Discontinued?

[space wrangler]

Is the Commando 4G discontinued? It's not on VZW or Amazon and Best Buy shows it as no longer available.

Casio G'zOne Commando 4G LTE Cell Phone C811 - Best Buy

 

[rjglenn]

Huh. The Ravine 2 is gone from the basic phone lineup as well. I gues Casio & Verizon have parted ways...

My cousin tried to buy one last week at a corporate store and he said they didn't have any, weren't familiar with it, and couldn't find it in the computer. I thought he was mistaken but I guess not.

 

[space_cat]

Maybe casio is clearing the way for their rugged 5g phone with teleportation and laser drilling apps.

In all seriousness, I really hope this is not the end of the gzone line. No one else makes as rugged a phone IMO. Even on their japanese site there is no sign of anything new on the horizon.

RJGlenn, how was your trip, or are you still sipping delicious European beers in some snowy chalet somewhere?

 

[rjglenn]

The trip was fantastic. I dranks lots of delicious beer from many locations. The phone worked great, a little too great as I ran up just shy of $200 in roaming charges. Thanks for asking.

 

[space_cat]

I did a little more research on this subject. It looks like NEC, parent company of Casio, has gone out of the smartphone business just after our phone was released last year. So I think it's goodbye Gz'One.

NEC Pulls the Plug on Smartphones - Digits - WSJ

NEC to exit smartphone business after failed deal with Lenovo: Nikkei | Reuters?

 

[rjglenn]

Well then, I guess that's that. I've owned a Rock, a Ravine, the original Commando, this version Commando, and I have a Ravine 2 for work. I guess next time I'll have to go with another brand.

 

[space_cat]

My contract isn't up for another 11 months, so we'll see what new phones arise in that time period.

ATM VZW is currently offering the rugged Kyocera Brigadier. Bear Grylls is their spokesperson, so it must be good. It does have a sapphire screen (screens being the weakest point of any phone IMO. The Samsung S5 Active is probably the best bet--decent specs and semi-rugged.

I'd really love a high-end bombproof, waterproof phone with a great camera. There are rugged standalone cameras that can be safely submerged to 50 or more feet. Why not a phone that can do the same? Time will tell I guess.

 

[space wrangler]

Read about the Brigadier. Only obvious drawback for me is that the battery is sealed and not servicable.

 

[callmecolt]

To bad they are going away. I really liked the phones. Been using them for years.

 

[runsondiesel]

Me too. It seems everything I like isn't popular enough to continue. I guess this means there will be no further software or OS updates. The Kyocera would fit the bill, but I really don't like the idea of a non-removable battery. Plus the reviews on VZW's site are not complimentary about call quality. After all, it IS a phone.

 

[crackpipe]

As I recall, gz'one never got very good reviews on verizon. It seemed like the reviewers never actually owned a casio. I beat the crap out of mine daily, and it has never failed me.

 

[mlrz24]

That sucks. Have been using Casio phones for years too. Tons of better phones to pick from out there now though that are just as water resistant.

 

[runsondiesel]

That sucks. Have been using Casio phones for years too. Tons of better phones to pick from out there now though that are just as water resistant.

I could get by without the water resistance . What's more important to me is the shock resistance. The Moto Razr Maxx HD I had didn't survive an encounter with a hardwood floor.

I too had a Rock and a first gen Commando before this Commando.

 

[runsondiesel]

As I recall, gz'one never got very good reviews on verizon. It seemed like the reviewers never actually owned a casio. I beat the crap out of mine daily, and it has never failed me.

You're right about that, but the reviews on the various phone sites specifically mention the call quality too. So maybe I should finally root this thing. Opinions on the pros and cons?

 

[rjglenn]

Pros: You can freeze or delete the bloat that you ordinarily can't disable. If you are of a mind to, you can enable free tethering. You can install the CWM recovery that will allow you to clear the cache', make a backup of the phone, and install apps to the system area.

Cons: Voids the warranty, but if your phone is over a year old the warranty is up anyway. Performing some of the above tasks can brick your phone - which is why you make a back-up so hopefully you can restore it.

As far as call quality, it's terrible. I have hearing problems & to me it's so bad that I carry a flip phone on prepay so I can do business - interestingly enough a Casio Ravine 2. I rarely use it as a phone except when overseas. The call quality is much better on GSM than CDMA. I use it for email, quickly looking up parts and stuff on the internet, providing internet to my tablet and laptop computer, and to play music.

 

[runsondiesel]

Pros: You can freeze or delete the bloat that you ordinarily can't disable. If you are of a mind to, you can enable free tethering. You can install the CWM recovery that will allow you to clear the cache', make a backup of the phone, and install apps to the system area.

Cons: Voids the warranty, but if your phone is over a year old the warranty is up anyway. Performing some of the above tasks can brick your phone - which is why you make a back-up so hopefully you can restore it.

As far as call quality, it's terrible. I have hearing problems & to me it's so bad that I carry a flip phone on prepay so I can do business - interestingly enough a Casio Ravine 2. I rarely use it as a phone except when overseas. The call quality is much better on GSM than CDMA. I use it for email, quickly looking up parts and stuff on the internet, providing internet to my tablet and laptop computer, and to play music.

My first generation Commando was rooted and I did it primarily because of the small storage size and RAM. I don't remember having recovery on that one. I didn't like being unable to update the OS after rooting it, though it remained gingerbread forever, even with the updates. I have a rooted HP Touchpad with CWM recovery and Cyanogenmod on it, so I'm not a stranger to going that route.

With the larger capacity of the current Commando as far as storage, processor and RAM, I've not found rooting it to be a compelling proposition. I also have a 64gb sd card in it. I was looking to see if there were pros I wasn't thinking of. My plan includes Mobile Hot Spot. To me the biggest pro would be to put in AdFree to get rid of all the ads in free apps, like on my Touchpad. Hope springs eternal that Casio will come out with an update to KitKat, and I'd prefer not to be locked out of that because though I've had this Commando since launch, it's looking like a long term keeper.

I was referring to what I had read regarding the call quality of the Kyocera Brigade. I find the Commando's call quality to be fine. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks much for the viewpoint rjglenn.

David

 

[rjglenn]

From your post it doesn't look like there would be much advantage in rooting your phone. I have addfree on mine and it works okay as long as you keep it updated, but not as well as older phones. I guess the ad content providers are getting more clever.

The app Portable Wi-Fi hotspot works well as it uses the stock hotspot app and somehow bypasses the entitlement check and does not require root. Kitkat would break this so I'm not interested at this point. Our Ukrainian friend Doctoror has made the last two updates into flashable zips for the CWM users and he would probably make one for any future updates so I'm not concerned about being off the update path.

This thread is the only time I've heard about the Kyocera Brigade so I can't comment. I did have a Kyocera flip phone years ago on Sprint that I did not like but that was after many years on Nextel so I was new to CDMA anyway.

 

[supercad79]

This is sorta disappointing. I did like the first gen Commando and was looking forward to upgrading to the current one. That did pan out since Verizon wouldn't let me upgrade without shelling out some serious cash, so I decided to switch to T-Mo. I have the Xperia Z1s, and while that is a nice phone I was hoping that Casio would stop making the G-Zone (Jeez One sounds wrong) for Verizon only and allow other carriers to offer them. I've had three of their MIL-Spec phones and they all took a beating and still worked fine. The Z1s has the water resistance, but still looks like it would explode if I dropped it. I was really looking forward to another rugged MIL-Spec phone so hopefully another MFG will step up.

 

[space_cat]

Waterproof Rugged Smartphones IP67 IP68