For all the convenience and security they offer, it doesn't take much to fry a cell phone.

Ever bend over to refill Fido's bowl and have your phone tumble out of your pocket and into the water? Or leave it by the edge of a pool only to have some kid come by and cannonball it into oblivion? Even accidentally dropping it onto the pavement or getting sand inside can do serious damage.

The G'zOne Boulder, a new phone from Verizon Wireless ($130 with a two-year contract), attempts to make these tragedies a thing of the past.

The Boulder is billed as a "super-rugged" phone that meets military specifications for water submersion, shock and dust resistance and a host of other nasty things. But it doesn't look like a phone that only a contractor (or a really clumsy person) would use. It has a stylish flip design that comes in silver and black or orange and black, and it only weighs about 5 ounces.

It has all the features of a mid-priced Verizon phone (including a camera, Bluetooth, text messaging and the ability to browse the Internet and download music) and some that will appeal to campers, boaters or anyone who spends a lot of time outdoors (like a flashlight, electronic compass, GPS and voice commands).

It's great for a child, people who work outside all day or the accident prone. And given all the rain and flooding Floridians have endured, it might make a nice addition to a disaster kit.

But don't buy it if you want to browse the Internet often, send and receive a lot of e-mail or perform other iPhone and BlackBerry-like tasks. Unlike those phones, the Boulder's best feature is its ability to make calls in all kinds of conditions.

This is not the only phone from one of the major carriers that is shock, water and dust resistant (Sprint has a couple of phones with these features), but it appears to be the only one that can actually be submerged in water. The Boulder is able to work underwater because its power and media card ports are protected by heavy-duty stoppers that keep the moisture out.

Before I got this phone, my Verizon contacts regaled me with all of the ways others had put it through the ringer. It was given to a kindergarten class that tried to destroy it by banging on it with plastic hammers and using it as a hockey puck. It was dropped from a helicopter onto a field. It was even strapped to the stomach of a really fat guy who ran full speed into the stomach of another sumo-like man. After all these tests, the phone survived.

So naturally I wanted to make sure I did what I could to try to destroy it.

I plopped it into a bowl of water and called it a few minutes later. The call went through and rang while the phone was still underwater.

I dropped it several times onto concrete from about seven feet up. The back of the Boulder sustained a few minor scuffs but still worked perfectly.

I ran over it with my car tire, but all that happened was it got dusty, lost a few chunks of plastic and a few buttons got pressed.

I put it in the washing machine along with my dirty clothes and I put it in the dryer by itself for about five minutes. It came out smelling nice and still worked.

And finally, because I know this is a common fate for cell phones, I dropped it into the toilet. After fishing it out (and drying it off), everything worked fine, but I think I might have to put it back in the wash before returning it to Verizon.

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How Tough?

Watch Etan Horowitz test the toughness of the G'zOne Boulder at OrlandoSentinel.com/technology

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(Etan Horowitz is the technology columnist for the Orlando Sentinel. He can be reached at ehorowitz@orlandosentinel.com.)