Verizon G'zOne Boulder User Reviews

Ok I don't know about everyone else but being that this phone just came out I have already exchanged it once and maybe a second time. The earpiece is very bad. The distortion when people talk is bad. If you need to increase the volume to hear someone on the other end it gets even worse. I hope they do a recall for this problem. Dont buy this piece of crap. If you want a durable phone that you hate to use because you cant hear your friends and family buy it. Can someone let me know if there is a recall out there. Thanks...

I've read almost every review out there for this phone and really thought it was going to suck, but I still had to buy it because I've always wanted a waterproof tough practical phone. So far I've been pretty damn impressed.

I know everyone's greatest complaint is the audio quality. Right when I got the phone in the mail, I would try calling out and it automatically brought me to a default Verizon recording that said I had to activate my phone. The recording sounded horrible like everyone else has mentioned. After activation of my phone, there was an automatic software (firmware) update that I believe has fixed this problem (I can't be for certain though). But anyway, right now the audio is great on this phone, I've listened to old voicemails that I could barely understand before and they are now clear as day. If you are operating on max volume it can sound a little weird though, but you shouldn't have to use if you have the phone properly placed on your ear. If your having audio problems, just move the phone around on your ear a bit, its weird how much the audio quality can change.

The second most complained about issue is battery life. The first thing I did when I got this phone was turn PTT off, I'm pretty sure its a power hog to keep a connection to the network at all times. So far though, I really can't complain about battery life. Right now I am halfway though my second day without charging and I still have 2/4 bars left. This is with about 20 minutes of phone calls and 100 texts a day. I really can't ask for much more and haven't gotten any better out of other phones. I am still considering the extended battery that lasts twice as long, but don't know if I really need it and the extra bulk that it comes along with.

Speaking of bulk, this phone isn't really that big at all. I was expecting a pocket monster, but it fits fine in the pocket or wherever you want to fit it. My old phone was very thin, which I liked, but could never tell if I had it with me or had lost it somewhere. With this guy you can tell its in your pocket without it being a pain. So overall good sizing!

Another biggie is reception. With my old phone, a Samsung that has always won reception wars,(I don't actually have wars, friends just use my phone a lot when they don't have a signal), I often did find dead spots. I travel a lot and often won't be able to communicate because of the whole no bars no service screen. So far I have went right though the old dead spots and haven't had a problem. This phone still works fine with no bars and I have never lost service with it so far. I'm sure it will use a little more power keeping the good service though.

The thing I do like the most about this phone is the functionality. Its great looking, sharp (I don't believe in calling pieces of plastic sexy) and extremely practical. The external display is always on to check the time, date, battery life, signal strength, who's calling or missed calls and texts. One feature I really like is that when you do get a call or text, the external LED light flashes different colors. It really catches the eye if you are working in an office or library where you need to be quite but would still like to keep in touch.

Some things I don't like so far are all software issues, so hopefully they can be updated. 1) No backup assistant for contacts. 2) I have turned on text, call, and voice mail reminders so the phone will alert me every two minutes when I miss one. My gripe with this is that it plain and simply doesn't do this. 3)There is a lag when you go to your text message in box or outbox if you have messages in them. This one is just annoying, and I noticed you can speed it up if you press down as to start scrolling through your messages. That's all I can think of for negatives right now. I will try to post any fixes I find for these.

Some wishes I have would be if the external display would stay lighted when charging, this would be a nice clock at night while in the cradle. Something else that would be cool is a cradle car charger, that would just kick ass. Also if the external LED could keep flashing until you answer a text or check a missed call that would be very cool.

This phone has tons of awesome features that I could just keep talking and talking about, but one that I haven't seen anybody mention yet is a shower radio. I threw my 2GB microSD card in here that was full of good tunes and rocked out in the shower. The audio is no Bose, but it does that damn thing!

Overall, I do highly recommend this phone for anyone who is looking for something that they can put in there pocket and just not worry about. It's really not to awesome to be controlled by the weakness of your phone. You don't have to worry if your phones in your pocket and you decide to jump in the water. You don't have to worry if you leave your phone sit in the sun all day (ruined a couple this way). You don't have to worry if you throw your phone in the nail pouch on your tool belt. This phone is going to just keep kicken along with you no matter how bad you treat it. So far I just love the peace of mind that this phone has given me.

