mobile phones -- any recommendations for hardy (drop-proof) numbers?

[Lorien]

Not quite a mumsnet topic, but I'm hoping some of you might have recommendations for a new mobile phone. The main criteria that I have are that
1: It should survive when ds drops it on the floor or hurls it across the room.
2: If poss it should have a digital camera and look at least a little groovy.
I had a good Siemens phone before but its now discontinued. And the Nokias that I've had don't seem very sturdy. Has anyone tried Samsung? Or Mitsubishi?

hi lorien

doubt any phones would survive hurling across the room but i would avoid the flip style phones for that reason i think

i'm a nokia devotee, but apparently motorola are the best quality

the best price i've come across is on the new 3 phones - £25 a month for 17trillion free any time any network minutes and a choice of three 3G phones with camera/video

Well I can only go from experience but I've had a Nokia 3330 for ages and I've dropped it countless times and it's always survived perfectly. A s**t case I bought for it broke but the phone itself and the 'official' covers have always been fine.

My DH once threw it REALLY hard across the room when we were having an argument (I was in another room - wasn't thrown at me) and one side of the cover came off but nothing was damaged or broken.

That's why I still haven't got a new phone even though I want one, because I just haven't seen any more that look sturdy enough for me. Even the other Nokias look more fragile than the 3310/3330's.

Lorien, DS1 has the Nokia 5210 - details here - it is drop-proof, chuck-proof and water-proof (that bit v important to us as he dropped his first phone in the loo!)
It has a rubber outer casing - seems pretty tough so far!
(Just noticed it says splash-proof rather than water-proof...hope this one doesn't go in the loo too...)

Oh - sorry - didn't notice the camera requirement...never mind!

janh, it's nice to know my dh isn't the only one that does this. He's lost TWO phones down the loo. You'd think they'd learn wouldn't you. The good thing is that I then pass my handset on to him and I get a more upto date one. He's too embarassed about wrecking his phone in such a stupid way to argue

LOL, kayleigh - it's reassuring to know they don't always miss!

Lorien, just came across this one via the AOL home page:

sony with attachable camera

It is a flip phone, but FWIW DD2 has a small flip phone, she dropped it when I was with her the other day and it fell apart, I was alarmed to put it mildly but she just said "oh, it always does that" and put it back together...don't know what make hers is though.

Thanks for all the advice. That Nokia 5210 look good, with its bright orange casing. Of course, its now discontinued according to the Nokia store here (I live in Malaysia). ANyway, I'll hit the shops this afternoon and see what I come up with...

My dh ( a builder) has the 5210. Unfortunately it's not builder proof. He somehow has managed to break the face of his, despite the rubbery casing. I noticed another drop proof one in a store recently, but don't know the model number. Maybe it's the replacement for the 5210.