To my knowledge, the Ringo bottle started on Kickstarter. The idea is good, and I liked it enough to back the project: a drinking bottle that also holds your phone during those on-the-go photo ops.

The internal threads gives the bottle a clean look with and without the lid, while the shape and thickness of the rim makes it really nice to drink from.

Unfortunately, the problem with the design is also the key sales feature: the lid is made of hard plastic that does not feel good to operate, and the MagSafe ring makes it fragile and hard to grip. I emailed the company with my concerns, who defended the design and doubled down with a new Pro lid that has the same issues.

Needless to say, after a couple of drops on the ground, and being opened and closed by my kids, the Ringo bottle lid had all but broken. A new replacement Pro lid that adds a much needed drinking spout costs $35! But knowing how easily it breaks, I decided to look for an alternative.

So if you don't want to pay $54 for the Ringo Pro, you can go for the BillyO at £11.90. At a third of the price, you won't be too upset when it breaks—which both of them will, eventually.

The most important difference between the two are the spout, which folds out on the Ringo making it more comfortable to drink from compared to the billyO bottle. On the other hand, with the billyO you are less likely to damage the spout if it falls with the spout folded out.

Then there are the less significant yet very visible differences between the two: the annoyingly bad billyO logo, the internal seam on the rim inside the bottle (which Ringo has partly sanded down), and the bottom of the bottle (different production methods).

The billyO bottle comes with a booster ring for non-MagSafe devices, making it compatible with virtually any smartphone.