When it comes to choosing a phone for your kid, or maybe your staff, if they've got a bit of a reputation for drowning, scratching or breaking them, you might be reluctant to spend too much on a replacement.

That said, you still want a phone that works. It needs good battery life, decent cameras and enough storage and power to do the job - whatever the job happens to be.

So it's tricky... Features like water resistance and toughened screens don't come cheap.

Unless they become the priority, of course.

The Oppo A5 Pro 5G might just be the answer to your problems - and right now it retails for just NZ$499.00. In fact, there are several phones in the new A5 range and they start even cheaper - from as low NZ$229.00 - each one designed to be more rugged than your average phone.

Even without the multiple durability features I'll get to shortly, the A5 Pro seems to offer plenty for its sub-$500 price-tag. For example, it comes with 256GB of internal storage - that's comparable with many premium flagships and it should be plenty for most users.

The 8GB of RAM is also quite generous in this price range - especially given the A5 Pro uses RAM Expansion to reallocate unused physical storage to boost processing performance.

Unsurprisingly, the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 Mobile Platform chip is not the fastest or most powerful processor out there but it gets the job done. I certainly haven't encountered any stutters or crashes although admittedly, some websites take a little longer to load and some apps are slightly slower to launch. However, this chip is also very efficient, which helps conserve battery life.

Importantly for me, the A5 Pro is eSIM compatible, which makes this a great travel option too.

I thought I'd find the LCD screen a bit lacklustre after some of the other "more high-end" handsets I've been using lately but I needn't have worried. Its peak brightness under sunlight is rated at 1000nits - anything into four digits is welcome and I can assure you, not every phone display looks this good in outdoor lighting conditions. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover the 6.67-inch display was capable of a 120Hz refresh rate. Interestingly, it's set at for a variable refresh rate as default and initially I found scrolling around some apps a little bit jerky. But once I set the refresh rate to 120Hz all the time, everything smoothed out nicely.

When you change that setting, the A5 Pro's user interface, ColorOS warns you it might impact battery life. If it did, I certainly didn't notice, the battery in this thing is a massive 5800mAh - most other phones are typically 5000mAh at best. This means I can easily burn through two whole days between charges. Another above-average feature is the A5 Pro supports 45W SuperVOOC fast charging - although there's no power brick included in the box, just a cable. No wireless charging here either - mind you, Oppo has never been massively into wireless charging, preferring to spruik the merits of fast charging instead. And I have to admit, with such a big battery, at this price that's a compromise I can definitely live with.

So that's already a lot of phone for the money. Now let's talk about how tough it is.

For starters, this is not one of those shiny, slippery, glass-backed handsets that runs the risk of you cracking it on both sides. The A5 Pro comes in Mocha Brown and Olive Green and the rear panel is a grippy, leather-feel material that I love because it's comfortable to hold and doesn't show greasy marks or fingerprints.

The display is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 7i Xensation - a variation of Gorilla Glass I haven't heard of before and Oppo claims it makes the screen 160% more shatter-resistant than the previous model. You'll see from my video below it certainly stands up to quite a bit of careless treatment.

In fact, the entire phone is internally reinforced against drops and knocks - the motherboard is covered in "robust aluminium" and something Oppo calls "bionic cushioning" has been deployed to keep the A5 Pro's most sensitive components protected. As a result, it's earned the MIL-STD-810H badge for passing fourteen different military-grade tests.

This is also one of the most water-tight and dust-proof handsets around. I've reviewed many devices with the IP68 rating that means they'll survive half-an-hour in shallow water. The A5 Pro also carries both IP66 and IP69 ratings which means it'll shrug off high-pressure water jets and high-temperature water too - up to 80°. So not only can you spill your cup of tea on this phone, you can actually throw your teacup at it as hard as you can!

It's not invincible - again, if you watch my video below you'll see I managed to ding the bottom edge by bashing it against my metal mic boom a few too many times but try as I might, those minor blemishes seemed to be the only damage I could do.

Now, I haven't said much about the camera performance, which is unusual for an Oppo phone because they're normally all about the cameras. I have to admit, if your passion is photos, this is not the phone for you. Yes, there's a decent 50MP primary shooter, but it's teamed with a mere 2MP monochrome sensor Oppo refers to as a "bokeh lens" which basically means, the rear-facing camera takes good portraits.

This effect is shown in this picture of last weekend's cocktails...

The drinks are the main focus while the menu and the rest of the bar are progressively less distinct. Unfortunately, under-par low light performance means you can barely make out my artfully placed spectacles in the foreground.

I had better results outside in the daylight the next day...

It was an overcast but bright morning - glarey conditions and while the colours here don't exactly pop, I was happy with the level of detail. I did miss the option for Ultra-Wide or zoom shots though.

As for the selfie cam, it performs well enough, given it's only an 8MP sensor and as far as video goes, you can shoot in 1080p from either camera and there's even the option to use them together for a dual-view video - but only in 720p.

So it's clear where the compromise has been made to get this phone down under the $500 mark - and while the photos aren't gallery-ready, they're not terrible. On the other hand, this is unquestionably one of the toughest phones I've come across, so if you're a tradie, a teen or just hard on your handsets, it could be an excellent option.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Oppo A5 Pro 5G.