The 2nd Generation phone shows they paid attention to the reviews
Written: Jun 15 '09
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Clarity: |
|
|
| Portability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Rugged, nice design, basic phone that is easy to learn. Can be submerged.
Cons: Short battery life (with extra battery), dim lights, very low tech front display.
The Bottom Line: A great improvement from the original Boulder, but still has some quirks. Benefits might overshadow the negatives though.
|
|
|
| ncphototrekker's Full Review: Casio G'zOne Boulder Cell Phone |
For those of you who are considering purchasing a Casio Boulder cell phone, you are likely reading reviews on the product. More than likely you are running into basically poor reviews on this phone...that was what happened to me. I read over and over that the sound quality was awful, the battery life was about a day if you were lucky, and the keypad lights were dim. The only positive things that I read were that it was as durable as it was advertised as being. It was able to stand up to being submerged, dropped, and in one case being run over by a car.
It was the military spec durability of this phone that really captured my attention. While I am not particularly rough on my phones (most last me at least three years with no issues), I do spend a lot of time outside in the elements. There have been many times in the course of my job as a police officer, or my side job as a photographer where I have been caught out in the rain needing to use my cell phone. I was always very worried about the effect of the rain on the phone. Since I photograph a lot of waterfalls, the chances of me falling into the water are also pretty high. I really liked the idea of a phone that could stand to be submerged with no ill effects.
It was the unanimously poor reviews of the sound quality and battery life that made me look elsewhere. However, I kept coming back to this phone. Fortunately, I was able to determine that the current version of this phone is updated from the original which had received the negative press. What I read made me feel more comfortable about the purchase. Apparently Casio changed the speaker design, modified the software, and added an extra capacity battery to the original packaging.
What you get....
I decided that I would give the phone a try and ordered it through Verizon's website for free (signed another two year contract). I also decided to come into this century and add texting to my plan. It was at my door in just a couple of days. Included in the phone package was the G'zOne Boulder, an A/C battery charger, docking station, thin standard battery, thicker extended life battery, splitter for a headset, quick start manual, owners manual, trim tool, and custom ring for the front of the phone.
You will be tempted to slap a battery on the phone and start playing around with it immediately, but let me warn you...you need to get a good initial charge on the batteries before the first use. I say that because battery life is still not the best on this phone and using the battery without a full initial charge can hinder future performance.
Operation...
This phone is not the latest and greatest with a touch screen, television capability, or any number of computer related applications. This is a basic phone that does just what it should without all of the extras. The flip design is one of my favorite designs because the keys are protected when it is closed, and when opened, it is long enough to come to my mouth, and angled just right to wrap around my face.
Calls are handled in regular fashion and should not require much if any reading of the instruction manual before operation. I have never used a first generation Boulder, so I have nothing to compare the sound quality to. However, I can say that this phone is very satisfactory. I had been using an LG series phone that I thought sounded great for its time. The Boulder matches or exceeds sound quality of the LG, and does it with speakers that can be submerged in water. The speaker also sounds very good, but be aware that it is on the face of the phone under the round display. This is more than likely a result of the push to talk feature that this phone is capable of.
Those that do a lot of texting may have mixed feelings about the keypad. It is not a full keyboard like many of the new phones have today, but the feel of the buttons is quite nice. The lighting behind them is still very dim, and is likely no different from the first generation of this phone. It is possible to use at night, but you might have to strain to see the letters. The lighting is not even either, which is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. However, lighting is sufficient to enter numbers to place a call. If I were more familiar with texting, seeing the letters might not be that much of an issue, but for now, I need my texting training wheels.
Battery life is still a sore point with this phone, but it is much better than the original reviews would indicate. The standard batter is a nice fit to the back of the phone and it adds no extra depth. I can't believe that this was all that was shipped with the phone originally. I'm not a heavy phone user by any stretch and this battery only lasted a day. In that day, I entered my contact list, made a few (10 minute or less) phone calls, and texted about 25 messages to and from. Within 24 hours, I was down to one bar, and in need of charging. At best I would use this battery as an emergency backup.
The newly included extended battery is much better, but still lacks the batter life of other phones that I have had. I used to be able to go a solid week on a new battery before I had to charge it. With this extended battery I can usually bank on going for three days between chargings. This is with moderate use, and a good deal of texting. Without the texting, I would probably be able to go four days, but I don't think I could stretch it much more than that.
Depending on your packages with your phone carrier, this phone can access the internet, V-Cast music, as well as the VZ Navigator. I don't have the needed packages for this so I can't really speak on how these work, but I would imagine that the smallish screen would hamper any online work.
Tools...
As I said, this is a basic phone, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have some handy gadgets included. Of course its got a camera, but it is a bit low on the resolution compared to what is coming out these days. The 1.3mp sensor is fair for a phone camera, but don't expect to get any high quality pictures from it. It also seems to be a little on the underexposed side, but you can bump up the exposure to brighten your pictures. There is also a flash that works fairly well. Pictures can be saved to the phone or sent to another phone or email account.
