I went with one of the ruggedized phones (Samsung Convoy, no affiliation) in an effort to get a better build quality. It's a solid phone and reception seems to be as good as my iPhone.

Unfortunately, although it theoretically can handle email, text and web browsing, its keyboard is virtually non-existent and some characters required for my password seem to be missing so I can't even log in. The screen is small so even if it did have a great browser, reading web pages would be close to impossible. I'll give it a bit more time, then if it still doesn't work for me the Convoy will go into my GHB as a 9-1-1 back-up and I'll pay an extra $10 to bring the iPhone back as primary.

I do like some attributes of the Convoy though -- small and lightweight it carries much easier than a smartphone and is really good with battery power. Every port on the phone has a seal to keep out dust, and I'm sure it can handle rough use. It is not rated as waterproof, but the dust seals should help a bit -- light rain maybe, definitely not submerged.