There’s a really awful Verizon commercial that seems to air on Hulu every five minutes lately, maybe you know the one: A guy wrestles an alligator in a swamp while using his smartphone to bid on a collectible lunchbox on eBay. Besides the eBayer in me shouting at him to just set his high bid and let auto bidding do its job, the scenario misled me into thinking it was an ad for a really awesome waterproof phone you could use in a swamp. Nope, just advertising 4G speed.
Fortunately, I flew out to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress 2012 about a week after seeing it, and now there seem to be plenty of solutions for all your connected swamp-wrestling needs. From waterproof boxes and bags to custom-applied coatings and gadgets that shirk water right out of the box, manufacturers seem to understand that sometimes our inseparable gadgets get wet. And now that’s OK. Check out this gallery of some of the waterproof gadgets and accessories floating around the show floor.