Casio G’zOne Boulder for Verizon does ruggedness in style
By Will Park on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 6:29 PM PST In Announcements, Casio, Devices, Verizon
Check out this here rugged successor to the Casio G’zOne Type-S. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is preparing to offer their “outdoors-y” subscribers a revamped take on the rugged Casio G’zOne handset.
What you see here is the re-designed, and shockingly pleasing, Casio G’zOne Boulder. The Black version is definitely a mean-looking handset, but we have to give it up to the Orange-colored variant. Talk about a handset that does ruggedness in style.
And, cosmetic updates aren’t the only changes in store for Verizon subscribers looking for the military-spec shock, dust, and water resistance. The Casio G’zOne Boulder offers a 1.3 megapixel camera (up from VGA resolution on the G’zOne Type-S), push-to-talk on the EVDO Rev. A network, and a slimmer profile.
If spelunking and canyoneering were our cup of tea, we’d be all over the Casio G’zOne Boulder in Orange. That is, once it launches in the not-too-distant future.
[Via: Engadget Mobile]
Hey Bob how exactly do you go about getting the software updates for the phone?
It should be automatic. But Try menue, settings & tools, phone info, software update.
The current software version which appears to have fixed the sound quality is V9230M07.
Good luck.
Activated mine this morning and installed the software update. Speaker clarity is horrendous. This phone goes back to-night. My problem is I can’t have a camera phone due to work restrictions, and this was, I thought, a good compromise.
Don’t know what I’ll try next.
my boulder is coming in tomorrow, not too shure if im looking forward to it now.. i am coming from a lgvx8000, that phone, is a soldier.. it went through water plenty of times, but i went overbored leavin it in a glass of water over night.. figured i would like this boulder.. my boulder thats coming is supposed to be upgraded already, but we’ll see..
My fiance & I both got these phones about 3 weeks ago. Talk about disappointing! I would NOT suggest them to anybody! His battery is dead in 3-4 hours & he does not use it that much! We are constantly putting them on the charger! He keeps getting the black screen of death! (Phone freezes & he has to take the battery out to reset) PTT feature suxs! That is the main reason we got these phones! Speaker suxs! Whole experience with this phone suxs!!!!!
you didnt charge it before you used it, im on my phone all day long and i usually have a bar or two when i get home….. tell verizon about the speaker, and they’ll send an update to your phone and it’ll be fixed
The battery IMO is short. My old LG would last a couple of days one a charge. This G’zone is running low after one day.
My peeve is that there are 12 Stupid pictures in the phones memory. I can get rid of the pictures because of copy rights. Its just annoying.
this PHone is garbage!!!!!
It shuts off when manipulating my contacts! It just shuts down and reboots. The battery lasts about a day.
The ear piece is distorted. I’m always asking people to repeat themselves when talking because of the distortion.
Enjoy your experience.
From what I’ve seen from following comments about this phone, I’m glad I didn’t try another one. Sound quality might be better with bluetooth, but I don’t need anything else jammed in my ear.
Does anyone know of a good alternative for this ? I really need a new phone, but I can’t have a camera.
Any help appreciated.
Phone is near perfect except for incoming sound quality. If you can’t hear who you are talking to, what good is it?
Had to return mine after a month of trying. It was consistently bad not matter where I went. Couldn’t understand a word of my home answering machine through it nor the verizon voice mail. Did not try the OTA’s as they were not available when I had the phone. Verizon knew nothing about them so if you want info on this phone, keep googling!
Compass: I actually use one regularly – this was a great idea but in the sun, you can’t see it to use it. Have to find a very shaded area or you are out of luck.
Casio almost has it perfect ~ a few refinements and one in pink are in order. Go Casio Go! You can do it! Hopefully in time for the holidays.
TERRIBLE SOUND QUALITY!! Really, really bad. Forget this phone if your in construction like me. With a phone that supposed to be so tough made for adventure and hard work its got the worst sound quality of any phone that I’ve ever had by a long shot. If you want hear anybody on this phone you better go into a sound proof room. The reception isnt as good as my last phone either. Oh yeah and the phone radomly shuts itself down & you have to pull the battery to get it on again. Wonderful if your counting on using the alarm, you wake up 2 hrs later than you wanted to only to find your brand new rugged phone has decided to shut itself off. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PHONE.
Have the boulder 3 days and have to charge it every day, The g zone was the best, I only charged it every 3rd day ,even after the battery being 9months old.I have already replaced the battery and no help.After 1 week old, This phone is going back.
Phone shuts off all the time. When talking, when texting, when sitting. I am on my second phone going on my third, as well as other co-workers who are having the problem.
Phone is possessed and needs an exorcism or a round garbage can to toss it into.
yea i was sorta excited to get this fone but it now sounds horrible. W/e ill see.
Sound quality can be updated and changed and same with the battery. Just go to best buy and buy something better but the actual fone is good in itself.
