Guys can be tough on their gadgets - mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras, camcorders … they all take a pounding. So invest in a super-macho pressie for Father’s Day. Here’s our pick of the 10 best tech toughies.

1. Sonim XP3 Quest Pro phone  pictured left (around $450) The`extreme’ XP3 can be dunked in a metre of water for 30 mins, hit a concrete floor from 2 metres, still chats in -20C up to +55 C for 18 hours of talk time. Gorilla Glass display, 2mp camera with LED flash, Bluetooth.

2. Kodak PlaySport ZX5 pocket camcorder ($249 RRP) It’s the Terminator of pocket cams, resistant to rain, snow, sand and dirt. It’s OK in the filming stakes too, capturing video at 1080p HD, with on-board editing, 2″ screen, instant Share button and 32GB storage via SDHC card. Find more sports and outdoor gear for dads on Lasoo.

3. Samsung B2700 phone (around$150) Shock-proof case protects from water, dirt, dust and even being run over by a car. Torch, compass, pedometer/altimeter are great for sporty guys - clumsy ones love the unbreakability plus 3G, 2mp camera, FM radio, media player and RSS. Find more sports and outdoor gear for dads on Lasoo.

4. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT3 camera ($549 RRP) Tough and clever, the DMC-FT3, with its 12mp, 4.6x optical zoom, HD video shooting and 3D mode, can be taken up to 12m down into the drink, dropped in the sand and survive a fall of 2m. Find more sports and outdoor gear for dads on Lasoo.

5. Dell Latitude E6420 laptop (around $1,500) This amoured laptop will take any rough treatment - even the airport scanner. On the hardware front, there’s a quad Core  processor, 4GB DDR SDRAM and shock-mounted 80GB drive. Find more electronics gear for dads on Lasoo.

6. Olympus Tough Quiksilver waterproof camera ($449 RRP) From the barrel of a big wave to a mountain top, all thrills are captured with`limited edition’ Quiksilver. Waterproof, shockproof, freezeproof, dustproof, this 14mp, 5x optical zoom camera captures high-quality photos and HD movies. Find more sports and outdoor gear for dads on Lasoo.

7. Lenovo ThinkPad T Series laptop (from $1,899 RRP) Baked, battered, blistered by the elements, the T Series meets military specs and is built for any rugged computing. ThinkPad tablets are launching soon. Find more electronics gear for dads on Lasoo.

8. Pentax Optio WS80 waterproof camera (around $100) Jump into 1.5m of seawater with this 10mp, 5x optical zoom camera - the 2.7″ LCD screen and HD video make great underwater movies. Find more sports and outdoor gear for dads on Lasoo.

9. LaCie Rugged Triple USB (from $179 RRP) Super-safe storage in a scratch-resist case, anti-shock absorbers mean you can drop from 2m, plus a rubber bumper protects your files. Find more electronics gear for dads on Lasoo.

10.Panasonic Toughbook CF-H1F tablet PC Slate tablet PC made for the harshest conditions. Weighing in at just 1.5 kg, the CF-H1F is light enough to take anywhere and even the most intense environments are no match for this durable Toughbook. But it’s very expensive! Find more electronics gear for dads on Lasoo.

Find more electronics gear for dads on Lasoo.

It’s a really great, fun phone to own, a new kid on the block that’s changing the elite smartphone into a `socialphone’ geared up for Facebook fans!

The iNQ Cloud Touch is a must-have if you just can’t leave Facebook alone. In fact, the makers of the Touch reckon Facebook is in its DNA - totally integrated, it can’t live without it! A bit like its users …

But back to the basics, not only does the Cloud Touch have a homescreen Facebook newsfeed (including YouTube clips and text), the interface is so well designed that just one tap and you’re where you want to be - to your People, Events, Notifications and Places apps (all 4 neatly menued at the top of your screen).

Facebook Chat means you can do just that, all the time - chat with friends via your data plan or Wi-Fi. And the People app lists all important friends together - so they don’t mix up with just acquaintances.

Your Cloud Touch’s camera jumps into action straight from your homescreen so you don’t miss a pose or a pic, and the menus, options and settings are just as easy to find; you’re one-click away from setting your alarm, or turning your phone to silent when the need arises.

And last but never least - if spelling isn’t your strength (don’t worry, you’ve got lots of others!), then the Touch works magic with iNQ type. It’s software on your side - correcting spelling mistakes and making educated guesses about what your next words might just be. Very useful - especially as it’s a learning system, so the more you text, the more it accurately second-guesses you!

The iNQ Cloud Touch is a budget-priced Android smartphone.

Find more smartphones on Lasoo.

Nicknamed the`PlayStation smartphone’, the long-awaited Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY will be in stores very soon.

