The XP2 Spirit is a 3G-enabled cellphone designed to be fully rugged and yet still sporting a decent range of features.

First up, it’s octagonal (not equilateral, that would look rather odd) which is supposed to help it stand up better to being dropped.

It’s also waterproof, having an outer shell made from hardened rubber, fibre glass and nylon, and a GORE-TEX covered speaker.

Other features include a 3MP camera, two inch high-resolution (QVGA) display (with 1.5mm of Gorilla glass protection), JAVA application support, multimedia player, FM radio, email and web browser, Bluetooth but no Wi-Fi. It runs on the BREW operating system.

If rugged really is your thing (I’d personally rather stick a case on a better smartphone, but each to their own) then it will be available in Europe from next month.

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A recent survey by Vodafone found that one in five Brits have missed an important event or occasion because of a lack of signal, while one in fifty would even consider moving house to get a better cellphone signal indoors.

Many people now rely on their mobile phone, with some no longer having a fixed line phone.

For anyone who craves a better indoor signal, Vodafone has launched its Sure Signal box. Simply put, it plugs into a home broadband line and then allows up to four mobile phones to be used at once (32 can be registered to a single box).

Even those who can get an EDGE signal may not be able to access the high speed 3G network, so Sure Signal also improves speed.

A one-off payment from £50 (about $80) gets Vodafone customers the box, which is about the same size as the average home router.

Sure Signal

Following the tragedy of the Haiti earthquake, many are looking for efficient ways of donating money to help with international rescue and relief efforts, and one of the quickest ways of doing so is via your mobile phone.

In our technological age, gone are the days of having to send checks in the post or visit a bank branch to make a donation. Simply by sending a SMS text message to a short code provided by many mobile phone operators around the globe, a fixed donation can be made to charities or overseeing agencies (such as the Disasters Emergency Committee in the UK).

Of course, there are also a range of web sites that are taking donations, but you must make absolutely sure that you’re visiting a legitimate site, because unfortunately there’s bound to be some low-life scum floating around trying to scam people into giving money to them instead of those who desperately need it.

The advantage of donating via mobile is that it’s now even more immediate for many people than going online and dealing with credit cards or bank details. Especially for those on contracts, the donation is simply billed on your statement.

The advantage of donating via the web, and providing your contact details directly to the charity, is that some countries offer tax incentives whereby your donation is increased by the government.

Either way, it’s quick and makes a difference.

In the US, you can text HAITI to 90999 (any carrier) and a $10 donation will be sent to the Red Cross.

Other websites accepting donations in the US include:

• American Red Cross
• Mercy Corps
• Unicef
• AmeriCares
• Yele Haiti
• Doctors Without Borders
• Food for the Hungry
• International Medical Corps
• Save the Children
• Salvation Army USA
• Islamic Relief USA
• International Organization for Migration
• Merlin USA
• Oxfam USA

A simple search for Haiti donation will bring up other results for where you are. Just be careful to check out the site to make sure it’s legitimate first.

Yes, it’s a much more closed system than the likes of Android, for example, but an iPhone user’s experience of purchasing apps via iTunes, either from the phone or on a Mac or PC, has still been much better than many other systems.

What has let the side down is the quality of apps available in the Store, made worse by the sheer quantity of them.

New analysis from the Facebook mobile app store Mplayit has found that consumers don’t really care how many apps a certain platform has, but what they are and whether they’ll fulfil a certain need.

‘How many apps?’ is the wrong question,” said Michael Powers, CEO and founder of Mplayit. “People just want to get the job done. It doesn’t matter if there are 50 different to-do list apps on iPhone, because Android or BlackBerry just need a couple of good ones to make consumers happy.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, apps that can work across various platforms tended to do particularly well in the popularity stakes, with top apps including Evernote (Lists and Notes category) and Pandora Radio (music category).

mPlay it, which uses Facebook to display a range of applications available on each smartphone platform, is aiming at those people who may wish to switch mobile platform without giving up their favourite types of application.

It seems many consumers just want to do a few things on their phone, and to do them well. Sure, us geeks probably tend to examine every aspect of a phone and its software, but the masses maybe care rather less.

Apple may try to convince the general population that there’s an app for just about anything on the iPhone, but most just aren’t after that many.

The handset itself is still pretty important. I’ve used similar apps on an iPhone and a BlackBerry, and let me tell you the BB experience was horrendous. That’s why manufacturers need to ensure their hardware and interface is as good as it can be so users get a good app experience.

