Casio / Expert Reviews

Casio slimmed down its rugged Ravine the second time around. The G'zOne Ravine 2 sports the same stringent 810G military specification as the first model,though it's smaller and lighter than before. It's perfect for construction workers, factory employees, or anyone that wants a cell phone that can take... More

The Casio G'zOne Commando for Verizon Wireless is a specialty phone. When measured against "regular" devices, it might not shine that much. But when paired with the correct consumer, one who needs a tough element-resistant smartphone, it proves itself worthy. If you are that special person, then please... More

Even though the Casio G’zOne Commando isn’t the fastest or most high-end smartphone on the market, it fills a void for a mid-level device that is also rugged and durable, which can withstand water and being dropped on occasion. We love its overall build quality, and that it has a different... More

The Casio G'zOne Commando certainly isn't for everyone. If you're sure-handed enough to never drop things, you don't ever plan on being out of sight of civilization, and you've never lost a phone to a bad encounter with water, then the features that distinguish will be useless to you.

But it's a well... More

The Casio G'zOne Commando is okay, but I have several reservations about it. If you don't need an Android phone, consider stepping down to the excellent Casio G'zOne Ravine ($49.99, 4.5 stars). It's a flip phone with a nifty suite of less powerful apps, it meets the same military specification, and it... More

The Casio G'zOne Commando is an interesting beast. It's way too large, heavy, and bulky for me, but if you're looking for a ruggedized Android smartphone, that’s the price of admission.

The G'zGear applications are truly cool, and offer the outdoor adventurer a ton of ways to keep track of... More

The Casio G'zOne Commando is absolutely the choice if you want a rugged and durable Android smartphone. Its tough construction is built to withstand everyday drops and spills, so it's well suited for industrial workers or simply those who love the great outdoors. While we're not entirely pleased with... More

Beyond its Android 2.2 features, the Commando gives you a variety of outdoorsy and athletic features. Go into its G’z Gear menu, and you’ll see eight apps that are tailor-made for fitness buffs and outdoorsy types. Most are useful, and all are interesting. On board is a compass that shows... More

Being the first smartphone member of a Casio lineup of feature phones for Verizon, I fully expected to be let down by the g’zOne Commando. I was pleasantly surprised to find this wasn’t the case. It isn’t the handset for everyone, but for those hesitant to buy a smartphone due to an... More

I really wanted to like this phone, but the awful touchscreen is a huge deal-breaker. The device has so many great ideas in it that I hate to see its rating dragged down because one (crucial) feature doesn't always work right. If you need a superdurable phone and don't care too much about the unresponsive... More

The Casio G'zOne Ravine is in some ways a very impressive, rugged device; and in other ways a collection of missed opportunities. The phone can take a serious beating, including a dunk in the pool or a drop into a dirty puddle. Some of the outdoors features are pretty cool, like the compass and pedometer,... More

We are glad that it retains Military specs for durability, and its rugged design means that it should hold-up to almost anything you can through at it. But most importantly we’re glad that the PTT quality is quite good, since that is one of the Ravine’s primary functions, with loud and... More

WIRED Built to text reliably through damage, dunks and dust. Spacious, raised keyboard bests even non-rugged messaging phones. Document viewer covers all the standard bases: Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF. Charges via dock or resealable, water-resistant port. Bright 3.2-MP camera flash doubles as... More

I've never enjoyed using a rugged mobile phone as much as I did the Brigade. The device has a solid QWERTY keyboard that makes messaging easy, a decent camera, good call quality, and solid push-to-talk functionality. It even has a few bonus features like an over-the-air music store. It was able to... More

The Casio G’zOne Brigade is the only phone available from a major U.S. carrier that gives you a full QWERTY keyboard to send text message from the beach . . . while surfing. It’s built like a tank, and almost as large. Because it’s so durable, and practically alone in its class,... More

Over the past few years Casio has been one of the major providers of push-to-talk devices for Verizon Wireless with their rugged G’zOne series; from the Type-V and Type-S to the Boulder and Rock. Now the company is looking to raise the bar even more with the new Casio G’zOne Brigade... More

As a phone that can go from a fishing trip to the boardroom to the hip pocket of a hopeless klutz, the Casio G'zOne Rock holds its own, but it won't wow people who need better text or Web connectivity.

The Casio G'zOne Rock on Verizon Wireless appears to be a seriously rugged feature phone, but it's not as rugged as we had wished. It's tough enough to handle a hiking or boating trip, and features six outdoors-centric applications including a pedometer, thermometer, and lunar calendar. The tradeoff,... More

The Casio G'zOne Rock is military-certified to withstand a variety of environmental hazards, plus it features outdoor-specific applications like a compass and a thermometer. It also has EV-DO Rev. A, Push-to-Talk, GPS, a 2.0-megapixel camera, and more. The Rock is certainly a rugged handset made for... More

While it is quite possible that the Casio EXILIM C721 is the best cameraphone offered by Verizon Wireless, it still leaves us less than impressed with how it performs as a camera. Casio did its customers a disservice by using a very awkward swivelling clamshell form factor. It's camera user interface... More