iPhone 5 v xCover

While I'm still a fan of the brand, I'm no longer the slave to Apple I once was. In the domain of look and feel, Apple's products remain second to none and mostly stand out far ahead of everything else in the market. That their products are the best functionally speaking is another matter, depending on perspective and requirements.

I own two Mac desktop PCs and a PowerBook all of which have performed pretty well over the years, but as my career has shifted my requirements have changed. These days I find just about any PC works fine for me. I use a computer to write program code, do basic image editing, word processing, email and web browsing. Even a cheap PDA can handle these tasks!? So any performance benefit the Mac can offer is mostly wasted on me, while style alone just doesn't cut the mustard, not at the premium Apple charges.

And when it comes to mobile phones I follow a similar trend. Currently owner of a completely rubbish phone, an LG KC550, my previous device was a Sony K800i which actually wasn't at all bad. However, I dunked the SE in a river bringing it to an untimely end. With the LG slowly dying, I'm after a new phone.

I could wait for the all singing all dancing iPhone 5 (which is hoping to steel some of Android 2.3's thunder, maybe outperform it (we'll see)) or maybe I could buy an HTC or Nexus. But do I need all that functionality (and limited battery life)? Not really! Anyway, a quick dip in the brine, or a good soaking in the river, and these, like most phones, end up in recycling! Treated the way I treat a phone before too long they'd all end up looking like a piece of jetsam (I can't stand the faff of cases and covers). So, I'm considering a basic rugged phone instead... something like the Samsung Solid Immerse GT-B2710 also known as the xCover 271.

The xCover has some good basic functionality and should take a reasonable amount of stick...