A USAF combat controller had his iPhone fall out of a sleeve pocket while jumpmastering here at FT Bragg. The phone fell 1000 feet. Guy used an app to find his phone, and amazingly it was unscathed. Fell into a pine forest w/o a scratch on it.

Usual disclaimers, my cell phone is a tracfone, pay as you go, pos.

I second paramedicpete's recommendation. I have had the Boulder from Casio for several years with no problems. It is similar to the Ravine in the link that Pete provided.

Several of my co-workers have the same phone. they are all hunters and outdoorsmen.

I've seen a lot of complaints about the new smartphone's battery life. I always carry a spare battery just in case in a waterproof holder. On the issue of durability, almost any phone can be made more rugged by an Otterbox case. They make them for lots of different models.

While smartphones such as Android based Cellphones and Iphones Are amazingly usefull the battery life does seem to be a issue with them when used to their full potential daily. One of the best ways to choose a phone I have found is going on the providers website and checking out what they sell figuring out what you may like and if it is sold in stores then going to these stores to tenderly fondle um =D! Cellphones are always designed to look pretty but when you handle them and check out their GUI/OS its always a different story. Cellphones are always constantly changing towards what looks Hip and now and rarely do they consider functionality and comfort over looks.

Motorola. My Motorola smartphone I gave to my 4 year old too use as a music player when I got a newer one (would have kept using it if it wasn't running windows mobile). Its been dropped, thrown, stepped on, hit, bit, gotten wet in bed, etc. Still was working fine when he lost it. I bought a new battery when it was around three years old. My new motorla droid, I'd dropped while riding a bicycle, its car dock has fallen off the windshield and bounced across the floor of the truck, its been smashed in my pocket wrestling around the floor with the kids. They just keep on going.

Thanks Izzy, I may have to do some thinking on the i-phone and Otterbox now.

I've got a Casio G'zOne Ravine through verizon.

If you can live without a lot of the smartphone stuff, it's great. It was designed to meet military testing standards for high altitude use, water resistance, dust resistance, salt fog resistance, solar radiation resistance, ect. Basically, you can do stuff like this with it and it will be just fine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGLJcdQiaYA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSF6pGgL2pY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=587eETWN4Us&NR=1

It also has some neat outdoor related functions; like a flashlight, compass, thermometer, tide tables, pedometer, and star chart.

Finally, I really like that it uses micro-usb as its charging connector vs. a proprietary charging connector. I just carry a little 'USB male to USB Micro male' adapter in my phone case and I can charge it from any typical computer USB port. Plus, I got the extended battery and it lasts forever.

Any new phones use microsub, thats the industry standard.

Motorola Defy

http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/XW-EN/...ROLA-DEFY-XW-EN

I have a friend who can testify that it is hot soup and sand compatible (not both on the same day).

The phone has toughened glass and is "water proof" and "dust proof"

I'm pretty happy with my G'zOne Boulder, although I have seen better battery life. Somewhere in the manual it says that if it gets dirty, just "rinse if off". I got one for my wife and I after she dropped her old phone in a cup of water and toasted it.