Casio G'zOne Commando Pro Reviews

Before I tested the Casio Commando, I thought it would be just another rugged phone and assumed that performance would be sub-par. I was pleasantly surprised. Overall performance and speeds were adequate, web browsing and data speeds were impressive, and the Casio G'zGEAR is well-designed and useful. This phone is not just for people who drop their phone a lot. If you're the kind of person that goes camping on every available occasion, considers themselves a world traveler, or enjoys an active lifestyle, the Commando is the perfect phone for you.

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 executed device which, despite a few minor issues, both delivers on exceptional field durability, as well as having the potential to appeal to day to day users who wouldn't normally think about using a "rugged" phone. Some of it's qualities, like the waterproofing, are so useful that I wish more phone manufacturers would pick up on it for non-rugged devices. For right now though, if you want a smartphone that still works after you take an unexpected swim, or can survive you being less than careful with it, the Commando deserves careful attention.

If solid basics are what concern you, the signal troubles and voice quality are worth weighing before you buy. At least battery life is good. The Commando's camera and video camera produced great results, which more than offset the ho-hum music and video options. Add all these to the Android 2.2 system on a practically-indestructible phone, and you have McGuyver's dream device. Bottom line, if you're a self-respecting outdoorsman who needs a tough phone that can do (nearly) everything, the Commando is a solid soldier you can rely on.

There's no denying that the $199 Casio G'zOne Commando is one rough and tumble smart phone. Rain, wind, drops, bumps, scratches. Whatever you--or Mother Nature--can dish out, this Android handset can take it. However, you'll have to be willing to live with a relatively small display and less than blazing performance. If you're thinking of switching to T-Mobile, the Motorola Defy is not quite as durable, but can handle more abuse than your typical smartphone. But if your lifestyle or workplace demand an Android device that can shrug off a serious beating, the G'zOne Commando is for you.

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 check out the Commando. The rest of us, however, will find better values in more compact form factors elsewhere.

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 utilitarian look than most other flashy smartphones. At the current $199 price for the Casio Commando, it is only $50 less than the awesome HTC ThunderBolt, which offers a faster processor, larger screen, 32GB memory, and 4G LTE for data. But if you need a more rugged smartphone that you don’t have to worry about damaging much, the Casio G’zOne Commando is the one to get.

The Casio G'zOne Commando offers outdoors-minded folks a rugged Android smartphone, but it lags in several key areas.

The Casio G'zOne Commando is absolutely the choice if you want a rugged Android smartphone, but you have to keep its various negatives in mind.