smartphones you can buy now.
1. Samsung Galaxy S5:
Samsung’s flagship phone, the Galaxy S5 was announced at MWC 2014 and comes with a 5.2 inch Full HD Super AMOLED display and runs on a 2.5 Ghz Quad core processor along with 2GB RAM. The device runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat. There is also a 16MP camera with LED Flash and 4k recording capabilities. There is also a 2.1MP front facing camera. Galaxy S5 will be dust and water resistant and is IP67. The device will ship with 16/32GB internal memory and it is expandable to 64GB via microSD card.
Along with S5, other variants like S5 active and also S5 sport also have this feature. These devices have similar specs to that of Galaxy S5.
2. Sony XPERIA Z3:
Sony XPERIA Z3 comes with 5.2 inch Full HD display and is powered by 2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 3GB of RAM. There is also 16GB internal storage which is expandable to 128GB via microSD card. The phone also comes with 20.7MP camera and 2.2MP front facing camera. It has 4G LTE connectivity. The phone has IP68 certification.
3. Sony XPERIA Z3 Compact:
The Z3 compact comes with a 4.6 inch HD display with 1280 X 720 p resolution and is powered by a 2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with Adreno 330 GPU. The device also comes with 2GB of RAM and has 16GB internal storage which is expandable to 128GB via microSD card. The phone runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat and also comes with 20.7MP Primary Camera with Exmos RS sensor, HDR photos & videos, 4K video recording. There is also 2.2 MP front-facing camera with 1080p video recording. The device also has IP65/68 rating for dust and water resistance.
4. Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini:
Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini comes with a 4.5 inch HD display and is powered by a Quad core processor with 1.5GB RAM and comes with 16GB internal storage which is expandable to 64GB via microSD card. The phone also comes with 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 2.1MP front camera. The phone will be powered by 2100mAh battery and will run on Android 4.4 KitKat. The phone is IP67 certified for dust and water resistance.
5. HTC Desire EYE:
HTC Desire EYE is selfie focused smartphone from the company and it comes with a 13-megapixel front-facing camera and has a 5.2-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD display with Corning Gorilla glass protection. The phone is powered by a 2.3 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor and runs on Android 4.4 KitKat with new HTC Sense UI. There is also a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 13-megapixel front camera with f/2.0 aperture, wide-angle lens and dual LED flash that makes it a perfect selfie smartphone. The device has water resistant (IPX7).
6. Sony M2 Aqua:
Xperia M2 Aqua, the waterproof version of the Xperia M2 is announced by the company Sony Mobile.The device sports 4.8-inch (960 x 540 pixels) capacitive touch screen display. It is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). On the imaging front, it features 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a VGA front-facing camera. IP65/68 waterproof rating and IP65 dustproof rating are class features of the mid range device.
7. Sony Xperia Z2:
Sony Xperia Z2 although is not the current flagship phone, it does have impressive specs. The device has a 5.2-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Triluminos Display with Live Colour LED powered by X-Reality and is powered by 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor with Adreno 330 GPU. It runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It has a 20.7-megapixel rear camera with Sony G lens with a 27mm wide angle f/2.0 aperture custom 1/2.3? Sony Exmor RS image sensor, BIONZ image processing engine, 4K video video recording and a 2.2-megapixel 1080p front-facing camera.
The device will be IP55 / IP58 rating for dust and water resistance.
8. HTC Butterfly 2:
HTC Butterfly 2 comes with 5-inch 1080p display, powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat) with Sense 6 UI. Design wise the device is very similar to the HTC One M8. The device has the speciality that it comes with Water ( IPX5 / IPX7) and dust resistance (IP5X) body, has a 13-megapixel camera and duo camera arrangement, where the 2-megapixel camera captures the depth information. It has the same 5-megapixel front-facing camera, HTC BoomSound and Dual front-facing stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers, similar to the HTC One M8.
