Casio G'zOne Brigade
Phone Scoop Review
Mar 18, 2010 by Philip Berne
The Casio G'zOne Brigade is the toughest phone you can buy with a full QWERTY keyboard. It's waterproof and shockproof, but still packs plenty of Verizon Wireless' 3G multimedia features. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Battlefield Ready!
I've have had mine for several days and I work for an outdoor rock climbing and adventure school in Arizona so it has and will receive some REAL field testing. I'll do an update to this review in several weeks. So far this is what I have...
Pros:
⢠The QWERTY keyboard is great - I mean really GREAT! The keys are large and raised making for an almost flawless typing experience.
⢠Incoming sound is excellent!
⢠Signal strength is also excellent and find myself on the fringes of Verizon's service areas sometimes and I'm still getting all bars!
⢠Of all my phones including my original Casio G'Zone Type V in comparison, this is one well built phone - very military looking and solid feeling - The Hummer of all cell phones!
⢠Battery life is very good.
⢠Nice sized phone for me - never liked the small phones.
⢠I bought this phone without the data plan which can run you from $9.99 to $29.99 a month - basically I just use the phone for talking and texting so I can't tell you how email and internet are.
Cons:
⢠The Lock/Unlock button software runs a little slow for me.
⢠Everyone I've talked to on it says I sound good but nothing to write home about.
⢠The front screen is small but pretty visible in direct sunlight.
great phone
I have had this phone for a couple weeks now and i have no complaints with it. It does exactly what i want it to works great with mp3's has great sound great battery life. I have 3 batteries for it and i charge them at the beginning of the week and they last me all week without another charge. As to the one who said it's not as waterproof as advertised that is a false statement. The phone is advertised to be able to withstand 3 feet of water for half an hour. Not meant for swimming with.
Not just another Review.
First of all you can tell by the title this is not just another phone review. This phone is probably not the ideal phone for the city person unless you are a construction worker. This phone is extremely rugged. I live way in the woods and still get 2 bars of 3G and 3 of 1X. I go for swims with in my pocket and my cousin asked to see it and slammed it on the ground. Really a tuff phone...but the multimedia is kinda a bust. To listen to music u have to go through V cast. But the camera is awesome.. ( many underwater photos and videos) ***if you go underwater make sure you have the case locked. Anyways a great phone I would highly recommend it to any body who needs a tough messaging phone.
Good Phone 1st Day Review
My Old phone was the LG Voyager, I loved that phone up until the front screen went.
Now the Brigade: I spent the day getting to know the phone, I have read reviews that say the phone is sluggish, I didn't feel this at all.
I like the feel of the phone, the Qwerty pad is responsive and the layout is good, the front keypads are well thought as well. It allows 10 contacts to scroll through for quick calls or messaging. I like that it isn't a touch screen phone and that you can actually feel what you are dialing. I am a UPS Driver and we deal with a lot of dust in our cab so being a sealed phone is definitely a plus!
Call quality was actually better than I thought it would be, it was clear and the people I spoke with said I sounded crystal clear, it was very easy to adjust the volume level as well.
I have yet to try the camera so this is why I gave it 4.5. I will resubmit a review in 2 weeks. So far I think Casio has hit a home run with this phone!
So for calling and Texting so far an A+ .... this is pretty much all of what I do.
ITS AMAZING
I had previously owned the Boulder, and i saw my verizon had this on display and ive seen it online, it works and is designed as it sohuld. i never used an actual version, but seen YouTube videos, its almost a water proof env3.
This phone is a big upgrade to the casio line of phones. I remember the hype on when they released this phone. I am glad Casio is going this way in their lines, and i hope they stay with qwerty as some construction workers love to text heavily, and they should also make the kind like the rock is
Rushed out without testing
IMHO Casio must have rushed out this phone without testing it fully. It was the first tough phone with a full keyboard. I don't mind the size of the phone, it's the many features are flawed that make it a downer.
CONS:
The lock is slow and cumbersome, but some how still manages to become unlocked in your pocket even with the double key lock on.
The alarm snooze function does not work. If you snooze the alarm it will not come out of the snooze mode in five minutes and no alarm will sound again.
The speaker phone is constantly bumped and thus comes on.
The front screen is not configurable.
Incoming text messages interrupt what you are typing.
The processor is underpowered, furthur slowing down the phones functions.
The phone's functions are not laid out intuitive.
PROS:
It gets good reception.
excellent phone
This is a very durable phone. A great phone for texting and talking alike push to talk works great also
Big & Tough
I have had this phone about a week and I can say this is one tough phone. I have to disagree with the Phonescoop review in several areas. Texting is threaded and reception is as good as any other Vzw phone I have had. Call quality seems OK to me.
Pros...
The QWERTY keyboard is great!!!!!!
Phone is tough.
Phone is LOUD!!!!
Cons....
Phone is big!
Unlocking kind of a pain.
Web is limited but functional.
not as 'waterproof' as claimed
i have owned the rugged phones from casio for year. never had any problems with them except a few minor software issues.. i got the brigade about 2 weeks ago. i love the phone except when i went swimming. i had it in my shorts for about 1 hour under water. when i got out the front screen would not work and there was water droplets on the inside of the main screen.. i let the phone dry out overnight and it seems to work now. still water on the inside of the main screen..
they just had to milk the accessory money
As all the others have said before me,
with the addition of this peeve:
Because they are the only game in town for ruggedized cell phones, Casio and Hitachi went ahead and opted for the no backward compatable charger option.
As if to say "we are special and unique, so you got to pony up 30 bucks for a car charger- even though you have a drawer full of LG mini/micro usbchargers you could use." tough spit for me, I guess.
I will say this- as soon as a competator comes out with a ruggedized phone that is backward compatable for charging, I will throw this turd under the bus.
and don't get me wrong- I like the phone. It just sticks in my craw that that the engineers were directed to make this unkindest cut to the end user.
do not buy, do not try.
send the message to these guys and apple while you are at it.
Oh and don't think I have not tried to contact casio/verizon about this.
I get no love from either.
so go to the store, get ready to sign on the dotted line, then pull back at the last minute on this issue. They might get the hint if about a thousand people do that....
sheesh