I've had the phone for a cople of weeks. The sound quality is muffled and the battery needs to be on the charger almost as much as in use. I'm not a long talker and use no special features. I need to charge it almost every day. The only attractive feature is the ruggedized construction. I'm not impressed.

I have had the phone for about two weeks and I love it. With my job in IT, I needed a phone that could stand up to being "tossed" around a bit. The sound quality may not be the best, but it is equivalent to the other phones that I have had. I have not had any problems with it.

I was quite happy with my last phone - a VX8000 - until it got wet on a water ride. it stopped working and never came fully back to life. I have a waterproof digital camera that I love, and I was determined to get a waterproof phone.

Enter the GZone.

My first problem was obtaining it. I ordered it from VW and was told it was in stock. After waiting and not getting it, I called again and was told that it was no longer in stock and I would have to wait. VW was supposed to call to let me know when I would be getting my phone. I'm still waiting for that call.

Meanwhile, I saw some VW TV ads for the phone. So I called VW again. Again I was told it was in stock, and again I ordered it. This time, it DID arrive, but Verizon wanted to charge me an extra $79. It took a bit of escallation to get VW to honor my original order.

FINALLY, after 6 weeks of haggling, it arrived. They said they would ship a blue one, but what came was black and silver, which is fine by me.

It has pretty much the same features as my old VX8000. All I really care is that it works when wet. It is a little smaller and lighter, with is fine. Its a bit harder to open, which I assume I'll get used to. I like not having the post antenna. I'm concerned that the plugs covering various ports may not be watertight after some usage, but for now they are fine.

The sound quality of the earpiece is horrible. Its better when turned down a bit. I've also tried using the speaker as an alternative. It is something I guess I'll have to put up with, but there are many times when I cannot even make out what is being said. A bluetooth earpiece might be the best solution.

It is also very apparent that the battery life is rather short. It'll last a day, but not much more. I'm sure I'll be getting an extended battery when the price comes down a bit.

My immediate solution was to get a USB travel charger, USB car charger, and charging USB data cable. I ordered the cable from VW to be sure it was the correct one. The cable VW shipped said it was compatible with VX8500, VX8600, VX9400, and VX9900. On the box, Verizon slapped a "Boulder" sticker. The box also contained a CD that had nothing on it but a URL to Verizon's download site.

After hours and hours on the phone with VW tech support, we have come to the conclusion that the data cable does not work on any computer with any O/S in the known universe. Furthermore, the VW charging data cable requires a separate, addional charger rather than taking power from the USB port. (VW's way of hitting the comsumer up for more money.) Doesn't matter - I dont need to pay $20 for a charger extension cable, and that's all its good for. I returned it.

I figure I'll get a compatible cable off eBay for a buck or two and wait for someone to write *working* drivers for BitPim

I tried the camera, and it took some decent picutres from what I can tell. The camera controls are easier to use than my old VX8000. There's lots of memory for an extensive addres book, so that's another plus.

I have some concerns, but the bottom line for me is that if it still works at the beach, I'm happy.

I sent mine back,, they sent me another,,same piece of junk! I guess i will go with the adventure now.

I was targeted by a VZW text for special early upgrade. I had a GZOne and am generally happy with it. Got my Boulder yesterday and am packing it up to send back today.
The speaker sound is weak, tinny, muffled, and otherwise distorted. I was getting headaches trying to understand a friend I talked to.
The Keypad back light is so weak as to be TOTALLY USELESS.
I cannot believe that Casio and VZW put this garbage out there for sale. For some reason, VZW seems unable to field their PTT and Quality in the same handset. I had a Gen I V60P and it was junk. Then go the Gen II LG (silver with big black top mount speaker) and it, too, was junk.
The Boulder is JUNK!!! Never got to try the PTT as it showed that it was "disabled" or similar wording even though I paid to have it set up. Also, battery life was not impressive and VZW was out of the extended batteries, which is no surprise as they seem to always have issues with any accessories you need anymore. I don't know why they are always out of spare batteries for whatever phone I might need one for. Can't get them for my GZOne, either, which is bad as I am going back to it.
Common sense should dictate that a phone used as a radio will likely be used in noisy environments and the speaker feature should be loud (really loud, not half-@$$ loud) and CLEAR. This phone is not even close on either of these features.
Verizon should be ashamed.