It’s the first ever PlayStation-certified Android smartphone, complete with the full experience of mobile game playing - with real gaming controls. Pre-loaded with up to seven games, you can play with more than one player and access thousands of games from a quickly-growing list being developed (for the Xperia PLAY) by the world’s top publishers, including PlayStation.

The Xperia PLAY runs on Gingerbread (Android 2.3 - fastest version yet) so it supports all the usual Google apps you might want to download (100,000 available already). Keep checking Android Market where you’ll see all the latest apps and games released.

Tech reviewers, who have had a preview play with Xperia PLAY, report that the colours on the display are vibrant with very watchable gaming graphics. This is down to the 4″ capacitive, multi-touch display screen, with 854×480-pixel resolution and 16 million colours.

You slide out the controls - there are two round touch pads and a set of shoulder gaming controls - and off you go. Get behind the wheel of a racing car, or jump straight into a street fight. Sony Ericsson will also have an online store where you’ll be able to buy games, and the phone is programmed to display each game’s title in the main menu.

When it comes to the phone, you get the best of Gingerbread -  a new text selection tool, Wi-Fi hot spot and new options in the Settings menu. Pinch your fingers across the screen and see all five home screens displayed. Plus, if you think that very funny moment you just caught on video deserves a wider audience then you upload straight to YouTube, straight from your phone.

The Xperia PLAY is powered by 1GHz Snapdragon and the powerful Adreno 205 graphical processor optimised for advanced gaming. It has a 5 mega-pixel camera, Bluetooth, a personal organiser, speakerphone, assisted GPS, messaging and email, plus 400MB internal memory.

Find more games and gaming consoles on Lasoo.

Tech reviewers are pretty impressed with the Galaxy Tab - the new Android tablet computer from Samsung that launched late 2010. The Tab has sold well over 1 million units and earned its name as a `formidable iPad foe’ - mostly because of the `media hub’ app which allows you to download a huge library of movies and even TV episodes the day after they’re shown (Samsung has ties with Universal Studios, MTV networks, NBC and Paramount). You can, of course, carry every book, magazine or newspaper you want to read with you as well.

Another big plus for the Galaxy Tab is its plastic frame which brings the tablet in weighing only 380g (half the weight of the Apple iPad). It also has a 7″ TFT LCD touch screen - not the AMOLED screen used by the rest of the Galaxy S phones. At first this was seen as a negative for the new tablet, but the general consensus seems to be that the screen is still pretty good looking. It has SWVGA resolution (1024×600 pixels) which looks crisp, and the colour, brightness and viewing angle are all excellent. This smaller 7″ screen also helped the Galaxy Tab to enter as a lightweight into the tablet market - but the screen is still perfectly OK for reading anything, composing emails, surfing the net and using most apps. Equally importantly, the touch screen is also very responsive.

The Galaxy Tab runs on the latest version of Google’s Android OS, which gives it yet another advantage over the iPad - you can use the tablet as a large mobile phone when you attached a Bluetooth earpiece (or you can use it without the earpiece and let everyone in on your conversation!).  The front facing 1.3 megapixel camera turns your voice call into a video-call - great for business meetings, plus there’s also a 3.2 megapixel rear camera for everyday family and friends photography, with an LED flash. The tablet is also compatible with Flash video and games which means you can easily access the vast majority of videos and animation online. 

Samsung Galaxy Tab $49.00 Data+ Cap Plan For 24 Months + MRO from Leading Telecoms on Lasoo.

If there were any doubts remaining that the Android platform has the potential to take it to the iPhone, they should be dispelled by the new HTC Desire HD

For the Desire HD is truly a wonderful phone and is without doubt the best Android handset we’ve seen to date - in all aspects of features, specifications and performance. It boasts an impressive 1GHz Snapdragon processor with 768MB of RAM and 1.5GB of on-board memory, all of which combine to offer the smoothest performance we’ve seen yet. It easily surpasses the original HTC Desire handset, which is already a fairly decent phone in itself.

HTC has also upgraded the Desire HD’s screen size. This time around, it clocks in at 4.7 inches, a full inch bigger than its predecessor. Unfortunately, the AMOLED screen has been swapped out for an LCD screen, which has a minor impact on the quality of the display. For most people, this won’t be too significant. Photos taken on the 8-megapixel camera still look very good.

One major feature worth mentioning is the inclusion of DLNA media sharing functionality, allowing you to stream media content from compatible devices, such as TVs and the PS3. Unfortunately this feature still seems to be a bit buggy at this stage. No doubt this is something HTC will be working on going forward.

Then, of course, there is HTC’s proprietary Sense user interface, which has really become the class-leading Android UI, thanks to its flexibility and usability. The version of the software included in the Desire HD allows greater personalisation than ever before and comes with built-in apps for various social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter.

The new HTC Desire HD Google Android phone is initially available exclusively on the Vodafone network.

