The Casio G'zOne Commando is a rugged smartphone, designed to survive outdoors or industrial situations where more delicate models would be at risk. That doesn't mean any of the standard smartphone features have been left out; this model runs Google's Android OS so it has a powerful web browser and email software, a 5 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, and much more.

Available from Verizon Wireless for $200 with a two-year contract, it's comparably priced with many of Verizon's high-end smartphones.

Build & Design

The popular image of rugged devices is usually large, heavy gadgetsthat are an inch and a half thick and awkward due to their need for extreme survivability.  So it will probably come as a bit of a surprise that the Commando isn't really much larger or heavier than most smartphones. The Samsung Nexus S 4G makes it look bulky, but it's still also relatively thin -- not iPhone thin, but just 0.6 inches thick, not exactly what you'd immediately think of as being rough and frontier ready.

The Commando does have a smaller screen than a non-rugged device of its size would, due to the size of the casing --at 3.6 inches, it's probably one of the smaller screens to still feature a full WVGA (800 x 480) resolution.

So in this context, what does "rugged" actually mean in real world terms? Depends on who you buy from, actually -- it could mean very little. Surprisingly, there are no significant restrictions on a company advertising their products as being "mil spec" rugged, or "designed to military standards"; "designed" being the operative word. Many "rugged" devices, particularly those intended for the civilian market versus the actual military or industry, are not actually tested to confirm that they hold up to the specifications that they advertise. They're simply designed to withstand such things. If that design doesn't work as expected out in the real world... oops. And for those who depend heavily on their gadgets while out and about in rough conditions, this is kind of like saying that your parachute is designed to open, but we haven't really checked to completely make sure.

This is emphatically not the case with the Commando. Casio lists on their website a complete round-up of the ways that the handset has been successfully tested and survived. Freezing to -13 degrees Fahrenheit... continuously for four days. Heating to 185 degrees F, for four days. Salt water spray continuously for 24 hours. 4-foot drop, repeated 26 times. Complete submersion in water for 30 minutes. Equivalent of direct noon-day sun, for 24 hours. 4-inches per hour of rain, combined with 40 mile per hour winds. Low air pressure to the equivalent of 15,000 feet above sea level. This is, by the way, about the altitude at which the average human being requires oxygen to maintain brain function for more than 30 minutes--or in other words, the altitude at which your smartphone becomes smarter than you are. In summary, any environment which is capable of rendering the Commando non-functional is probably also capable of killing its user.

This isn't to say, though, that the only people who could get use out of the Commando are climbing mountains, sailing through hurricanes, or exploring Antarctica. All that heavy testing also guarantees that it will be more than adequate to survive anything you could accidentally put it through in daily life. In the habit of dropping your phone? Even down the stairs? That's fine, it can take it. Maybe, like me, you enjoy hiking, and you don't want to have to bundle your phone up for fear of it getting dirty or wet while you're marching down a creek bed. Ever lost a phone to a mud puddle, and ended up with a dirt-caked wreck? With the Commando, you could just take it inside, scrub it with hot soapy water, and it'll be good as new.

Of course, you didn't read this review to find out what the manufacturer says about the device. That's quite easy. What you want is objective testing. Does the Commando hold up in real world situations? I wanted to know, so I went outdoors and threw it in the pond.

Actually, I confess that's not the first thing I did. First I tested it under running sink water. Then in a mixing bowl filled with water. It's quite a thing, watching the look on someone's face as you dump a $200 smartphone into their drink.

But it held up -- in fact, you could sit there watching the thing under water, and you'd swear it had never noticed the fact that it was completely submerged. One interesting side effect, however: because capacitive touchscreens like those on Android phones react to the electrical properties of human skin -- and because large drops of water have the same effect on the touchscreen -- once it's under water, the touchscreen is effectively paralyzed, unable to receive any input because it can't tell the difference between your finger tip and the water. It won't register a touch again until the water has been allowed to run off the screen. So I regret to tell all you scuba divers out there that you can't buy this phone and then use it underwater. Yeah, that's one of those sentences I never really expected to use.

