ADAM HARVEYrounds up the latest travel gadgets
It’s difficult to evaluate some product claims. We’ll have to take it on face value, for example, that an AvaLung backpack gives 10 minutes of air to skiers caught under an avalanche. The Samsung Solid Extreme phone (from Vodafone, O2, Carphone Warehouse, 3G Mobile, €99 on prepay), however, is an easier test. First drop it in a glass of water. Then throw it high in the air and watch it thunk hard on the ground. Then make a phone call. It still works. The display is a bit old school, but graphics aren’t the selling point of this hard-as-nails phone. It’s built for action: a super-loud speaker, so you can hear it if you’re rattling down the hill on a mountain bike, noise-cancelling technology, non-slip rubber grip, even a bright LED torch.
Unlike my the shattered screen of my old Apple MacBook, the Panasonic Toughbook F8 (above, $2,600, www.panasonic. com) will survive a one-metre drop. It’ll live through a coffee spill and has a good chance of emerging unscathed from the baggage carousel. The real selling point, though, is the built-in 3G broadband – meaning you could connect to the internet from the top of Lugnaquillia, should you wish.
The titanium Spork (above, €20 from Great Outdoors, Chatham Street, Dublin) won’t make a call or connect to the internet – but the knife, fork and spoon combo will outlast you and me. It might even be here when we emerge from this recession.