SONY XPERIA Z3 COMPACT £259 (currently)

USED BY gadget-phobic staff writer Sarah Ryan USED FOR 3 years

I hate shopping for stuff like this and, more than that, I really hate waste, so after smashing my previous phone in a moment of characteristic clumsiness I started looking for another which would last. It needed long battery life for multi-day trips, to fit in a normal-sized pocket and to have a really decent camera. This fitted the bill the best with the bonus that it's also waterproof. I stuck it in a case and for two years it was great, but it’s now sadly starting to slow down and crash out. I don’t care, I’m eking this out for as long as possible. A near-perfect phone for people with no tolerance for fragile technology.