Screen
You know how with most devices, if you push hard enough or hit the screen, you can see the LCD below ripple with discoloration? The display is by far the most vulnerable part of smartphones, particularly those with large, open touchscreens. The solution to that for many new devices, including the Commando, is a material called Gorilla Glass, made by Corning. It's recently become all the rage in high tech devices because it's two to three times stronger than conventional hardened soda-lime glass.

So, objectively, how tough is Gorilla Glass? Well, it's tough enough that a large panel of it, the same that is used for an LCD TV, passes Underwriters Labs "ball drop" test without any breakage. This doesn't sound very impressive until you realize that they're talking about a 500 gram steel ball dropped from 4.25 feet up. In thin panels, it will actually bend before it breaks -- you don't typically think of glass bending, but this can. Even though it really is glass, and not a plastic or polycarbonate composite. On top of all that, it's extremely scratch resistant. One of it's selling points on large LCD TVs is that it can take the impact of a thrown game controller without breaking.

On mobile devices, Gorilla Glass is used to protect many of the new large-screened gadgets, like the Apple iPhone 4, from being made into very expensive paperweights due to broken screens. On the Commando, it provides a durable, scratch proof, shatter-resistant face for even rough environments. Gorilla Glass isn't indestructible by any means, but it does provide vastly more protection from, say, dropping your cell phone on a pile of rocks. Something that I, ironically, did just the other day.

My biggest complaint about the screen is it's use in input. At 3.6 inches, it is quite compact for typing an on-screen keyboard, so if you plan to do a lot of text entry, invest in a stylus. The cramped quarters even extend to the four silk screened navigation buttons -- if, like me, you have fairly large fingertips, you'll have to exercise a little care in how you push buttons.

Other Buttons & Controls
Speaking of buttons, the left side of the device plays host to the standard volume buttons on top, the power key below, and an unspecified button right in the middle. This is not a push-to-talk button as some had hoped -- in fact, by pressing it and holding it you launch the Casio G'zGear application. What this is is really a suite of a bunch of small apps, designed primarily for outdoorsmanship and orienteering. We'll talk more about it in a few minutes.

Between the G'zGear button and the power key, looking carefully we have two recessed metal contacts. I'm not absolutely sure what these are for, actually. But I suspect they're charging conductors for a desk or vehicle cradle. The dead giveaway is that one of Casio's pre-loaded mini-apps is called "Desk Cradle," which shows the device "docking" on that side.

The right hand side holds only the camera button, but also features the flip up covers for the USB and headphone jacks, both carefully sealed with rubber gaskets, and the charging LED.

Part 2 of this review covers the performance of the Casio G'zOne Commando, while Part 3 is the conclusion. And don't miss the extensive Image Gallery.

This is Part 2 of a multi-page review. Part 1 of covers the design of the Casio G'zOne Commando, while Part 3 is the conclusion. And don't miss the extensive Image Gallery.

Performance

The Casio G'zOne Commando's main specs are definitely one of it's weakest points -- which is a bit ironic, considering that not too long ago, its specs would have been cutting edge. But sporting an 800 MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 330 MB of internal storage, and a bundled 8 GB MicroSD card, no longer puts you at the top of the pack.

The Commando's performance is generally positive for most uses, including Internet, mapping, and GPS. But it started having problems when trying to run heavy media software on it, such as streaming video. I'm not entirely sure if this is due to the processor or some other aspect of the device, like it's GPU, but it's also possible that future updates could fix it. No matter what the case, at the moment, it's not quite a multimedia powerhouse.

Fortunately, that's not one of it's primary roles. Yes, it would be nice if you could sit back at the end of your day-long hike and stream a movie, but that's not necessarily what the Commando is built for.

