Technology: Foolproof phones are making a splash

I am a phone loser. I have said it loud and not-so-proud on these pages before. Seven handsets have slipped through my fingers – I swear they're like eels – this past two years alone. Lost, smashed, stolen, left unattended on an bus... the list goes on.

My mum blames my small-pocketed skinny jeans; I blame a busy life. And my insurance company just sighs and makes me fill in Bible-sized forms.

Thanks to this lack of luck with mobiles, two new phones unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas drew me like filings to a magnet. Sony's Xperia Z handset doesn't just have a 5in HD display, 13 mega-pixel camera and NFC chip, it can also be dropped down the loo – and left there – and will still come out working.

At the other end of the spectrum is a mobile made by Spare-One. As its name suggests it is a "spare or emergency" phone, which runs for 10 hours off a single AA battery, which makes it ideal for use in disaster zones, on holiday or indeed taking to Glastonbury, so you don't lose your £400 smartphone (hangs head in shame).

Still not convinced either are tough or simple or cheap enough for you? Check out JCB's Sitemaster which claims to be dust-, water- and even boot-proof. Now that's a phone I can do business with.