@kalos:
The impression I got from Deozaan's comment is that he talks about the connector where you plug your USB cable into, becomes bent out of shape. In that case, no cable will help you. From your comment I understand that you talk about the connector that is attached to your cable.
Usually, the connectors that are attached to both ends of your USB cable are the male variant from that type of connector. Every type of connector has a male and female variant. I hope I don't have to explain which is which.
No matter how well both the female and male variants of a connector are designed, user carelessness/stupidities will break any design. I still actively use the USB cable that came with my Nokia phone 8 years ago on all of the USB ports from my computer I got 8 years ago with my current phones and tablets (for data transfer and charging). The USB cables that came with these devices are also actively used. Either I am doing something right or you are doing something really wrong with your cables.
If you regularly drop your phone while it has an USB cable attached to it, both the female and male variants of the connector endure a lot of physical stress. People falsely assume that only the male variant endures the stress. Do this often enough, and you have bent the female variant also out of shape. I hope I don't have to explain that there is (much) more cost involved repairing the female, while replacement of the female will cost even more (and gives you headache as a bonus too).
While strengthening the connectors of a USB cable with heatshrinked tubing is a good thing, do realize that this only moves the point of failure in a cable. And that extra protection is moot when you bend the cable too close to either connector of the cable anyway. As a general rule, never ever bend cable (of any type) and if you roll any type of cable up, use generous curves to do this.
The suggested brands of cables provided earlier in this thread look fine to me and would last me a lifetime...if I had a need for them.
