Most if not all of us carry cell phones and I'm not exception. Ever since I read Doug's EDC list which gives some very good reasons to carry a cell phone for emergency use I've mourned the loss of my last smartphone even more (import phone = no warranty)

Over the weekend I ordered a new Blackberry with a built in GPS (2nd gen. Pearl) thinking that between the SMS, email, GPS, and camera it should be the ultimate phone for this use...until I realized the big drawback...durability.

It seems that the fancier and more expensive the phone, the less abuse it can take. This is not a universal rule and there a few ultra rugged exceptions to the rule which cannot be ignored. Now I've gone through several phones over the years (more than 1 a year since 1995) and I've lost phones to droppage, toilets, rain, vehicles, garbage cans, and the big one...obsolescence.

The way I look at it how can the phone be of any help if it won't survive the situation you're in where you need it? With this in mind I've been trying to find a durable, waterproof case for this new phone that isn't so beefy I'll be carrying around a Pelican case in my pocket (I own several waterproof pda cases but both are enormous monstrosities).

Last year I heard about this product:
http://www.skins-mobile.com/main.html
Which is basically a phone condom and I'm tempted to try it out.

Do any of you have solutions/tricks/tips or know of products which could help prolong the life of my new phone so I'll need it when I need it most? The plan is to keep the phone tucked away safely except when I need it and make full use of bluetooth products so I'm not pulling it out every 45 seconds (which is hard for a Blackberry user not to do).

I was just doing some more searching.

Anybody familiar with these products?

http://www.aquapac.net

I have one of these and it has served me well. If you don't have a flip phone you don't need to take it out of the bag. http://www.nbcanoe.com

I've been wanting to waterproof my phone since I fell in the river a few years back. The whole experience was an eye opener for me. One slip of the foot and half my gear broke or stopped functioning. I was still a pretty faithful user of paper matches until they dissolved inside my pocket. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't already had a fire going.

My cell phone stopped functioning for a couple days. I cracked it open to dry out, and then recharged it. It was good as new. I don't really like the idea of those thick plastic bags for my cell. Plus they wouldn't be practical at all now that I've changed to a flip phone.

That skins thing looks interesting. Although I don't know if I could live with people asking why phone is inside of a condom (I'm wondering if it is in fact a colored condom). I think they would work with my flip phone too. Just place a rubber band around the hinge to hold the bag in place.

Photos would be out of the question. I wonder if they come in a clear?

I just bought a durable phone from the start, that way I didn't have to worry about it.

Verizon has two awesome phones made for taking abuse, the G'zOne Type-V and Type-S.

Here's a review of the bigger one:

http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/utstarcom-g-zone-type/4505-6454_7-32126761.html?tag=also


Both are great, as far as cell phones go they're very hard to kill.

Those skins things look waterproof but I would question their durability. As you phone may rub against other stuff in a pocket or pouch I wonder if they would puncture easily?? Once you skin had a hole in it then it would only hold water inside. I paid a 27 bucks for my cell dry bag and it works great but IMHO for the price, and for durability an ordinary small Ziploc freezer bag would do the same job.

One other thing I just thought about, is that you would need a new skin every time you want to charge your phone, unless you get really good at untying that knot. That could get real expensive real quick.

I was tempted to buy a G'zOne but no carriers offer them up here so I'd have paid a ton for it...the blackberry was free with a contract renewal.

Taurus: The skins are apparently as fragile as the more common kind. When they came out I saw a video from a tech show where they had girls in a hot tub making phone calls to show it off. One of the condoms broke and the poor girl wrecked the phone and apparently got no end of ribbing about broken condoms for the rest of the weekend.

hamilton makes an excellent point...no charging...and no camera...and no access to the memory card...and no jog wheel...and no track ball!!! Holy...that's not usable at all with a Blackberry! That must be why they sell them in packs of 6 or 12...quite the scam they have. I bet they're not reusable either...or ribbed for my pleasure!

http://www.otterbox.com/products/smart_phones/blackberry_1934_case/

It's for the 8100 and not the 8130 Pearl AND it's not completely waterproof but this case looks SOLID!

I've always liked Otterbox products...looks like they make them for many models of phone and pda.

IHMO the biggest problem with smart phones is durability when dropped. Something extra for a case is needed to take the initial impact of a drop.

I tried the Otterbox for my Treo 650. It makes the package much bulkier, diminishes the sound quality for both parties, and hinders the usefulness of the touchscreen by making hampering the touchscreen near the edges.

It does provide good drop protection. I used it for about 3 months and finally decided I didn't like it for the functional reasons I described.

I am now onto the next generation treo phone, so I am looking for a better solution too.

The Otterbox is the best PDA protection available. Just get used to a bluetooth headset for sound clarity. And look for an alternative software not using the edges of the screen. There is no other good enough solution to the problems you've described. Except the specially designed phone models.

