I'M ALWAYS LOOKING for rugged technology and think the Sony Ericsson Xperia Active will set the bar above any other mobile phone I've used.
It's powered by Android 2.3 on a 1 GHz processor, has a three-inch touchscreen display and offers greater water, dust and scratch-resistance than any multimedia device I have owned. It snaps 5 Mp images--good quality but way below the superb Xperia Arc's optics. Its on-board memory (512MB RAM, 320MB internal memory and expendable memory support micro SD card slot) is fine for what I do with a phone but people with 100 apps in their lives could encounter the "force-close" message on account of the system memory of the Xperia Active. I have several Sony accesories so the Xperia Active's DLNA, proper Bluetooth (not the neutered Apple version) and industry-standard 3.5 mm jack will let me use all that kit for another five years.
Watch on http://youtu.be/2a0KEBx33qY or look at the specs.