G’zOne Casio Boulder vs JCB Tough Phone
The clamshell G’zOne Casio Boulder from Verizon Wireless
Hello adventurer. Now this is the time for the tough phone for the tough guys like you there. Yeah, three days ago, Mr. Amir had published a post about JCB tough phone, which unfortunately, only available through European stores like UK or Belgium. But now, thankfully, American tough guys shouldn’t be envy to their colleague on UK since Verizon has also launched such a similar handset for them.
This Verizon new tough device is a product by Casio. You should call it; G’zOne Boulder! Casio G’zOne Boulder is its surname. Unlike JCB, which being manufactured in a candy bar form factor, a Boulder is a clamshell type cellphone. Honestly, this is a little bit unusual since people will naturally think that a candy bar handset is far more efficient for tough-class cellphone than a clamshell one. Hmmm, do you agree with me?
The candy bar JCB tough phone
Now lets get into the features fever
In a battle of features, this Casio Boulder is absolutely a champ, especially if we compare it to JCB tough phone. To refresh your mind with JCB’s stuffs, here is what the UK-based company will offer you with its candy bar.
- 113 x 50 x 22 mm
- Triband GSM connectivity
- Bluetooth, WAP browser, and USB connectivity
- 128 x 160 pixels, 65K color display
- Up to 240 minutes of talk time and 200 hours of standby time
Look, as a tough phone, of course this JCB also comes with a default mantras like dust resistant, water resistant, shock resistant, and drop resistant. Well, Casio Boulder has it too. So where are the differences? Okay here we go.
G’zOne Casio Boulder full phone specifications
- Rugged design that meets military specifications - 810F standards for water, shock and dust resistance; immersion; vibration, salt fog; humidity; solar radiation; altitude; and low and high temperature storage
- Flashlight
- Electronic compass
- VZ Navigator
- Field Force Manager-capable
- 1.3 megapixel camera
- CAST Music with Rhapsody-capable
- Music player for .mp3, .wma, unprotected .aac and unprotected .aac+ formats
- Create and manage playlists and sync music from a PC to the G’zOne Boulder
- microSD card slot (support up to 8 GB)
- Advanced speech recognition with dedicated voice dial key
- Alarm clock, calculator, calendar, stop watch, countdown, timer, world clock, electronic compass
- Voice commands
- Speakerphone with dedicated speakerphone key
- Bilingual interface - English and Spanish language
- Phonebook with up to 500 entries with multiple contacts
- TTY compatible
- Display: 2.0? 240 x 320 TFT display with up to 65K colors
- External Display: 1.2? 96 x 96 Mono STN display
- Dimensions: 3.9″ x 2.0″ x 0.9″
- Weight: 4.9 ounces
- Usage time: up to 214 minutes
- Standby time: up to 63 hours
Now see, I think you know who’s the champ in term of features right? Yap, if you need such a tough phone that can give you some entertainment while you crush yourself under the trees or rocks, perhaps Boulder is the best choice. Anyway, if you want a simple yet efficient candy bar tough phone, a £169.99 (US$336.917) JCB is pretty much worth to buy.
The G’zOne Casio Boulder Price
The Casio Boulder is a an under-contract gadget, so you may found it on the stores with a basic handset price tag that isn’t too high for a tough guys like you. It will cost you about $129.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year customer agreement, by Verizon Wireless of course. And wait for this one till mid-August. That won’t be too far from this day.
So, what about that gentlemen? Are your pocket still tough enough to grab one of them? Answer yourself!
Source: PhoneNews and Slashphone
Image courtesy of PhoneNews and Slashphone
July 31st, 2008 at 10:05 am
Called Verizon for an on going battery problem with my old Motorola phone, found out about this phone that just came out so for the price of a new battery I got the Boulder phone. It has all the things I need in a phone and more. It’s short on ring tones but that’s marketing for you, ya have to buy more if you want them. I’ll have to get a memory card for extra storage. This is a cool phone for sports people and those that are hard on their phones.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:47 pm
@ Tony, thanks for your information. I’ll be glad if you send me some photos about your action with this Boulder.
August 1st, 2008 at 11:45 am
hmmm……….. quite interesting… i’m an outdoor enthusiasts… when will this phone reach PHILIPPINE waters…
August 1st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
@ Johny, I don’t know about that. But you can order it online via their official web site.
Thanks for coming.
August 5th, 2008 at 7:25 am
I got the Boulder last week and can’t wait to send it back.
You’re right — it looks great, is built well and — hey, so many neat (read: gimmicky) features! A digital compass! The latter might lead you to believe you could take it for a weekend camping — that is, if you plan to camp near an electrical outlet.
Yes, the battery on this “rugged” phone is shockingly wimpy. Brand-new, on its initial charge, I was at half power after a few phone calls, handful of texts and a few hours standby. Yesterday I took it off its cradle at 10 a.m., used it lightly, and it was blinking on the verge of empty by sunset. Absolutely the weakest battery I’ve had in a cellphone in at least six years.
Now to the double killer: sound quality.
Talking on this phone reminds me of calling my dad on his first carphone in the late 80s and trying to string together the blurbs of speech through the vast periods of static. Only this one sounds like it’s wrapped in aluminum foil and you’re listening to someone talking through a layer of tapioca pudding from the bottom of a bathtub. Sounds funny, yes, but it’s that bad. My wife is so frustrated from three days of me asking her to repeat herself three and four times, she won’t call me on my cell until I get a different model.
There are also several software glitches popping up in forums everywhere. I’m also just one of many to report the vast flaws in this phone, one I anticipated for months. I’m not happy to be writing this stuff. I like the way it feels in my hand, but I just can’t live with such basic and elemental flaws.
In my opinion, it should’ve never been released. What’s even sadder is the G’zOne Type V (the original) — while huuuuge — was a highly rated product with none of these glaring defects. The 2G model also was much better.
Here we are a few years later, and they’re packaging crap in shiny armor. Lots of sites like this are promoting it, but I guarantee the reviewers haven’t tried using one for days as their go-to cellphone. When they do, they’ll see…
August 5th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
@Will, would you like to give us some proofs, well I mean perhaps a video or some pictures that is showing you and your Builder.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:39 am
Proofs? Oh, I just realized this was an asia site. I am in Maryland. Pics or video won’t show you the earpiece or battery quality anyway.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Unfortunately, Will is right. We got our two Boulders last week and are in the process of sending them back.
The battery life is horrible, lasts less than a day under mild usage. The speaker is worse than Will’s description but he comes pretty close.
We also got three Motorola V750 at the same time and although they are not as rugged, they run circles around the boulder’s clarity issues. I think that it is Verizon’s PTT system that may cause such a heavy battery drain so tomorrow we will run all five units without the PTT activated to make our final decision.
What a shame that Casio would go to all that effort to design an awesome phone without making the battery life and sound clarity a priority.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Well, I did the battery test and the V750 still has full battery after 36 hours and about 10 minutes of usage. One Boulder is down to one bar with 40 minutes usage and the other Boulder is down to two bars with about 30 minutes usage. These levels are with the PTT in the off position. The Boulders are being taken back today. I’ve heard that the speaker anomaly is due to the neeed for being waterproof. If that be true probably only 1 out of 1000 phones get dropped in the pool, while 1000 out of a 1000 have to be listened through every single call. Poor choice Casio.
As to the battery drain factor, we have decided that PTT is not worth it , so the V750 are going back also, although if you need PTT, I highly recommend them.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
@Don, thanks for your information. We appreciate it very much. Actually, I have checked for a while PC Mag review on this stuff. Well, Will and you are absolutely right. Let see what would Casio do for such drawback like these?