Casio G'zOne phone to hit Verizon Wireless' shelves

by Michael Caputo, posted Oct 17th 2006 at 12:17PM

We have all cringed a bit when our cellphone has dropped out of our pocket or out of our waist holster to hit the cold concrete below and leave our perfect device with scratches, dents, a cracked display, or just simply broken. Well Verizon Wireless customers can rest a little easier with the introduction of the latest device to their ever expanding lineup, the Casio G'zOne (aka the LG CanU 502). And it's not like this phone is all show and no go either, folks, This phone is military spec water and shock resistant, and hooks you up with a 2.0 megapixel camera with video, speakerphone, supports VZ Navigator, Get It Now, and Vcast Video. Roc a fella says the device will be priced as follows: $420 full retail, $350 one year, and $300 for a two year. A little pricey for the rugged, but look for this device to in retail channels on October 23rd.

Filed under: Handsets, Verizon Wireless, 1xRTT, EV-DO, CDMA

Tags: casio, g'zone, UTStarcom

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Mike Pacific @ Oct 17th 2006 1:36PM

The more I drop my phone (a lot) the more I miss the ruggedness of my old Nextel phones. I kind of wish Cingular had a few quality rugged phones.

Neutral

TJ @ Oct 17th 2006 1:56PM

I seen this phone in person, and it really is water proof. I saw it at the digital life show in NYC, this past week. I have a pic of it.

Neutral

dave @ Oct 17th 2006 4:53PM

How long until sprint gets this waterproof wonder?

And verizon's going to restrict the waterproofing to proprietary V CAST water only, and only if you pay 80 dollars a month and relinquish all of your MP3 playback and OBEX profiles.

I love thin phones, but this would be a perfect compliment to that olympus 702SW camera i'm getting for the holidays.

After seeing videos of the CanU 502, I can tell you that it's waterproof, sports a compass program that uses the external display, much more shockproof than even my tank-of-a-phone LG PM325(that i've thrown across movie theatres and out bus windows and still works), and if casio gives the US the same version they gave LG to resell in louth korea, stand-out lime and orange faceplates. disadvantages of the US version (as far as i can tell) are the fact that it's a VZ exclusive, and has that horrendus VZ software.

Neutral

matt @ Oct 17th 2006 11:13PM

it would be nice if there were more gsm rugged phones as it would be nice to swap a sim to one when needed as opposed to carrying it all the time....

Neutral

Diane @ Oct 18th 2006 5:06PM

I work for VZW; saw the phone a few months back when a Casio rep came to show us; it's pretty nice, I get a kick out of the stickers (place ear here to listen to sound); something to that extent, it's dummy proof, I can say that! Just be careful because not all phones can resist, although this one can! Oh, be sure to add insurance in case you drop it, and it does break!

Neutral

KC @ Oct 19th 2006 3:31PM

Well, at least they updated the features of this now 2 year old phone. The original Japanese version only had a 1.3MP camera and was not 1x WIN (AKA 1x EV-DO everywhere outside of Japan)

To bad they had to add that darn stub antenna to it though! Takes away from the sexyness of the phone quite a bit.

Now, how is this going to be marketed in the USA? As a Casio or a UTStarcom? I am guessing we will know this phone as the UTStarcom NX9200

Neutral

dave @ Oct 19th 2006 4:38PM

and anonymous dude, RAZR is the ugliest ever.

Neutral

Ichi316 @ Oct 20th 2006 10:45AM

No bluetooth and still pricey---it will be 99.99 by new years if not cheaper

Neutral

Sascha Segan @ Oct 22nd 2006 7:14PM

It's branded as the "Verizon G'zOne Type-V." All the physical labels on the phone say Casio. UT isn't mentioned anywhere on the phone.

I like it. I've had several requests for a rugged CDMA phone from various people in my time, and I like the G-Shock look on the front. I'd buy it for my wife, who has dropped phones from time to time. if we didn't just get a pair of Motorola E815s for ourselves. Also, the waterproofness is real, and it takes photos and video underwater, which is kind of awesome. (Check out my slideshow in the review above.)

Bluetooth is a sad omission but not fatal for a product like this with such a unique feature. And I wouldn't expect it on Sprint at all; it sounded to me like Verizon, UTStar and Casio worked together as a sort of special project to bring this to the US.

Neutral

anonymous dude @ Oct 26th 2006 2:56AM

UGLIEST PHONE EVER

Neutral

doogy @ Jan 10th 2007 4:35PM

I wish i could find it in Northern Alberta.

