I am fed up of mobiles being a delicate as a flower and die at the sight of a drop of rain, or get dust under the screen from being in your pocket.

I currently have a Sony C702 which is dubbed as a 'rugged' phone as to be fair is quite good at the rugged bit, but terrible at the phone bit – keys are too damn small for texting.

I used to have the old nokia rugged phones which were great, but time has moved on and was wondering if the great knowledge of STW can recommend me a new phone. It doesn't need to be sold as a rugged phone, but one that can survive real-world use would be great.

Suggestions?

I got a Samsung b2700 which does the trick. Been dropped in mud, in puddles and still works a treat

http://www.prepaymania.co.uk/mobilephone/samsung-b2700-unlocked.html?base

My iPhone sits in my pocket without a case or any protection other than a back-up battery sometimes and it's survived with just a few slight scratches for eighteen months, the only actual damage is the loss of a little bit of the rear case around the headphone socket when I dropped it with the 'phones in and knocked the plug hard, cracking the plastic. Phones actually came off worse, with an internal wire breaking, but Ultimate Ears replaced them after fourteen months, and everything still works just fine. The new 4G phone coming next month is flat front and back with toughened glass panels fitted to an aluminium frame, so damaging the phone should be much more difficult, especially around the headphone socket. Not a 'robust' phone, perhaps, but tough enough for most purposes. And fingerprints just wipe off with your t-shirt, you don't need fancy screen protectors, they're a waste of money with a glass screen.

Like the idea of an iPhone, just can't stump up the cash.