Very Very Cool Phone August 24, 2011

Reviewer:  D. Calderon "Tech Geek"  (Charlotte,NC) -

If you are like me and just tend to be rough on things around you (especially technology) then this is the phone for you. I mean being able to go under water ? Dropping it from 5 feet to the floor? Come on, now that's just freaking awesome when what your talking about is your phone! The camera and video quality is good for your phone 5mb, and the android user interface is super user friendly. If you are having any doubts about this phone, don't, its freaking awesome.

This phone also comes with some pretty cool custom apps exclusive only to this phone, so if your an outdoorsy person like me you will get a kick out of these apps!

The only thing I would recommend is upgrading the 8gigabit mini sd card to a 32gigabit mini sd card. Other then that though, I have to say I love my new phone!!!

About time... May 17, 2011

Reviewer:  M. Wojahn "woj"  (Minneapolis) -

2nd Review...When I first reviewed the commando I was super excited. Not anymore. I am on my second commando and its failing. The first phone failed after swimming with it and the speaker went out. Then I dropped the 2nd phone onto concrete and the lens broke. I had it fixed by a third party for $129 but it hasnt been the same since. Button after button breaks down. Its not nearly tough as the 1st Gen Gz-zone phone of mine. Plus the Android is a pain if you are a mac user.

1st review.. I have been waiting for a rugged smartphone that is less than $1200 for a long time and it is finally here. I was on t-mobile for the last 18months and broke three of their phones and I am so happy to be back with g-zone and verizon. The phone is lighter in your hands than you think, the display is very clear, love the dual locks and the super fast slide text feature. The g-zone apps are really cool, use the pedometer one every day and enjoy that. The downside with verizon is they don't work in Europe so this isn't an international phone which is a buzz kill. But if you are staying in the states no worries, other cons is this android isnt an plug and teather to a Mac, so I am still working the bugs out on that. The great thing is this phone can be dropped, kicked, submersed and be on a job site and you never have to baby it. For that it is priceless. I also can check my email, surf facebook, and have apps that direct me to Mt. Everest or tell me tides on my favorite beach. The phone gets a five stars, the service a three. Fyi, I bought it on Amazon wireless which saved me a $100 from walking into a verizon store, this costs me two days of waiting for the shipping, had to make one call to their help center and had to pay $10 to the verizon store to transfer my numbers. In the end a positive experience.

Great product-One tough smartphone March 17, 2013

Reviewer:  Dennis 

I will admit I was very leery of their mil-spec standards, but after four months I'll admit that this is the absolute toughest phone I've ever had. It has withstood numerous drops, water, dust, sweat, mower hours, and general neglect/abuse while providing a solid smart phone performance. The screen sensitivity has a notable difference compared to the best smart phones, but I am anything but disappointed. I bought this phone with expectations of minimal performance and currently am significantly impressed. If you have destroyed multiple phones by subjecting them to southern summers, moisture, sawdust, impact (I'm clumsy), then this is the phone you're looking for. I can email and have internet access on the construction site, as well as having enough battery life to stream music for about eight hours during the day (Depending on signal strength). I have beaten the crap out of this phone and it is still working as well as when I bought it. Absolutely the way to go if you actually live/work in an uncontrolled environment. Hope this helps.

Bluetooth Bad December 5, 2012

Reviewer:  Fuster 

Tried to work with Verizon on this issue but I even I had more issues with Verizon. I was getting intermittent transmission during phone calls using Bluetooth with my car. I went through several diagnostics and procedures jumping through hoops. The last tech I spoke to told me that Casio Commando does have a glitch in the Bluetooth program with no fixes in the future. Don't buy it if you ever intend to use the Bluetooth.

Commando tough November 19, 2012

Reviewer:  Mongo 

The only draw back to this phone is that it's a bit slow. I have dropped this a lot with no problems. I unknowingly put it in the washing machine. It called my wife's phone and left a voice mail of sounds inside the machine. It was in there for 26 min. when it placed the call. If you have kids, this is the phone for them. So far it's been bullet proof. If it was 4g I would have given it 5 stars.

