Casio has been making rugged phones for a number of years now, but the G’zOne Commando is the company’s first to run Android. Just in time for the summer season, this $199 handset for Verizon Wireless is super tough, designed to meet the 810G series of military rugged standards. We’re talking submersion in water; exposure to dirt, rain, extreme heat and cold; plus drops and shocks. The G’zOne Commando also features the Casio’s G’zGear software package for enjoying the great outdoors, and it serves up great audio and call quality. Does this hard-core mobile phone deserve a place in your demanding life?
It’s obvious that the Casio G’zOne Commando is designed to be rugged, as it looks more like an off-road vehicle or a futuristic speedboat than a smartphone. Black and vaguely trapezoidal, the Commando has aggressive red highlights, angular buttons, and lots of crevices. Continuing the manly motif are four metal bolts on the phone‘s front and back sides, plus a ring of silver plastic that runs around the device. The screen is framed by a wide circle of soft-touch black plastic. Above the display are the earpiece and temperature and light sensors.
Below the Commando’s screen sit backlit, capacitive Android buttons for Menu, Home, Back, and Search. Under that are two large speakers and a mic. A volume rocker, a programmable “tactile” key, a power button, and charging terminal for an optional cradle line the left side. The right side holds a dedicated camera button, status light, and a microUSB port plus headphone jack, both under heavy rubber flaps with tightly fitting plugs. A 5-megapixel camera and an LED light occupy the back of the Commando, which also sports a sturdy battery cover and a fat lock switch. Removing the cover, which has plastic teeth and a padded cushion, reveals the recessed battery that sits on top of an 8GB microSD card.
Measuring 5.1 x 2.6 x 0.6 inches and weighing 5.4 ounces, the G’zOne Commando isn’t terribly large or heavy considering its rugged build. Other current handsets closely match its dimensions, such as the Motorola Droid X2 (5 x 2.6 x 0.4 inches, 5.5 ounces), the LG Revolution (5 x 2.6 x 0.52 inches, 6.1 ounces), and the HTC Evo 3D (5 x 2.6 x 0.48, 6 ounces). The difference is that those phones boast larger 4.3-inch displays, while the G’zOne Commando’s screen is just 3.6 inches.
The reason to buy the G’zOne Commando is its toughness. Casio claims that this smartphone meets the 810G standards for military ruggedness. This means the handset is designed to survive a series of torture tests (11 in all), such as immersion in more than 3 feet of water for 30 minutes, rain in 40 mph force winds, and up to 26 4-foot drops. Other tests include subjecting the device to an hour of vibration, “heavy dust” for 6 hours, and a full day of salt water fog and 95-percent humidity. Additionally, the Commando is rated to withstand 24 hours of hot sunshine (solar radiation of 1120W/m2) and 4 days of extreme temperatures (185 and -13 degrees Fahrenheit).
The Commando’s display uses a scratch- and crack-resistant Gorilla Glass coating by Corning. This special treatment makes glass tougher by chemically “stuffing” ions into its surface, strengthening its structure.
To verify these claims, we placed the G’zOne Commando–switched on and all port flaps closed–in a water-filled fish bowl for half an hour. We dropped the phone repeatedly onto the hard New York City streets from above waist height (4 feet) and also splashed it with fountain water to simulate rain. We even attempted to scratch its screen with keys. The G’zOne Commando wasn’t fazed by our trials in the least and showed no signs of damage.
One of the trade-offs the Casio G’zOne Commando makes to be rugged is its small 3.6-inch (800 x 400) touchscreen. It also doesn’t match the resolution of other handsets such as the Motorola Droid X2 and the HTC Sensation 4G, as both feature 4.3-inch, qHD displays (960 x 540). That said, the Commando’s screen was brighter than the Sensation 4G’s in a side-by-side comparison. It’s also easy to read in direct sunlight due to less glare and reflections.
Still, images and text looked cramped on the G’zOne Commando’s screen. Also, when we tried to view a few HD YouTube movie trailers, the handset struggled. For example, the trailer for Cowboys and Aliens was practically unwatchable due to extremely low frame rates. Once we switched to SD resolution, the video played smoothly but was grainy and not enjoyable. Another problem with the handset’s screen is its unresponsiveness. On many occasions, we had to tap a few times before it registered our finger presses.
Equipped with two large speakers, the G’zOne has excellent sound for a smartphone. When we listened to “Kids” by Sleigh Bells, audio was very loud with a large helping of bass. We also noticed that the low end of buzzing guitars and booming drums didn’t distort on this challenging track, even at maximum volume.
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