Just arrived today & since I've been following these complaints since BEFORE I ordered this phone, I'm not terribly surprised by what I've found since its arrival. This phone is actually a replacement/trade-in for another Verizon phone I got with my service subscription about 20 days ago; 1st. one was the Motorola W755 and although a nice phone wasn't as ruggedly built as I felt I needed based on my normal activities.
First thing I noticed upon making first call WAS that horrible, crackly-static sounding distortion that accompanied the voice coming across the earphone. So...I followed the one prior reviewers suggestion by turning the Privacy option OFF, but also found that didn't help the problem. Then I tried a couple different things...such as holding the earpiece just a bit lower than the opening of my ear, i.e. gently pressing it onto my upper cheek just below my ear & surpisingly enough, it DID help eliminate the distortion heard thru the earpiece while still allowing me to hear thru it just fine. I then followed that up by lowering the earpiece's volume level a couple notches below Maximum and again, it virtually eliminated the high level crackliness enough so that I can hold it over the opening of my ear normally. NOTE: I still do have that Privacy option turned OFF although I question whether it's doing anything at all based on the fact that before I tried the subsequent "tricks"...it didn't make any difference at all. Now that I've been playing around with all the rest of its features I've really come to like it a lot, as it does offer many more features than the MOT W-755 did. Also, I've tested it with my Plantronics Explorer 370 military grade earpiece & they work great together, also eliminating the hi level distortion I first encountered. Same for using the exterior "speakerphone" option of the phone itself. So....alll things considered I'm now pretty happy with it & am glad I gave its earphone a chance to work by playing around with it a little & didn't cancel the order for it as I was initially tempted to do after having read the above evals...something I was VERY tempted to do. One other thing: I called the Verizon store to see about obtaining a leather case for it like the one I had for the MOT W-755. Guess what: the store advised me that there isn't one currently available for the latest G''zOne incarnation (i.e. the Boulder) & they don't know when one will be available. That was disappointing as I've always used a leather clip-on case with all my prior cellphones so-as to reduce wear & tear on it. They said all they have to offer for it is a "one-size-fits-all" leather case or one of the hard plastic clip-on devices. Sure seems like Verizon would've had their ducks all in a row prior to releasing this particular phone, especially in light of its relatively high sugg. retail price that's in excess of $400!! It's quite evident to nearly anyone that the earpiece DOES crackle & distort very badly at the phone's factory settings and prior to having to spend some "trial & error" time messing with all the various settings just to get an acceptable sound from the earpiece. AND one would also think that Verizon would wait to release it until at least a few of the most commonly purchased accessories were also ready for release.
Nevertheless....despite these obvious shortcomings I've found that overall I do like the phone a lot & since I'm on a 2-year contract calling plan, I'll likewise have the opportunity to see if this phone really does hold up over time to "military specs" as advertised.

NO...I'm definitely NOT a Verizon employee just because I've stated here that I've fiddled around with it enough to come up with "fixes" for the above stated problems, and because I've said that overall I DO like the phone. I agree with everyone else above that Casio (or whatever factory DOES make it) does need to correct the earpiece's issues as one shouldn't have to fiddle around with it at all just find a way to make listening to its earpiece acceptable, and furthermore I also agree that with the others in saying that I cannot imagine how Casio didn't also detect the unacceptable distortion levels at the phone's factory volume settings.

Also...I too am finding that the battery life isn't nearly as long as I'd like it to be. Although I plan to purchase a 2nd. "extra life" battery to make up for the factory installed battery's short life, I believe Casio should strongly consider using one of them in the first place in future "Boulder" releases.

BTW...the orange/black color just wasn't for me so I got the silver/black one instead & am very happy with its appearance. I find brightly colored phones to be just a bit too gawdy for my tastes!!

END RESULT: I do like the phone's rugged construction & it's features enough to make up for the time I had to spend experimenting to find a way to make it's earpiece acceptable to listen to.

turned off PTT the moment I powered up after initial full charge -- so my judgment of its horrible battery life were based on this anyway. it doesn't help. god, I can't imagine it being worse, with PTT?

and the Voice Privacy, it doesn't fix the terrible sound. i think the reviewer below works for Verizon and is doing damage control. face it folks, this phone stinks and VZ is going to be dealing with the ramifcations of this poor release for along time.

i bet a lot of people who say they like it also are fooling themselves because, like me, they wanted to like it so much. don't accept crap people.

