Help with Selecting Tri-Band Mobile
 

I need some help choosing to buy, at retail, a relatively cheap (i.e. around the 100 euro mark or less) tri-band phone for use in Europe, Africa and USA.

My last two super-chic and cool mobile phones have both gone bust, one because I was thrown in a fountain and the most recent because the screen cracked. Since my current contract is a "sim only" variety, I cannot replace the phone except by buying one at retail price. I do not relish spending hundreds and hundreds on yet another fragile and delicate mobile device.

So I am currently using my oldest (but most reliable) tri-band phone: Motorola Timeport. It has gone through hell and back, but is beginning to show its age (four years young) and is annoying to write SMS messages on. And let's face it, it is so uncool!!! :p

Friends recommend Sony Ericsson for their reliability and ruggedness (one friend washed her T290i at 40 celcius for 2 hours and it still works perfectly). So I was thinking maybe a J200i that is a tri-band, and seems fairly cheap, but has all the basics I need (decent phone book, vibrate etc.).

I do not need all the bells and whisles. I have perfectly good cameras and an iPod, so just a basic phone with some limited advance functions is good enough.

Any advice on this matter? Thanks so much!