iNo Scout: Phone for the Garang Soldier

INO has continued to target the military market with the INO Scout – an armored non-camera phone perfect for the garang or active soldier.

The iNo Scout is a non-camera Android smartphone for demanding outdoor and rough indoor use. With a tough Gorilla glass screen and protective ruggedized design, it can resist up to 2.0 meters drop onto concrete, is shockproof, submersible in water and impervious to dust (IP 67). Sounds perfect for the outfield soldier and those with an active outdoor lifestyle.

The INO 2 have had numerous complaints on the paint peeling off from the phone edge and the side trim. Basically, you will have an ugly phone with dull peeled edges especially if you do not use it with a casing, and if you expose it to well, slightly harsher weather conditions. Basically, a daily affair out in sunny, humid Singapore. So if you would like to preserve your phone and also if you have butter fingers like me, then the iNo scout could be the perfect phone for you.

Key Features of the iNo Scout

Non-Camera purpose-built ruggedised smartphone
Water-resistant, Dust-proof, Shock-resistant (IP67 Rating)
Front Physical buttons, side SOS-alert button
Quad-core 1.2GHz, Jelly Bean OS,
1GB RAM, 4GB ROM
4.0” Gorilla Glass screen
Dual SIM Standby
Comes in Black or Camo

There are some good considerations for the active user, with one-press SOS dial button at the side coupled with two hard keys on the front enable users to accept and make calls without touching the screen.

The IP67 classification (a global standard for classifying and rating the degree of protection of mechanical casings and electrical enclosures) guarantees the following when used as intended according to manufacturer instructions:
– Ingress of water in harmful quantity shall not be possible when the iNo Scout is submerged in up to 1m of water
– Complete protection against ingress of dust upon contact

The iNO Scout is a dedicated factory-built model for users who need an original non-camera smartphone and who cannot accept phone models that are camera-removed.
In addition, the iNO Scout would likely never be upgradable to Android 4.4 Kitkat.

Comparing the iNo 2 vs iNo Scout

In terms of hardware specifications, it uses the slightly older Mediatek processor as compared to the Ino 2, screen size is also smaller by 0.3 inches, which is about 7.5% smaller. If your weekend phone is a Galaxy Note 3 or a LG G Pro 2, then you would probably feel like you need to squint on a 4″ phone. Don’t expect fantastic resolutions either, with it only having a 854 x 480 screen.

Read more on our opinions and testing of the iNo 2 here.

Personally, the iNo Scout is overkill. Especially at the price of $388 with even crappier specs than the iNo 2. I wouldn’t want to be caught in public using the iNo Scout and maybe that’s the intended market. With so many new budget Android phones coming in the market such as the ZenFone and the XiaoMi with cheaper and specs that trump the iNo models, iNo is really stagnating and milking the military market for all its worth. It is only too bad that the cheaper, faster, better quality budget phones all come with a camera.

The good thing is MINDEF at least is progressing and the new Green/Red Camera zones definitely helps out the military folks and gives them a little more options. If you really need a no-camera phone, well I will go for the iNo 2 instead of the scout and invest in a hardier case. I think the Sony Xperia SP range of cases may fit it thanks to the close approximation of size.