No voice recognition in the car October 17, 2012

Reviewer:  Matthew E. Alford  (GASTON, OR United States) -

The Casio Commando will not recognize voice commands when the car is running. This is a massive flaw. See my video for a side by side comparison of this phone and the Motorola Droid 2:[...]

Nice durable phone that works well May 29, 2012

Reviewer:  S. Hoover "sghoover"  (Midwest) -

I had been using a Droid X for nearly two years, and after returning from overseas, I decided to get an upgrade. The problem for me is that almost all the newer smartphones out there are getting bigger and bigger. Not necessarily in thickness, (which most actually seem to be thinner), but they are getting much wider and taller. For petes sake I want a smartphone, not a tablet PC. Tablet PC are shrinking and smartphones are growing. Pretty soon we won't know the difference. sorry about the distraction. Anyway, after looking at that comfortable and nice Droid X I have had for quite some time, I decided to go with something a bit smaller in size. An increase in thinkness was fine, and a little more ruggedness would be neat too. Well, I saw the Casio G'zOne Commando and played around with one for a while.

When I finally decided to go back to Verizon and check on a phone and upgrade I told them my concerns, and that I'd like to have a more advanced phone, but not at the expense of having a bigger case. They showed me two phones in the store, one the Commando, and the other was an LG Lucid, (which by the way is a very advanced phone running Android 4.0 on 4G LTE). The LG is a nice phone and slightly thinner than the Commando, and slightly smaller all around, not to mention that it is less than half the price of the Commando. The issues I had with the Lucid was that it has a basic android appearance, (I really don't know how to say it), but I really liked the way the Commando functioned with the snap-out menu, and the unlock screen. The LG just had a regular unlock feature and no special feature like that snap out menu. The LG does have a nice filing system for the apps when you open the app drawer, like a file labled communication, which when you slide open the folder it opens to show things like email text messaging etc. The LG also has a nice camera taking 5MP and a front facing camera. It also takes full HD video. To tell the truth, I don't snap that many pictures with my phone though. I have taken quite a few with my Droid X, but that was mainly early on. After I got a very nice Nikon camera with touchscreen I didn't use my Droid all that much.

Back to the review: What I liked about the Casio Commando over the LG was the much clearer and crisper display, (despite the fact that they say the LG can be very easily seen in bright sunlight), I don't have any problems with the Commando. The resolution just looks nicer on the Commando, and the sturdiness of the phone is nice too. As well, I do love all the G'zgear they have on it. I often wear a multi-function watch, which is made for outdoors, but that is where I like to be. Since I'm in the military, I like have good functioning devices that I can count on. And in that respect, I do as much research as I can about an item before I go and get it, and see what the best is for my needs. After I get it, I study it to learn what it can and can't do and discover all it's abilities. One last thing, some people who have a poor functioning phone may have either done some intentional, or even non-intentional to it, or they may just have gotten a piece of hardware that seemed doomed from the production line. (side note: You know the funny thing is that many people seem to complain about this phone and the "tech savy" reviews from Official Tech Reviewers only gave it an average 3.5 to 4.0 out of 5, but it still remains an in-demand phone that will cost at least $180 brand new, [with a 2 year contract], and at least $175 for a used one without a contract. Why so expensive and hard to find, [used that is], if the phone sucks so bad? You can get much better phones and not pay half as much for new ones).

