Casio's G'zOne Boulder doesn't do much, but what it does do, it does anywhere, anytime and under (almost) any circumstances. After launching a few weeks back on Verizon, the ultra-rugged handset has been reviewed over at CNET, and needless to say, it managed to handle a few dips in the pool and a couple close encounters with a wall with nary an issue. Unfortunately, the phone faltered at handling its most important task: making calls. Call quality in San Francisco was said to be "hugely disappointing," with most calls sounding "crackly" with a dash of "static and echo" for good measure. The extra features (camera, multimedia player, V Cast, etc.) were all decent, but nothing truly stood out as phenomenal. Overall, the Boulder is probably only a safe bet if you're dead set on the design and toughness, but even still, we'd try out a few other hardcore handsets before settling on one with lackluster call quality.

The second piece in Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A push-to-talk puzzle is getting pushed out the door today -- so if you weren't feeling last week's Motorola Adventure V750 launch, you've got another option to check out. The rugged G'zOne Boulder from Casio brings an integrated compass, 1.3 megapixel cam, VZ Navigator support, and a microSD slot; it's available both in orange / black and black / silver, but at launch, only the silver version will be optionally available without a camera. Look for it to start trickling through the standard retail channels today for $179.99 before a $50 rebate on a new two-year contract.

Training materials from Verizon break down the nitty gritty on just what makes its new EV-DO Rev. A-based push-to-talk network better than the outgoing 1xRTT-based system, and apart from a totally unnecessary cameo by the "Can you hear me now?" guy, it's pretty enlightening. First, we learn that users will now be able to rock 500 individual contacts, 100 group contacts, and 50 contacts per group, up from 150, 50, and 20, respectively. As we've known, it'll also support presence, meaning callers will know whether you're available to annoy everyone around you before they hit the button. The slides on the two launch devices -- the Motorola V750 Adventure and Casio G'zOne Boulder -- don't reveal much new information, but we do see here that the black / silver version of the Boulder will be available with or without a camera for companies that like to clamp down on those sorts of things. See the rest after the break.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Alright, so here's one more picture we dug up -- turns out black won't be the only color available for Casio's latest piece of Verizon kit, the Boulder. Multiple color options for a G'zOne aren't unprecedented, but what is unprecedented is for the second color option to be straight-up wild, and in the Boulder's case, we'd say that this shade of orange certainly qualifies as "wild." We've also learned that the phone clocks in at 2.02 x 3.94 x 0.91 inches, making it close to a quarter-inch thinner than the Type-S it replaces. It'll feature a 1.3 megapixel camera -- a modest spec bump -- and, of course, EV-DO Rev. A-based push-to-talk services. Shouldn't be but a few more weeks, months, or years before we can start dropping these into pools and throwing them against brick walls ourselves.

Verizon's G'zOne devices from Casio seems to attract a small but fiercely loyal following, mainly on account of their everything-proof shells (let's be honest, we don't think it's the VGA camera that's been drawing 'em in). Rugged and PTT go hand-in-hand -- just ask Nextel -- so it's great news that the next G'zOne will be supporting Verizon's new EV-DO Rev. A-based push-to-talk infrastructure out of the box. We've managed to score a couple pieces of miscellany pertaining to the so-called Boulder, most importantly a diagram pointing out some of the phone's distinctive features. Just how distinctive are we talking about here? Well, if you look for another phone in Verizon's lineup with a screw-lock battery cover and charging contacts outside of the G'zOne series, we guarantee you're not going to find one. One difference between the Boulder and its Casio brethren, though, is that we're told this one looks "significantly slimmer." Another shot shows the back of the real, actual phone; no renders this time, we promise -- check it out after the break.

The FCC has mercifully approved a new rugged G'zOne model from Casio named "Boulder," bearing a dual-band CDMA radio with EV-DO. If we had to wager a guess, we'd have to say the flip is likely the c711 we heard about a few days back, meaning that it'll be one of the very first devices to support Verizon's new EV-DO Rev. A-based push-to-talk service -- which as we learned, is most definitely not QChat. Little else is known about the device from the FCC filing, but we imagine we'll be hearing about it straight from Big Red in the not-too-distant future.

[Via Phone Scoop]