Waterproof and rugged cameraphone with an optical zoom

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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 is no less awkward, and the fact that so many of its photo are blurry (even when the camera thinks it has focus), just isn't acceptable. Sure, it has a 3x optical zoom, but using that zoom makes the focusing situation even worse.

The problem is that the C721's star feature, the camera, isn't shining that brightly. The Motorola ZINE ZN5 blows it away on image quality, focusing accuracy, white balance, and flash, not to mention form factor and usability. The EXILIM can only claim points for its optical zoom, and not many points at that. The rest of the device is only an average phone, at best, that also happens to be waterproof and rugged.

That ruggedness and ability to work under water are the phone's saving grace. It's just enough to make the phone desirable. In the end, the Casio EXILIM C721 turns out to be an only average cameraphone that has an optical zoom and can stand up to physical abuse. It earns a "Recommended" rating since it has no real deal-breaking issues, but we'd be hard pressed to spend our own money on it.