See for yourselves, go to a big Verizon store and play around with their phones, tell someone who knows the phones well to suggest a few phones based on what you are looking for, it may not be the biggest, flashiest, fastest, or most expensive phone you need. Don't let someone else tell you that you are "wasting your money" or stupid for buying something that "in their opinion" sucks. Guess what, it is "their" opinion. Not everyone wants to drive a flashy sports car, or a big pickup truck. For me I turned down a cheaper more advanced phone for something that just appealed to me the first time I saw the screen and started flipping through the screens. You may or may not like this phone, but it is up to you to decide. Even my wife was fine with me spending more on this phone than the LG, she knows that I do a lot of research before buying anything, and then try to test things out before making a decision. Heck with this phone even if I wanted to return it within the first 14 days and go with the LG, (paying the $30 restocking fee), I'd save a good $100 or more because the LG was cheaper, but I really can't see that happening.

Last thing, you might wonder why I only gave it four stars if I seemed to like it so much. Well the truth is that even though I don't do a lot of picture taking, I still wondered why they only put a 5MP camera in it, or at least a syncronised flash that lets you take good quick pictures. You really have to hold it still and hope your subject doesn't move a great deal unless it is farther away. And lastly since my Droid X was running Android 2.3.4, I was hoping to get a little newer version on the Casio Commando, (I am running android 2.3.3 on this one), and no I will not root it, I am not that tech savy to risk turning it into an expensive brick or have it doing weird things when I am trying to use it or not, I'll leave the software improvements to the experts. If they screw it up I am covered.

Worst Android I have had July 19, 2011

Reviewer:  Matthew Brown "Thew"  (Minnesota & Colorado) -

I bought this after my brother recommended it to me, and reading dozens of reviews. My brother managed to get one that works flawlessly, and his only complaint has been the battery. I finally bought my first one in June, and had problems with it nonstop from day 1. I exchanged my phone through the service provider several times, and had similar problems in all of them: horrible battery life, problems charging, dropped calls, retrieval delays of hours and sometimes days for messages. The service coverage, when the phone worked, was decent, and I really did like a few of the G'Zone apps, but they did not make the phone worth the hassle for me. After 4 months of fighting with these phones, I finally got a break and was able to resign/upgrade my phone to a different make.

So, my breakdown for scoring this phone is as such:
1 star for each of the 5 phones phone that did work properly = 1 star
1 star for innovative Android features and custom apps

Don't waste your money December 30, 2012

Reviewer:  BigAl 

This was my first "smart" phone purchase. My wife suggested that I get it due to it's advertised "toughness", since I tend to be rough on phones. To be fair, it is a very rugged phone, on the outside. I've accidentally dropped it several times, only to have it survive and continue to function. Secondly, due to the water resistant feature, every "port" has an "O" ring on it's respective protective cover, which while using headphones or charging it daily, over time becomes a pain (you'll need tough fingernails to access them). Since it does require charging every day, (some times 2 or 3 times), I opted to purchase a charge cradle. Word of advice, buy the cradle from Amazon. I made the mistake of going online to purchase one that was $10 cheaper than Amazon, but it never arrived (even though they charge my card), so spend the extra and buy from a reputable distributor. Though the shell is rugged, the software driving the phone sucks. Countless times while texting, the virtual keyboard would shut down for no apparent reason, which would require a complete phone restart....this has happened while talking on the phone as well. Most of the apps have this same problem too, which leads me to believe it's not the apps but the phone's software/hardware that is faulty. Thirdly, since this phone is unique, my Verizon customer service people don't really know much about it, so getting advice is rare and difficult. Online and manufacturer help isn't much better either. Basically, you're on your own.

Worst Cell phone ever October 26, 2012

Reviewer:  James Pence 

I have had this phone for over a year. It has a poor built in antenna resulting in poor signal strength. I have had other brands of phones along side the Commando and they always have a better signal strength. The touch screen is not very responsive requiring several touches to make it work. It turns itself on sometimes. It will run applications on it's own. When talking if your face touches the screen it can hang up the call, mute or turn on the speaker. Poor sound quality and difficult to hear when on the highest volume setting. I can receive calls and the phone won't ring and it forces the caller to leave a message. Casio and Verizon are in denial about the problems with this product. This is the worst and most problematic cell phone I have ever had.

