Casio G'zOne

Casio has typically made rugged feature phones for Verizon Wireless (the G'zOne Brigade, the G'zOne Ravine, etc.), so it was a welcome surprise to see the company finally branch out to Android smartphones with the Casio G'zOne Commando.

Like its brethren, the Commando is designed to withstand a variety of environmental hazards with its tough and durable construction that should protect it against immersion, rain, shock, dust, vibration, humidity, and more. It even comes with the G'zGear software that includes outdoor-friendly tools like a compass, a walking counter, a tidal graph, a thermometer, and a tool for tracking the phases of the moon.

More than that, it ships with Android 2.2 and boasts robust security features to support corporate e-mail. Other features include Wi-Fi, a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, an LED light, stereo Bluetooth, GPS, and the ability to act as a mobile hot spot with up to five devices. If you want 4G/LTE, however, keep looking, as the Commando has 3G/EV-DO instead. The interface also features XT9 and T9 trace input for typing and a menu that snaps out for frequently used apps.

The Casio G'zOne Commando will be available starting April 28 for $199.99 with a new two-year agreement.… Read more

Casio continues to expand its rugged phone line with the G'zOne Ravine, a follow-up to other Casio handsets like the G'zOne Brigade and the G'zOne Rock. Like them, the Ravine is resistant to dust, water, shock, and a variety of environmental hazards. Casio is billing it as a phone for the outdoor enthusiast, especially with dedicated G'zGear apps that include a compass, a thermometer, the position and times of sunrises and sunsets, the astro calendar, tidal graphs, and more.

Other features of the Ravine include a 3.2-megapixel camera, text-to-speech and voice dictation, clear talk noise … Read more

For the rock 'em, sock 'em, beat 'em up cell phone types, Verizon Wireless launched a new rugged handset on Thursday called the Casio G'zOne Brigade.

Much like the G'zOne Boulder and Rock, the Brigade is MIL-STD-810F-certified, so it's water-resistant and can withstand shock, dust, vibration, humidity, and other elements. Unlike the other two, the Boulder is the first rugged device in the States to have a full QWERTY keyboard, which is housed in a horizontal clamshell design.

The messaging-centric device also has a text-to-speech function to read back your e-mails and text messages to you and … Read more

After seeing the Casio G'zOne Brigade at the Verizon Wireless event a few weeks ago, we had thought that would be the only G'zOne product we would see for a while. It turns out Casio and Verizon have been working on yet another rugged phone, and it's the Casio G'zOne Rock, which looks a lot like a successor to the G'zOne Boulder.

Along with an exterior that is MIL-STD-180F certified to withstand the elements (water, shock, dust, humidity, salt fog, solar radiation, altitude, high and low temperatures), the G'zOne Rock is even more of … Read more

Aside from the bevy of new Verizon phones announced Thursday morning, the latest Casio G'zOne was also shown off at the 2009 Verizon holiday event in New York.

The Casio G'zOne Brigade is the latest in Casio's line of rugged handsets, and this one comes with a full QWERTY keyboard, so it also makes the grade as the company's first rugged messaging phone. Like all the other Casio G'zOne handsets, the Brigade is MIL-STD-810F-certified to withstand the elements--water, dust, shock, vibration, and more.

It also features a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, a document viewer … Read more

Few times do I get a chance to dunk a cell phone in water, throw it around on the floor, and generally torture it like a 10-year-old brat. Indeed, a part of me delighted when I received the G'zOne Boulder in the mail, knowing that I would get paid to kick around a cell phone as much as I wanted.

As you might have guessed, the Verizon G'zOne Boulder is one tough handset, military-certified to resist water, dust, shock, vibration, and other environmental elements. However, unlike other rugged cell phones, the Boulder has a sporty racecar look that … Read more

Verizon has finally made official its rugged newcomer, the Casio G'zOne Boulder.

The latest successor to the Type-V and Type-S phones, the Boulder is smaller and slimmer, plus it has a 1.3-megapixel camera, EV-DO Rev. A-based push-to-talk, VZ Navigator support, a microSD card slot, and a few more goodies.

If you want the Boulder without a camera, that's an option too, but you'll still have to pay the same price. The Boulder is available in both orange and black/silver, though the one sans-camera is only available in black/silver. It's currently available for $129.… Read more

If you're a fan of the rugged G'zOne phones (the Type-V was the original while the Type-S is its smaller cousin), you'll be happy to know that Verizon Wireless is coming out with yet another G'zOne rugged phone, and it's called the Boulder. Engadget says that the measurements of this thing are 2.02 inches by 3.94 inches by 0.91 inch, which makes it slightly slimmer than the Type-S (which is around 1.1 inches deep). Expected features include a 1.3-megapixel camera and EV-DO Rev. A-based push-to-talk, similar to Sprint's QChat … Read more

Casio showed off its new G'zOne Type-S for Verizon Wireless in black and silver at the UTStarcom booth here at CTIA. It's almost exactly the same as the original rugged clamshell, but it now supports push-to-talk capabilities. The rest of the Type-S Casios will have this feature as well, it's just that the black and silver version is the first out the gate with it. It's saddled with only a VGA camera, but a rugged phone like this doesn't need a lot of bells and whistles. Verizon is offering it now for $99.99 after … Read more