Im thinking about getting this phone but do you think it would last if i surfed with meaning it would be submerged in a couple inches of water for at least an hour
I just picked up my new G’z one Boulder in Orange on Friday. The VZW store at our mall sold me the old one with no front speaker. I can’t even hear the music player, it’s all distored and PTT is terrible. I also have the same issue, in just 2 days, my Boulder rebooted about 6 times, and one time it froze up and I had to take out the battery and put it back in to restart the phone??? This phone is loaded with features, please, please CASIO… Don’t give up! You have a great phone here, and to make it excellent work on some more new software updates. The latest update does NOT correct the rebooting or freezing up issue. My Boulder was never taken outdoors, or dropped. Verizon said they have other reports of this?? THEY ARE DISHONEST. But I will stick it out.
This is my second phone of this model. This first one got dropped on concrete many times and survived with no problem. The clarity of sound has not always been the greatest because it is a waterproof device. I have also accidentally dropped it into a steaming cup of coffee with lots of sugar and at this time I needed to make any calls early in the day; after all the sugar invaded the speaker the only way I could hear was on speakerphone through the back speaker. It would not work off speakerphone. I could not hear anything. But after washing it thoroughly with a spray bottle of Windex it worked fine. It cleaned out the sugar. Now I’m on my second phone; and I’m having trouble charging it because I think it’s from the one I had that was damaged that got crushed; the battery from that got installed into my new phone from the get go and I think my phone is locked into a decharge mode instead of a charge mode. As for the phone itself I think it is a good one I use the compass all the time as I am a marine contractor.
I received my Boulder the day before Christmas and I absolutely love it. After ordering online I began researching the G’z One Boulder and found an overwhelming number of complaints stating bad audio, short battery life and poor speaker quality. My research also revealed a brand new released version of the Boulder that addressed all these concerns plus comes with new an improved software updates. I contacted my online provider to make sure that was the version I was receiving. When I got the new version Boulder I was pleasantly please with its appearance and weight. The new version comes with an external front mounted speaker, two batteries (one standard and one extended life) and handset cradle. The activation and contact transer was a breeze using Verizons Backup Assistant. The audio/sound, speakerphone quality was great (phone volume at medium). The extended battery last several days but is hardly an issue because the convenient desktop handset cradle easily keeps the phone charged not to mention it provides a great phone rest for listening to your favorite music right from your phone. The phone features are great including the really cool push to talk feature.
The Military specs are what hooked me on this phone in the first place. I’m a firefighter and a very outdoors kinda of guy so this phone is perfect for my lifestyle. I looks tough, feels tough and is tough. I even used it to listen to tunes while taking a shower the other day and it performed great during and afterwards.
If I had to say anything bad about this phone it would be that keys are little small including the PTT key and the camera has a relatively slow capture on it. But overall I love this phone. So ignore any review you read for this phone posted prior to Dec 17, 2008 and go out and get this phone. Make sure when ordering you are getting the latest version though.
I agree with JJ. The boulder is not a blackberry but it is the most durable phone made, and it has a way better camera than the previous model and the flashlight surpasses anything on the market. I have put it in the dishwasher and dropped it in the pool way too many times but still works fine.
I have the old version (no front speaker). It looks nice but poor sound. I have a chance to upgrade to the newest version ( with front speaker ). The new version looks strange the the speaker protruding out of the phone. I curious what everyone else thinks. Is the sound problem serious to justify the change?
I am so sick and tired of customer service reps lying to me. !!! After reading all these complaints above I am so happy to read that I am no the only one having problems with this phone. I just recieved a replacement phone and now the same thing is happening to this one. The phone just shut down and is in a constant turn on mode. It powers up as if it is going to work then shuts down and powers up again …..over and over and over again but never actually turns on . I am so sick of companies like Verizon whose policy is to return the same crappy phone instead of giving you the option to try a different model even if it means paying a difference.
This phone has by far the worst “modern day” software, and zero support, as fas as worth a damn. G’z One Boulder should be revamped… completely, other than the casing. Rugged??? We’ll see, but I have snapped rivetted cases, i305 nextels, and this is my “next, best hope” for sanity in the digital age of crap. Note to Casio: negotiate better terms as far as engineering specs… Note to Verizon: Customers are #1, no customers, no money… Make this product completely accessible, kill the bugs, acknowledge that this was a failure, and move on with the improved firm/hard/soft ware updates FREE. This phone is going to be a huge dissapointment to many customers, who, like the good people above, and more sure to follow my comment, may call off verizon all together due to negligent rhetoric and deniability of a piece of undeniable aboninable retro-”freeze” technology. PTT avail/reli/ability may improve once Alltel is assimilated into your “true” network, but there is still much to do…
APESTAS A CACA Y VALES VERGA PUTO
I cant get my Gzone boulder to recongnize my jawbone.
There is a place to attach a lanyard in the upper left side facing the closed front of the phone. I used an extremely small spring ring much like a keychain type and hooked a spiral cord bought at walmart for a couple dollars.You will never lose this most reliable phone.