bomb January 3, 2012

Reviewer:  farmboy 

I miss my old fragile Droid compared to this bionic mess. I was anxious to get a Commando since I'm a farmer and use it in a fairly hard core environment. I've had my Commando now about three months but WOW am I disappointed in this phone. I primarily use my phone for texting and emailing, this Commando might as well drop those features. About every two days I'll be texting or emailing and all of a sudden the phone decides not to display what I'm typing on the screen until it's ready to send the message. I have to reboot the phone to make it display what I'm typing on the screen. Another thing I can't get, the voice activated email and text. This was a feature I had on my old Droid that I used all the time especially when driving. Even after I went to the Verizon store twice so they could install the feature they also failed to find and install the application. There are other texting and emailing complaints I could add to my list but it would take too long to explain it. A couple other things to consider if you're looking at the Commando; Bing is the default search engine and you can't use any others (I can't stand using Bing)and I haven't been able to Voice Activate driving directions like I could my old Droid. Frankly, I suggest the customer look at a different smart phone other than a Commando, that is unless you live in the tulies or in the water.

NOT - THIS - ONE... unless you must November 17, 2011

Reviewer:  Micah Cabrera  (portland - states) -

I've had the Gz One for several months now and the conclusion I've reached is that unless you require the durability of this phone, pass on it.

Pros:
*Super-durable
*Great outdoor app package included (Compass, Pedometer, Sunrise/moon-rise, etc)
*Slick UI
*Verizon coverage rocks socks
*Good looking exterior

Cons:
* Regularly sluggish
* Oftentimes locks up and requires a hard boot
* battery power on par with many smartphones though this is on the poor end

If you've been wanting a smartphone for awhile but were afraid it would'nt hold up to your abuse then look no further. May 8, 2011

Reviewer:  Aaron Jones  (Hazleton, IN) -

Everything you want in a smartphone. Great display, has load speakers, super fast, lots of apps. available from Android Market. I have always had the G'z one phones because of them be tough phones. Sense having it I have been through 3-4 huge downpours and the phone handled through them perfectly. If you've been wanting a smartphone for awhile but were afraid it would'nt hold up to your abuse then look no further than Casio's G'zOne Commando. You will not be disapointed.

ff'in awesome!!!! July 7, 2012

Reviewer:  Shawn 

I've owned this phone for a year and so far its been in my toilet, At the bottom of a river, Buried in three feet of snow( called it repeatedly to find it). Also been dropped on concrete several times.

If it had legs(and a couple other important extremities) I'd divorce my wife and marry this sexy lil thing!! the only bad thing i could say is its not exactly cruising at warp speed when running apps.

Not there yet... May 6, 2012

Reviewer:  John C. Monaccio  (Manchester, CT United States) -

Six months in, I work in a hot, salt water environment and the Casio Commando meets it's durability claims. It is a good 3G cell phone, especially for data. The speakers work well but the microphone is poor, constant complaints of others saying I'm breaking up or cutting out while talking.

Text works fine but it is tactile glass, not buttons, so you have to hit the spot just right. I didn't find the 'trace' input to be any good. I shut off the XT9 text anticipation software, because it kept guessing wrong inputs and didn't adapt to mathematical and engineering entries. The phone has only crashed five or six times but is good about shutting down unused applications after reboot. (I'm assuming the memory overloaded.) Verizon has a ton of crap Media apps I can't get rid of and I'm scared to try a rooting this early into a new contract, but their GPS is the most accurate of the three pre-installed systems, including Google maps and the Verizon Messages shell is quite stylish. The battery is good for 72 hours with a battery saver app as long as you aren't playing songs.

This is the best available of a new market niche for cell phones but will, hopefully, be surpassed by better entrants into the market. Certainly not worth $400, but probably the $80 I paid with the contract commitment.