Speaking of the flash, that same tool serves a double purpose. By pressing the speaker button for a few seconds the flash is turned on and will stay on until you press the button again. I was surprised by the amount of light that this thing puts out. It is not a concentrated light by any stretch, but it will light a dark hallway, or illuminate a map if the need presents itself.
Speaking of maps, this phone is designed to be used by the outdoorsman and Casio put a neat little gadget in this phone for those folks. You can view a compass either on the inside display, or the face of the phone while it is closed. The compass is fairly accurate and could come in quite handy for the hiker. For me, it is nice to be able to estimate where the sun will be setting or rising for my photography.
There is an MP3 player in this phone that can be played
There is also a calculator, calendar, notepad, and all the other standards for this type of phone. You will also notice that there is a highlighted area in the contact list for your emergency contacts. This is a great touch, and will allow emergency personnel the ability to see up to three contacts even when the phone is locked. The emergency contacts also show up red on your contact list as you are scrolling through your contacts.
Displays...
Phones these days are all about the flash and apps. The Boulder isn't about that and the front display serves as a reminder of the spartan nature of this phone. It is a monochrome display that shows signal strength, time, day, date, and battery life. When the camera is activated you can see what the camera sees, but it is as a monochrome image instead of the same color that will be captured by the camera.
The inside display is a bit more what we have come to expect from cell phones. You can choose a full color wallpaper with a custom banner. It also shows signal strength, battery life, carrier information, time, day, date, messages, alerts, and menu items for the soft keys. It is very similar to my old LG phone and has taken no time to get used to. You can change the display options to your personal tastes through the menu items if you would like to customize your phone.
Exterior...
The exterior of this phone is designed for business. The front and rear surfaces are a rubberized material that will help in its shock protection, and will also keep you from damaging the phone with nicks and scrapes. The antenna is contained in the top of the case which is nice in my opinion. I have snagged sleeves and other things on the stubby antenna of my LG. I no longer have to worry about that happening. On the right side there is a sealed slot for a Micro SD card so that you can store pictures, music, and other information on a memory card. On the left side is your controller for the MP3 player, the volume control, and the voice command button that doubles as a feature toggle for the compass, countdown timer, and stopwatch. The bottom of the phone houses the plug for the charger and headset (the phone is also bluetooth compatible). This plug is protected by a relatively thick plug that keeps the water out. One other little item that shows up on this phone that was absent from the first generation is a hole for a lanyard for those that want to carry the phone on a string.
Charging Options...
Straight out of the box this phone has two different charging options. You can dock the phone in a cradle which is very nice. The phone remains fully functional so you can use the MP3 player, or talk on the speaker phone. Charging takes about two hours for the standard battery, and three for the extended battery.
You can also go with just the A/C cord which plugs into the bottom of the phone. When this option is used, you can talk on the phone regularly, and it is much easier to press the keys. If you are planning on using your phone while it is charging this is probably the best option.
Something to keep in mind here is that the phone has to be used to charge the batteries. I really wish this wasn't the case because I would like to have a battery charged while I was using the other one. With this design, even with two batteries I have to plug up the phone to charge each battery
Final Impressions...
Overall I really like this phone. It does everything that I ask it to do, and does it quite well. However, it is far from perfect, and there are some things that I would like to see different. That being said, what it is designed to do, it does so flawlessly. I have washed my phone off in a sink and made a call before all the water had dried up from the keypad. Sound quality is just fine by my standards and is as good as any phone that I have owned, including house phones. I feel very confident that this phone will stand up to much more abuse than I plan to subject it to.
The negatives are still compelling with this phone. In my opinion, the batteries are still the worst part of this phone. Even using both fully charged batteries, you aren't even looking at a full week of operation when they are new. Charging time is lengthy so you are looking at a lot of downtime, or at least inconvenience while the batteries are cooking. I would love to see this phone with a capable battery especially since there is really no significant drain over a similar basic phone model.
The other primary negative that I see with this phone is the dim keypad lighting. I use this phone a lot at night, and it is just barely adequate. Even if there was a brightness adjustment that would be great.
Personally, I really like this phone and would have no problems recommending it to somebody with certain conditions. Heavy phone users will likely have to charge every night, and charge both batteries at that. Those that like to access the internet would need to look for another phone as well. However, if you subject your phone to the elements often, or are rough with your phone, this one deserves your attention.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 0.00
Recommended for: Adventurous Technophiles - Tough and Durable
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
ncphototrekker
|
 in Electronics |
|
Member: Greg Kiser
Location: Winston-Salem, NC, USA
Reviews written: 43
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
I am a semi-professional landscape photographer based in North Carolina.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.