Casio G'zOne Boulder Review

Introduction:

The G’zOne series of phones are unlike any other found in the U.S. market, and the new Boulder steps up the game. Known for their rugged nature- the phone meets Mil Spec 810F standards for water, shock and dust- the Boulder brings new innovations like a digital compass and flashlight feature that would provide useful to the outdoors crowd. It also runs over Verizon’s EVDO Rev. A network, and along with the Motorola Adventure launches their second generation Push-to-Talk service.

Included in the box you’ll find:

Design:

The G’zOne line has never been known for its size, but the Boulder does a good job of becoming a bit more compact. Gone is the unsightly antenna, and the phone dips below the 1” mark in thickness.



You can compare the Casio G'zOne Boulder with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

It comes in two color variations: orange with black accents and black with silver accents. It has a somewhat pointed design, almost reminiscent of the faceting on the Touch Diamond, that gives the phone a very masculine look. With the flip closed the front features a large circular white-on-black display that is easy to see in any sunlight. The display is outlined by a removable ring: the orange version has silver and black rings and the black version has black and red. Above it is the 1.3 megapixel camera with flash, which is up from VGA on the Type-S, but still not the 2.0 originally found on the Type-V. The black version is available also in a camera-less variant. The front and back housings are held on by visible torque screws that enhance the bold appearance.

The left side features a small PTT key near the top, with a volume rocker and multi-function key below. When the flip is closed the key activates the compass with a press and hold. When opened a press initiates voice command and press and hold records a voice note. The right side is button-less, and has only the covered microSD slot at the top. On the bottom the charging/data/headset port is covered to ensure water resistance. The back of the phone features a locking mechanism that holds the battery in place. Flanking the lock are speaker cutouts, though only the one on the right is functional.


Opening the flip reveals a small but crisp 2” QVGA display. The display is only 65K colors, but images look sharp on it. The five way directional pad has two keys to each side; soft keys sitting atop the camera key and speakerphone/flashlight key to the left and right, respectively. The keys are backlight in a reddish orange color that looks much better on the black keypad of the orange unit than the silver keypad of the black. They aren’t terrible, but are very soft feeling and we would have preferred a more definite feedback when pressed.

As you’d expect from a Mil Spec phone the Boulder is built to the highest quality. Though constructed of plastic, the fit and finish are excellent and we have no misgivings about the phone’s long-term durability. The overall in-hand feel is pretty good, though it is a bit on the thick side. The black of the black and silver version is soft touch paint, which makes for a much better feel than the hard plastic found on the orange variant. The internal antenna makes the phone feel a lot smaller than previous G’zOne iterations, and it is indeed lighter this time around. With the bold design lines we prefer the orange version aesthetically; black and silver just look too plain for a phone of this nature.

Software:

The Boulder’s UI is very ho-hum, as we’ve come to expect from Verizon phones. It has some good looking display themes, but they are simply skins for the red-bar interface. The only customization is with the d-pad shortcuts, where the user can assign three out of the four keys. Right is hard-coded to My Shortcuts, which allows the user to assign four quick access items. It prompted us for an update the first time we turned it on, but even still we experienced a few random resets and menu lag at times. The phonebook can hold up to 500 entries with four numbers (two mobile, home and work) and two email addresses per entry. Voice command is handled by VoiceSignal, which is as good as ever.

The Boulder is a full-featured media phone. It supports VCast Video and Music (but not TV) and can hold up to 8GB of music via the microSD port. It is compatible with Verizon’s recently launched Rhapsody service. The video quality is ok on the Boulder’s small screen, but good enough to watch quick clips such as Olympic replays. The phone runs BREW applications, such as VZNavigator and Field Force Manager, and users can download content from Verizon’s deck.

The camera and camcorder were both pretty poor. Images came out muddled with blurred lines. The software is slow, so image capture doesn’t actually happen until a second after the shutter sound, which means most users would be moving the camera when the image is snapped. The camcorder can record at a max of 176x144 and is appropriately pixilated. The only redeeming quality is that the Boulder has a flash, though its more useful as a flashlight.


Push-to-Talk

Verizon has had PTT for years now, but poor performance and no interoperability with Nextel has led to Verizon all but writing off the technology. Though the coverage may be spotty, Nextel’s PTT simply worked and worked fast. Call setup times were under a second, which VZW (or Sprint, with Ready Link) could never come within spitting distance of.

Sprint recently launched QChat, which brings CDMA PTT over Rev. A and most importantly is interoperable with Nextel. We came away quite impressed with their offering when we reviewed the Sanyo PRO series. Though VZW has ducked questions of how their new PTT service works, it does indeed run over Rev. A and we have to think it is closely related to QChat. Unlike Sprint’s service which only works in Rev. A coverage, VZW allows PTT over any data connection, even 1x. When PTT coverage is available, the signal indicator switches from white on black to black on white.

When in EVDO coverage (the phone doesn’t differentiate from Rev. A and Rev. 0) the service generally works well enough. Call setup times are usually under a second, but we did notice delays up to 5s at times which we never experienced with Sprint’s service. Once the call was connected communication was lightning fast. On 1x, however, the service was as terrible as always. We experienced call setup times of up to 30s, as well as outright failures. After setup there was a noticeable delay in communication, and more than one time we were connected but got no audio on either phone. At its worst there were 15s delays in communication after setup.

Furthermore, we have four review units (two Boulders, two Adventures) and are testing in a blanketed Rev. A location. At times any of the four phones may drop to 1x or no PTT coverage while some or all of the others remain in EVDO or PTT coverage. There has been no discernable pattern with this in either the phone models or individual units. We have even been in EVDO coverage but not had PTT available for one reason or another. Sprint’s coverage may be somewhat limited due to their Rev. A requirement, but it makes for a better and more stable product for the end user.

VZW maintains a separate PTT contact list from the regular phone book, which allows them to show presence indicators so you know if your contact is available or not. If a PTT number is stored in the regular phonebook you can still contact them via PTT, but there is no indication that they are PTT capable like on Sprint phones. The PTT button is awkward on the Boulder; instead of the traditional large button on the middle left side it is near the top and very small.

Overall we feel that it’s time for VZW to give up PTT. The new service works better than the original, but only when you are in Rev. A coverage and even then it is still not as good as iDEN or Direct Connect on Sprint. What ultimately dooms the service is its inability to talk with Nextel phones. Individual Nextel subscribers may be leaving in droves, but its PTT service it is still an industry standard and there are too many businesses that rely on Direct Connect as their primary means of communication. The bottom line is that VZW simply offers an inferior product.

Performance:

Calls sounded good on the Boulder, but not great. Both on our end and for callers audio was a bit hollow and lacked depth, and was choppy from time to time. Reception was decent, but the phone did drop out of EVDO easier than phones we’ve seen in the past. We never had trouble placing voice calls, though as mentioned earlier there were PTT call issues. The battery is rated for a fairly weak 3.5 hours of talk time, but we just barely managed to get 3 hours in multiple tests.

Conclusion:

The Boulder is an excellent rugged phone, but unfortunately it’s not very good at anything else. We submerged it, dropped it out of a second story window and even ran over it with our car and it still worked just fine, but the call quality was iffy and battery life terrible. If you’re simply in need of an average device that can take an above average beating the Boulder won’t disappoint. If you’re in need of an excellent PTT service, however, you should probably stick with Nextel.