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Commando Reliability

S

sig226

Lurker
I am strongly considering making the move to a smart phone. My basic phone (ravine) has been working great for 3 1/2 years and still is. Therefore I was considering getting the commando 4g. The people at verizon say stay away from it, the reviews are mixed. So I need some help. I need a reliable phone, I already know the commandos shortcomings in power and camera, I can live with that. But is the phone reliable? Am I going to end up with a constantly glitchy or phone that shuts off randomly? I like the commando, but if I have to I'll give up ruggedness for reliability and get a droid mini or some such. I don't plan to root the phone so if thats what has to be done to make it reliable I'll look for a different phone. Thanks again for your help.
 
It is mixed. Mine isn't the best of fastest phone. But Its the only phone I know of that can be directly exposed to water. I like it. But on the same regard I have a Galaxy S4 too.
 
Like you said, its a mixed bag. I am very happy with my commando since the JB update. To me, it runs jellybean better than the droid RAZR maxx I had before. That being said, I don't game, I mainly use the phone as a phone, an email device, and to look at the weather radar, all of which it does well. I have also rooted mine and use it to provide a wireless internet connection when there isn't internet available. It does this very well too.

Really the only problems I have had have been due to me hacking on it and now that I have a usable recovery even that's no longer an issue.
 
Ok, thanks for the help. The main thing I'm worried about is the phone randomly shutting off, that seems to be the main complaint that I've seen. Has this mostly been fixed?
 
I've had mine since they came out....mine does not shut off randomly....happy with it, spilled drink on it last night...no worries.
 
I have had mine since the day they came out. I love it. Never have I had it shut off randomly. In fact, I've not had the first glitch with it. It's been dropped in a creek, dropped in mud and washed off in a creek, lost in the National Forest for half a day (found it with my "WheresMyDroid" app), dropped from a the height of horseback onto rocks where it bounced several times, dropped onto concrete, ....... not a mark on it, glass has never broke, and I've never had a moment's problem with it. Absolutely love it and would not have any other phone in my line of work. I have quite a few apps and run email, browse internet, and have a complex professional Navigator app on it with enormous maps stored in it, and it continues to run quickly and smoothly.
 
Ok, thanks again for the help. I think I'm going to go for it. I like to play games but from what I saw I should be able to play most games reasonably well. Mainly I need it for a phone, I'm really only getting a smartphone because it's almost the same price as a basic phone. Thanks again.
 
Don't confuse this with the first model Commando. That one started off great then was turned into a piece of crap with updates. It would randomly shut off, reboot, or just lock up. This one has sufficient horsepower to run the os its on and does it well.
 
The Commando 4G runs good for me too. Sometimes it does bog down. But over all it does good. Hell its the only phone I have that Is just throw on the ground or take out in a rain or snow shower. Its built well. I'd buy one again.
 
I had previous G'zOne flip phones before getting the first Commando (3g). That phone was a pile of crap. It was always shutting off randomly, and I think it's reputation unfortunately rubbed off on the Commando 4g. I got the 4g a month or two ago. It has Android 4.1 on it, and it runs like a dream. I haven't had any issues with it whatsoever. My wife as the Razr Maxx HD, and I think this phone performs just as good, if not better than her phone.

I would highly recommend buying the extended battery. I bought one with the phone for a discounted price of $35 or so (since I bought it with the phone). The phone can go for 2 days with light use, or one full day with heavy gaming and WiFi on non-stop. The extended battery adds a bit of weight and girth, but is totally worth it.

Both my brothers and I have the Commando 4g, and all of us have recommended it to other people. I'm just glad the Casio G'zOne lineup redeemed itself with this phone.
 
The new galaxy s5 will share the same water,dust, and shock protection that the s4 active does. Spend your money there. If my commando hadn't been free I would have been livid.
 
This is a decent phone, don't shy from it because of glitches.

The first one of these phones I got lasted a couple months before it started doing the random shut-off, and over the course or 3 days it did it worse until it simply would not power on at all (regardless of using a charger, removing/replacing battery, etc).

Verizon swapped it per warranty.

Anyhow, my replacement phone has worked nearly flawlessly. I suggest you install Nova Launcher (paid version, it's cheap). Nova Launcher is a HUGE improvement over the user interface that comes native to this phone. I use it on EVERY Android device I have since it smooths out the differences in the user interfaces (3 different Android versions that all look/function about the same).

I've found the phone to handle anything I need it to. If you are new to smartphones, you probably aren't an advanced user, and this phone will be fine. Even plays video reasonably well.
 
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