Neutral

doogy @ Jan 10th 2007 4:38PM

Wish i could find it in northern Alberta

Neutral

doogy @ Jan 10th 2007 4:49PM

I wish i could find it in northern Alberta,Canada.

Neutral

Shannon Duffy @ Feb 12th 2007 8:53PM

I have this phone and it's perfect in every way. I highly recommend it. I use my phone a lot and have had trouble with other more fragile phones due to my manhandling and occasional carelessness. It's also nice to know I can answer the phone while taking a shower and not risk a battery short out.

Neutral

Karen @ May 7th 2007 1:34PM

What cell phone syncing kits can connect the G'z One type V to a Mac?

Neutral

Will @ May 26th 2007 10:59AM

I was so tired of the phones I kept getting with the plans, it seamed like they would stop working 1-1/2 years into my two year plan. I hope this phone last 5 years. It is rugged, and Casio has made the software (at least for operating the phone) very user frindly. From voice commands to checking messages, the phone is simple. Pictures are a wiz.
I bought my teenage boy one, this should be intersting.

Neutral

K.Burns @ May 29th 2007 4:25PM

I had a total of four of these phones. Loved the idea cause I'm hard on phones. Had a software glitch in the first one having to do with speed dial selection, screen would freeze, required battery R/R to correct. Provider replaced w/ new. Every thing was fine with that one, and the next three except the constant dropped calls. Now before you start yelling service provider, I did alot of extensive testing side by side with my old Kyocera, and my wife's Raz'r. At home, in the car, in places where I had never had reception problems before, and still did'nt with the old phones, everyone was begging me to get rid of the thing, even my technologically challenged mom. Finally had to go back to the old Kyocera so I could complete my conversations. Too bad, cause I really wanted this phone to work out.

Neutral

K.Burns @ May 29th 2007 4:25PM

Neutral

ken @ Jul 9th 2007 2:32PM

Water proof Ha! I was in water 20 minutes phone in pocket snorkeling never went over three feet deep, ports never opened up and it quit. apparently leaked around bottom port and verizon will not cover under warranty. I got so I did not need insurance. I think I will go back to plain phone and insurance 17 year verizon customer.

Neutral

Kenneth @ Jul 16th 2007 10:59AM

I have the G'Zone type V, and here's an important note to anyone that is having battery and/or signal strength-dropped calls problems: after the battery draining itself every day (less than 8 hours on standby) and pathetic signal strengths, I stopped by my friendly Verizon store thinking I'd at least get a new battery. Lo and behold, they asked for 30 minutes with the phone to do a "software upgrade" (can't be done over the air), and returned to me a perfectly working (no dropped calls, full signal strength) phone with an outstanding battery life. According to the tech, there were a few software settings that were hosed on these phones from the factory, and the update fixed them all.

I love this phone. It's big, ugly, and has survived multiple drops onto concrete, into a pool, and a hot tub with nary a scratch. Something my previous 3 LG Chocolates could not do. :-(

Go for it.

Neutral

greg @ Sep 13th 2007 7:59AM

I have this phone and love it. i work as an aircraft mechanic for southwest airlines and have a very rough work place especially during the cold winter months in chicago outside. this phone is as roughed as they come. although they are water proof they still recommend that you not let it stay directly in water for more them a few minutes.

Neutral

Frank Knight @ Feb 4th 2008 1:50PM

Howdy Kenneth,
Thanks Bro'.... I have had mine for for over two-months and here about 4-days ago it started draining the battery while on standby in like 8-hours it would beep to tell me the battery is low! It had been staying charged for 5-7 days before that I was really impressed.
I spend a lot of time in my neighborhood north cascade mountains and it has better reception than the motorola's I had always been sold on and hasn't let me down until the battery trip started. I just ordered another battery on ebay!

Neutral

tami @ Sep 21st 2007 11:19AM

I received this phone for work (I am in law enforcement) and the sturdiness is definitely a PLUS. HOWEVER, I can't hear ANYONE on it. It sounds like the person is in a tunnel. Pretty useless NOW!

Neutral

Captaind @ Dec 1st 2007 7:25PM

Bought one for my son 6 months ago, works great and survived a trip into the swimming pool. No more dropped calls than my other Verizon phone and also works well with my wife's hearing aids. Really a rugged phone but the down side is battery life. Lucky to get a day of moderate calling out of it. Charges faster than most but they need to offer a longer lasting battery.

Neutral

dan @ May 25th 2009 9:58AM

will this phone work in the uk G'zOne TYPE-R CDMA 1X ????????????????????????????? thx

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