In my case touch screen problems aren't a problem...it's a blackberry.

I'm going to order the Otterbox defender for the 8130 when it comes out in the new year. I made some calls and apparently the mic and speaker holes have been specially acoustically improved...designed by some company who specializes in such things. I'll have to order straight from Otterbox though. None of the local carriers bring them in. The phone models change so fast they always end up getting stuck with old stock they can't move.

Bluetooth is something I use all the time anyhow. I have a Parrot 3600 kit in the car and several Bluetooth earpieces. Thinking about picking up the X2(?) waterproof model too.

Ah, well. One of the things I love about my new smartphone is its (relatively) small size. It's small enough that it lives in my trouser pocket and goes everywhere with me. My previous phone was small enough in theory, but in practice I'd put it on my desk at work and leave it on a table when at home.

So my current phone is right on the edge, and I think wrapping any kind of case around it would make it too big. I'd rather have it on me all the time than secure but elsewhere. Also, I've never lost a phone to breakage (I had my previous one for nearly 4 years). If it's in my pocket, anything which breaks it is likely to break me too. If I am venturing into hazardous environments I'll probably move it into a waist pack.

(If anyone's interested, the previous phone is a Sony Ericsson P900 and the current one an SE P1.)

I've opted for the Ziploc freezer bag approach.

You can't use the phone while it's in the bag, but it keeps it safe. I've actually made a custom-sized bag specifically for my phone using a vac sealer so that it doesn't take up excessive space. Inexpensive and fairly durable too.

Make a pouch out of several layers of bubble wrap. Slip the phone in and slide the pouch into a dry sack. To have all the angles covered you could stuff in a spare battery, charger unit, Sidewinder manual power unit and auxiliary antenna if your phone can use one.

A dedicated Pelican box with cubed foam as padding would also work.

When selecting a phone for emergency use lean for a combination of reception and battery life. Stay away from features that consume excessive power like large color displays and cameras.

The ability to send text messages, I think most phones have this, is useful and can sometimes get through when a voice connection won't.

You might want to look into the Aquapac cases. You can still use the phone while it is inside these, and they are a whole lot more durable than a Ziploc (even the freezer bags)… especially the opening/closing mechanism. I believe they even have some that will work for clamshell/flip phones.

It would be nice to have a phone just for emergency use...I will only have one phone for all uses...including the office so home brew bubble wrap protection might not be appropriate. If I need protection that bad I have pelican cases or will buy an Aquapac case. I'm more concerned about the fall into a toilet or the rainstorm I get ride home in.

Good post with valid questions...

My quest for a durable water resistant phone is due to my work with the Candian Coast Guard Aux. Most new phones are very easily killed by water. I've even killed a phone inside a drysuit due to moisture build up inside.

I've used the OMNIseal pouches and they work well for Razors and the like. Good protection, but no funtionality obviously when inside. These are the pouches that the small AMK kits come in.

The Casio phones are great and the older version actually meets some pretty good Mil specs. They can only be used on Verizon network however. Maybe in the future, with Verizon's announcement of opening up their network, we might see a version with greater compatability with other networks.

Most "Candy bar" phones are inherently more durable than flip phones from an over use, dropped it on the deck again, point of view.

The phone I am using now, and have yet to kill (touch wood) is a Nokia 5500. It's doesn't meet any Milspecs but is very well built and protected. It is also a full featured "Smart Phone" with all the stuff you want from a blackberry and the like. The trade off is that to be small and durable it has a small screen though.
There is a Russian cell phone test site that torture tests phone and it did very well. Also on YouTube there is a video of it funtioning in a pint of beer.

If you don't need a smart phone, Siemens makes some durable phones (M71, M81)
Older Nokias like the 5140 are very durable and can even have a GPS module tacked onto it.

My thoughts are generally worth exactly what you've paid for them.

Jenks

Well you can get a G'Zone hardened phone. Or just pack your phone in tupperware for a moderate level of protection

teacher

I looked at the ruggedized phones but they're hard to come by and most of them run on the iDen/Mike networks only which limits things somewhat.

I think a combination of the Otterbox defender and an Aquapac bag (or similar) is the best combination factoring budget, style, protection, and not looking like a freak at the office.

Hey,

I used an old Audiovox "candy bay" type phone for many years and found it to be very tough even though it was not rated as such. It got wet on many occassions and once ended up in the lake but I would just take it apart, dry it with a hairdryer and put it back together, no problem. It was dropped 1000's of times in the 6 years I carried it; eventually the #9 key would not work and my co-worker became frustrated with it and pounded it into the dashboard of the truck, cracking the display screen and ending its life.

I searched the internet and wanted to purchase a Motorola
i-580 but they would not function in Northern Ontario so I ended up buying a Sanyo 7050, it is mil-spec rated for shock/dust/vib. but not for water. This phone seems tough but I am not impressed with the sound quality.

Mike