Casio G'zOne Boulder

The Casio G'zOne (pronounced "geez-one") Boulder (*Est. $80 with new contract; $160 with renewal) is a rugged clamshell cell phone built to withstand military tests -- and reviewers abuse it in various ways without wrecking it: freezing, drowning in saltwater and jello, throwing it, dropping it and running it over with a car. Professional reviews are divided, however, on whether it makes good phone calls, and there are plenty of owner reviews that say it doesn't. One owner review on Amazon.com says it's "like you are listening to someone talk from inside a cargo container sunk to the bottom of a lake." The addition of a compass sounds outdoorsy enough. Some reviews mention that function in passing, others say it's practically useless in a GPS era unless it's integrated with a map-inclusive navigation system. In other words, it's sort of like giving people an abacus when they are accustomed to a calculator. Owner reviews also frequently criticize battery life, promised at about 3.5 hours of talk time. InfoSync and CNET got about a half-hour more than promised, and PCMag.com and PhoneArena.com got a bit less than expected.

Reviews say the Casio G'zOne Boulder isn't especially good at anything except for having a tough exterior. One review says the "tiny, slippery keys align at a weird angle to make dialing and typing tough." Another says the 1.3-megapixel camera produces pretty good stills, but video options are "quite limited." One reviewer praises the speedy web browser via the EVDO network, but another says that despite being fast, it's very, very basic. On the plus side, the G'zOne Boulder has a microSD memory card slot (up to 8 GB) for music storage, support for instant messaging and email, Bluetooth, plus a 2-inch internal screen with pretty good (320 pixel by 240 pixel) resolution. InfoSync has a rankings list of rugged cell phones, with the Casio G'zOne Boulder rating fifth. The Motorola Adventure V750 (Discontinued) and Samsung Rugby (Discontinued) tie for the highest score there. If you don't need an especially rugged phone, PCMag.com's Sascha Segan recommends the LG Chocolate (Discontinued) or LG VX8350 for better call quality. The Motorola Adventure is also thought to have better call quality by some reviewers.

There's no shortage of credible, thorough reviews of the Casio G'zOne Boulder. InfoSync, CNET, PCMag.com, MobileBurn.com and DigitalTrends.com all offer complete coverage. ConsumerReports.org doesn't cover the Casio G'zOne Boulder. We also found helpful criticism in owner reviews at CNET, Amazon.com and PhoneDog.com.