Digital cameras are a fantastic innovation. There are waterproof ones, ones designed to take a beating, even airtight ones to protect against dust and air contaminants. But who wants a different camera when snorkeling as opposed to mountain biking?

Panasonic has released the Lumix TS1 digital camera. This rugged piece of picture taking power is waterproof to 10 feet, airtight to keep out dust, shockproof with drops under 5 feet, and has reinforced glass and carbon resin components.

When I say beast I do not mean in looks (like the iPhone), in functionality (like the G1) or low cost (like the Motorola Dyna 8000X). I’m talking about the height of practicality, a phone designed to suffer the falls, scratches and splashes that your average Joe phone would break merely looking at. This phone is not about looks, being small, or taking high resolution photos: it is the sort of phone you would expect to see on a building site, or on the top of a mountain. Let me introduce the Sonim XP3.