Buy a cheap HTC phone on sale in Australia

For $149, the upcoming Boost Droid smartphone may be the cheapest Google Android phone to be released in Australia to date.

Of course, for $149 you shouldn’t be expecting miracles, and if you’re looking for a high-end smartphone with performance and functionality comparable to that of the iPhone, you should look elsewhere.

As the name suggests, the Boost Droid will be available exclusively in Australia through Boost Mobile. It has an emphasis on social networking features and comes with the latest Android 2.1 operating system, plus HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity and a 3-megapixel camera.

The screen is where the majority of compromises happen for cheaper smartphones, and the Boost Droid is no exception. It features a 2.6-inch resistive QVGA touchscreen, which is a significant downgrade from the likes of the iPhone and the high-end Android models. It also comes with a full QWERTY keypad and trackpad.

Included in the box is a 1GB microSD card for storing media such as music and photos.

Buy a cheap Android phone on sale in Australia

The new HTC Aria is yet another strong contender in the manufacturer’s stable of Google Android smartphones.

What differentiates the HTC Aria from the higher-end Desire and entry-level Wildfire models is its compact form - it weighs in at just 115 grams and is far more pocket-friendly than the other HTC Android phones.

However, just because it’s smaller, it doesn’t mean that the Aria packs any less of a punch. It runs on the latest Android 2.1 operating system plus HTC’s proprietary Sense user interface, which provides easy access to all your social networks. It also offers integration with Google’s most popular services, including Gmail, Maps, YouTube and more. Then, of course, there is the Android Market, where you can stock up on all your apps. Unfortunately, the number of Android apps available is still limited, but the number is growing every day.

Last but not least, the Aria is also equipped with a 3.2-inch HVGA screen and 5-megapixel camera.

The HTC Aria will be available exclusively at launch on the Optus network for $0 upfront on the $49 per month plan over 24 months.

Buy a cheap HTC phone on sale in Australia

By Caroline Warnes

Motorola’s upcoming Google Android phone, the Milestone 2, offers some significant improvements over its predecessor (imaginatively titled the Milestone).

The Motorola Milestone 2, which is due to be released overseas by the end of 2010 (Australia should follow some time in 2011), features an upgraded 1GHz TI OMAP processor, which means it will offer significantly improved performance over the original Milestone. It is also capable of shooting high-definition video.

Another improvement over the original is the upgraded QWERTY slide-out keypad. The layout of the keys is far better and makes the phone much easier to operate if you have larger fingers.

The Motorola Milestone 2 will ship with the current Android 2.2 operating system, though it’s yet to be confirmed if it will be upgradable to 3.0 when that system is released. It also comes with Motorola’s proprietary Motoblur software, which bundles social network apps such as Facebook and Twitter into one stream.

Buy a cheap Motorola phone on sale in Australia

By Caroline Warnes

Acer may not be a name you’d traditionally associate with mobile phones, but the manufacturer is hoping to change that with the new Liquid E Google Android phone.

Unfortunately, this lack of experience shows in several areas with the Acer Liquid E, especially in terms of design.

In fact, when compared to some of today’s sleeker smartphones, the Liquid E almost looks old-fashioned. Its black plastic chassis is rather staid, and not something that is likely to appeal to fashion-conscious users looking for the latest and flashiest device. Externally, it features a 3.5-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen, a mini USB port and 3.5mm headphone input.

What’s inside the Acer Liquid E is decent enough, but nothing we haven’t seen before. It runs on the Android 2.1 operating system, which Acer has dressed up with a handful of widgets and other extras. It comes with Wi-Fi (802.11b and g, but no n), A-GPS and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP. Acer has also thrown in some nice multimedia functionality, including a media player called Neoplayer and a 5-megapixel camera with no flash.

The Acer Liquid E Google Android phone can be bought outright in Australia for $699.

Buy a cheap mobile phone on sale in Australia

By Caroline Warnes

The HTC Wildfire is set to launch in Australia this week, and as expected, it’s the ultimate in budget Android phones.

It will be made available on August 24, exclusively on the Telstra network - pre-paid customers can purchase the Wildfire for $349 outright or post-paid customers can get it for $0 upfront on the $49 cap plan over 24 months.

However, naturally the lower price point will be reflected in features and performance, so don’t expect the Wildfire to be a top-notch Android phone. For starters, the screen is smaller than its predecessors, measuring in at 3.2-inches with a 240×320 QVGA display. If you have bigger fingers, this could offer some usability issues. It uses the manufacturer’s proprietary Sense user interface.

It features a 528MHz processor, which isn’t terrible, but should mean performance will be slightly slower than HTC’s other Android phones. It comes with 384MB of RAM plus a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, which is similar to the HTC Desire, as well as similar connectivity and media features.

Buy a cheap HTC phone on sale in Australia

By Caroline Warnes