Yeah, it is. That is until they’ve let BBC reporter Dan Simmons test it out.

FAIL! Four hits to an aquarium and no more!? Now give the guy the phone! I don’t think he’ll accept it though, your product is awful.

I know that the competition for attention at CES is fierce but marketing your product as “unbreakable” and eventually breaking only leads to an evening, or rather, a lifetime of shame. Makes me think how they test their products. Maybe they throw thousands of marshmallows at it or they hammer it with a feather. Hmm…

On another note, I wonder who the manufacturer of the aquarium is, looks like it’s sturdy enough to withstand four hits from an “unbreakable” phone. Anyone know? I need it quick, my Piranhas are getting restless.

HTC tend to make some fairly decent cellphone handsets for those who haven’t gone Apple and aren’t looking towards the Nexus One or some other Android phone, and Smartä is intended to be a new class of smartphone.

Looks are pretty much as you’d expect from HTC of late. You get HTC Sense which is supposed to be an intuitive user experience. What this means in reality is that general voice, text and email communication plus social networking are easy to access, and it’s also possible to customise the UI to the user’s liking.

The Smart phone uses the Qualcomm Brew mobile platform which is supposed to ensure lower cost phones with advanced features.

It features a 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch screen, 3MP camera with flash and focus, wide range of audio and video support, Bluetooth and microSD expansion.

HTC is certainly doing quite a big push in the UK at the moment (by this, I mean I’ve seen some TV ads for it). Will it be able to muscle its way to popularity amidst Google’s mobile phone vision, the iPhone and the continued might of the likes of Nokia? Time will tell.

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First up, it’s a stand for your mobile phone. It uses a high-tech rubber sticky surface that holds your cellphone in place yet leaves no marks on the handset.

It comes with multiple charger tips so, no matter what brand of cellphone you have, you can recharge the battery.

There are also two USB ports and four card reader slots, so you can transfer data and charge or use all your USB gadgets as well.

It’s all powered via USB, and if you want to use it on mains power instead you simply need to use a USB mains adapter.

At just £14.99 (about $25) it’s a decent little gizmo for keeping things tidy on your desk.

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A survey by a leading UK mobile phone price comparison site has revealed Brits’ top ten blunders.

How many of these have you been caught out by?

1. Embarrassing ringtones in public places (85%)

Who hasn’t set their phone to the most irritating ring tone possible and then have it ring at the most inappropriate time?

Oh wait. Me. Ha ha.

Really, no sympathy at all for anyone who voluntarily put a daft song or sound on their phone.

2. Phone ringing in inappropriate situations (58%)

Well, that’s what the “silent” setting is for, yet it seems a lot of people are still unable to use it.

Again, no sympathy for getting the evil eye from the crowd / your boss / the vicar conducting the funeral.

3. Regrettable drunken phone calls (52%)

Really, your phone should be confiscated when you’re drunk, because you just know you’re going to make a call to an ex, or your boss, or wake a mate up at three in the morning with your drunken gibbering.

4. Mistaken identity – Texting the wrong person (49%)

Unless you’re drunk, you really ought to know how to select someone from your phone’s address book.

5. Leaving a voicemail on wrong answer phone (41%)

What are you, stupid?

6. Being on loudspeaker without realising (30%)

How you “don’t realise” is beyond me. The clue’s in the name. “LOUD SPEAKER”.

7. Saucy pictures ending up in the wrong hands (28%)

Why have you been taking naughty pics on your mobile phone anyway? Don’t you know the quality is most likely terrible? Plus, now your mum knows what your latest GF looks like in the buff. Smart.

8. Mobile ringing when already pretending to be on the phone (22%)

Oh yeah, I bet you thought you looked so cool pretending, didn’t you?

At least it’s a real phone, I guess. Mind you, if you’re this sad, the person ringing is probably a telesales rep.

9. Text-jacking – Friends sending inappropriate things from your phone (20%)

Didn’t you set a pass code?

10. Calling someone without realising and gossiping about them (19%)

Now this is funny. Really. I’m sure the other person has a good sense of humour anyway, and won’t hate you, punch you the next time they see you and then never talk to you again.

So what’s your most embarrassing cellphone moment?

Oh… rumors have said that this service will be available in a few hours… so watch out for it!