Warning: The screen shutoff comes preset at 30 seconds which makes it impossible to set up the phone yourself when you get it, because it keeps shutting itself down. I had to download a PDF manual, not available with the phone, to figure out how to make the screen shut-off long enough to set up the new phone. Basically you hit the left lower corner button, hit settings, hit display, hit screen timeout then set it for the max 2 hours and you are good to go.

One year update: Still have the phone, durable as ever. Crashes more often but usually gives a 'network not found' warning before doing so. Got the charger cradle, way worth the convenience of not having to operate the waterproof plug everyday. Alot of problems entering text as the letter blocks are very small and I miss. Never was able to connect to PC directly, just wouldn't recognize.

Easy to use and very durable November 4, 2012

Reviewer:  Dylan  (Ohio) -

This is a absolute must for those of us who tend to drop and/or forget that we have our phones and they go through the wash or we get thrown in the pool with it. Also great for jobs in the construction zone, the phone is durable and mine has with stood many falls onto the carpeted floor or on concrete. I once even dropped it into a bucket of water while working, I freaked till I realized that the phone was perfectly fine thankfully. I used to break phones but this one has lasted me half a year and i have had zero problems with it.

Not a Galaxy S3 but it can literally beat up any smartphone. September 25, 2012

Reviewer:  John 

I've had the phone a year next month. Got it cause I wanted a tough Droid. I got it. I've been kayaking and jumped in water with the Metallica still blasting. I've dropped it off the roof of bowling alley. Phone is kick ass. A little dated when I bought it and more so now but overall, I'm happy with it. I wish the battery life were better and the processor had a wee more kick but in the end, it's a little kick ass phone.

Battle tested!!! September 23, 2012

Reviewer:  Matthew Corcoran "MJC74" 

For technical aspects (software/hardware issues) please read the other reviews. I don't disagree that there are some glitches and performance issues when compared when droid X/ motorola.
I recently dropped this phone off a 4th floor balcony and it still works fine (with a few more scratches). The phone is 12 months old, has taken a beating (heat, cold, wet and dropped) on many construction sites and still works perfect.
I can't wait for the next commando with some updated hardware.

A True Rugged Smart Phone September 22, 2011

Reviewer:  M. Bell 

I've had this phone for nearly a month and I love it. It does everything my original Motorola Droid does only faster. It is the battle tank of smart phones. Yes tanks are also built to military specifications. No battle tank or phone is indestructable, so don't expect the impossible (see youtube blender demonstration). No complaints, it delivers as promised.

Rugged and Efficient October 14, 2012

Reviewer:  Ellie Hawkins "Pelloneus" 

I have had this phone for several months now (I got it at a discount during a Verizon Father's Day special), and so far it's been the most reliable phone I've ever used.

This was my first smartphone (since I've never been fond of most smartphones' lack of durability), and I can honestly say this hasn't let me down. Being made with a hard, rubberized plastic and Corning Gorilla Glass, so far it's proven near impossible to damage (and this is after four months of dropping it on concrete, getting it wet in the rain, and leaving it in a hot car. Not a scratch on it, and it works perfectly.)

Performance wise, the G'zOne Commando has been the most reliable phone I've ever owned. Call quality is good, text messages send properly, and the apps and internet work pretty well. I can't tell you how many phones I've used that have had at least SOME sort of annoying fault - Text messages won't send properly, or the phone freezes, that kind of thing. I have experienced -literally- no problems with the Commando. None. At its worst, the internet can be a bit sluggish at times, and the camera's not top-of-the-line - But for the durability and overall efficiency, I can deal with it.

The Commando also comes with its own little line of fun gadgets (G'zGEAR), such as a pedometer, stargazer (which points out constellations based on where you're standing), and a trip planner. These apps are obviously geared toward the outdoorsy, travel-savvy type, but they're interesting to play with even if you're not planning a hiking trip through the Swiss Alps.

Overall, this is hands-down the best phone I have ever used. It combines outstanding durability with efficiency, which is hard to say for most phones currently on the market.