Casio G’zOne Commando: Rugged Phone, Silly Name

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Casio’s G’zOne Commando may not be the prettiest Android smartphone on the block, but it’s a rare phone that can survive a splash in a puddle or a weekend in the freezing cold.

The Commando hits Verizon Wireless on Thursday for $200 with a two-year contract. Although it’s not the first phone in the unfortunately-named G’zOne series (pronounced G-Z-One), it’s the first G’zOne touch screen smartphone, with Android 2.2 and a 3.6-inch display. It joins T-Mobile’s Motorola Defy in the budding rugged smartphone category, though it hasn’t received the Oprah treatment.

Military toughness specs include -25 degrees Celsius low temperature, 85 degrees Celsius high temperature, four-foot drops, six hours of heavy dust, 24 hours of salt water spray and a meter of liquid immersion for 30 minutes. Casio’s also loading the phone with a bunch of outdoorsy apps, including a compass, walking counter, trip memory and tidal information.

As for the more mundane specs, there’s an 8 GB microSD card pre-loaded, 1 GB of on-board storage and a 5-megapixel camera, but no word on processor. The G’zOne Commando’s a bit thick at 0.6 inches, but if you’re the type that wraps an OtterBox or some other huge case around your smartphone, this is essentially the same thing.

(via Engadget)