Communication
The Commando matches most of Verizon's current smartphones, in that it stocks  an EV-DO 3G connection, plus Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. As always, your Internet connection speed will vary based on your location, but in three tests, the device averaged 700 Kbits download speed and 525 Kbits upload speed, with a latency of 257 milliseconds. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth implementations are 100% stock Android, so you needn't jump through any extra hoops to work with them.

There have been some complaints about poor call quality with the Commando. While I've experienced a little fuzziness now and then myself, in several test calls for the most part, quality has been comparable to another Verizon phone making calls to the same number, from the same location. When I did encounter quality issues, they were mostly in the form of "fuzzy" audio, lacking definition and sharpness, but the call was certainly still intelligible. It's also worth noting that call quality issues can often be fixed, or at least improved, using software updates, although that depends on the manufacturer and the carrier.

Productivity

Thanks to Verizon's marketing deal with Microsoft, the Commando actually comes pre-loaded with Microsoft's Bing search tools, rather than the more common Google search, voice search, etc. I admit, I'm not much of a fan of Bing for search, although its aerial photos are much better than Google's for my area. But fortunately f

or all Google fans, you can quickly and easily download and install most of the normal Google apps, including Maps, Search, etc.

Besides Bing, the main other software pre-loaded on the Commando is the aforementioned G'zGear. Although it's treated as a single app, G'zGear is actually about eight different mini apps bundled together: a compass, pedometer, a jogging trainer, thermometer, tides calculator, sun/moon calculator, and a stargazing applic

The compass on this smartphone is, in my experience, notably better than the electronic compasses I've found in some other Android phones: it holds a more accurate heading, and displays less "jitter" or interference.ation not too dissimilar to Google Sky Map. As you can tell, they have an overall theme catering to outdoorsy types, as befits a rugged device.

On the other hand, there's the thermometer. As much as I love the idea of my gadget measuring the temperature, I wouldn't put much stock in the Commando's internal thermostat. It seems to vary from completely accurate to completely inaccurate, frequently registering as much as 5 degrees above or below other digital thermometers I have access to, and sometimes as much as 10. I'm not sure what the pattern is, as it doesn't seem linked to whether I've been holding it or not, or whether it's been in use, etc. Either way, unless this can be made more accurate in a software update, I'd use it mostly as a vague guideline than a definite measurement.

The good news is that Casio has made the specialized software for the Commando open source, meaning that not only can other applications take advantage of features like the compass, but independent programmers can tweak and improve the built in applications.

Entertainment

Other than the G'zGear apps devoted to hiking, there's not really anything here. You can set it to record and measure your hikes, speed, number of steps, etcetera. Or compare your jogging against various records, or your hikes against nature trails from all over the world. But these are of very steeply limited value both for entertainment and for real comparison. Still, you have the entire Android Market available to you, so if entertainment is your goal, you can definitely find some apps, from games to eBook readers and more.

Camera
The Commando's 5 megapixel camera is about what you would expect. Not of excessive quality, but more than good enough for an occasional snap, whether you're preserving the landscape or a piece of paper.

I did notice that it seemed to perform somewhat better in moderate light than some other cameras I've used. Many cheaper smartphone cameras need daylight type levels in order to take a good quality picture, and perform poorly on ordinary indoor lighting. But the Commando holds it's own even on regular "low" levels of light found indoors at nighttime. It's not ideal, but it's slightly better than the average.

Battery Life
The battery performance of the Commando is surprisingly good. Even with Wi-Fi on, it would go a couple of days of light use, or could do a long day's hard use and still have power left. While the 1460 mAh battery is larger than average for a smartphone, it's certainly not so much larger that I would expect excessive life out of it. So this is definitely a positive on the device's part, although some of that improved power use can be attributed to having a slightly smaller screen.

Part 3 is the conclusion of this multi-part review of the Casio G'zOne Commando. And don't miss the extensive Image Gallery.

This is Part 3 of a multi-page review. Part 1 of covers the design of the Casio G'zOne Commando, while Part 2 discusses the performance. And don't miss the extensive Image Gallery.

Conclusion

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.