I guess I'm not alone. Bought 3 Boulders for the family and every one of them has lousy sound quality through the ear speaker. How can such a piece of **** even be released to the public? I am bringing my phones back without a doubt. What's the point of having a rugged phone when you can't understand the person talking to yoiu?!

took it right back. got the adventure instead. muffled sound thru earpiece .no signal.granted the adventure is not water resistant.but the sound is good,screen is bigger,software is fast.speakerphone& ringer is loud &crisp.caiso needs to go back to the type v.

This is a great phone. If anyone would spend some time in the menu, they would find that by default the "voice privacy" is set ON. If you have a problem hearing the audio, TRY TURNING IT OFF!!!!!! in the past verizon had this feature turned off by default, but with the new software, and new hardware compatibilities, they must have choosen a different setting. (it may be that way on all new verizon phones) After about 30 minutes with this phone I noticed this default setting. I have not had any problems with powering down and I ordered the extended life battery when I ordered the phone so I haven't had any problems with battery life. (they aren't asking a whole lot for the battery). Sometimes the tool is only as good as it's user, so spend some time with any new phone you get and play with the settings. I have mine paired with the Blueant Z9i, fantastic mates. The first thing I did when I got to work, was bounce if off the top of a table and a wall.... it didn't blink. The Docking station is wonderful and in the wireless world there is no need for a hardlined headset. if you are getting this phone for the durablility, you must be looking for a decent fitting bluetooth headset too so you won't need the adaptor. I bought this phone to use with work. Still no option for underscores and other symbols in the software, but maybe one day you won't have to have a qwerty keyboard for adding e-mail addresses in your phone.... Come on Verizon work on the extra features, you know people do use underscores in thier e-mails.
One other thing... I got this phone for $29.99 I saw this price while I was logged into my VZW acct. and they almost didn't honor it, but I got a hold of an excellent customer service rep that really cared about his customers... this must be getting harder and harder to do with verzion as I went through about 8 customer service reps untill I actually felt I got one that cared... Good luck everyone and be aware of the default settings.

I got this phone in order to take a full use of military specs. First of all this phone is a looker with a nice specs (on paper) and good signal strength. However, I noticed that battery does not stay in place as it should be but rather moves a bit (about 1 mm from side to side). That made me worry how this phone can be water proof with that kind of the gap. So before taking to real world adventure, I test it in the comfort of my own bathroom sink. 10 min under 6 inches of water AND .... what did you expect. Of course, this phone is dead!!! Can't power it own...so I dried it overnight and next morning it came back to live BUT...there is a moisture accumulated under the front lens. Also sound quality wasn't the best on the first place, after soaking it was horrible, it reminded me of the sounds produced by deep sea divers over their communication lines. I returned this phone back to Verizon, they accepted me without question asked. This phone is defiantly a miss on Casio part. Don't blame Verizon for a phone that it didn't produce, their service is the best in the Northern California rural area (at&t and sprint don't even have a signal where I live).

Plain and Simple here it is ill list all the cons first

Cons:
1) Ear Speaker has a distortion to it when put on full blast but no one understands that this phone is water proof and in order to seal the speaker there is a plastic that lines the head unit to block water to enter and when the phone is set to loud it vibrates it more than the previous model because its thinner and less bulky so the plastic is closer the the speaker but it is bearable as long as you don't blast the sound there is no nead. DO Research before complaining.

2) Decent Battery life Could be a bit better but deff. Bearable w/o a doubt

Pros:
1) Reliable phone
2) Better camera by far from previous models
3) Very Light for rugged phone
4) Flash Light Very Handy
5) Nice Compass Feature
6) 10x better main display then previous model
7) MICO SD card which finaly made a smart move to extract your info
8) Custom red/silver ring in front
9) nice size key pad with nice menu option in the phone
10) MP3 capable so ring tones sound crisp compared to the type-s model
11) Nice Out side clock display



Plain and simple this is not a multi- media bells and whistle phone so do not depend on it for that but for an adventure in the mountainside id recommend it. its reliable yet simple and i myself having the model before this can say its a big step from the past and it has some very large improvements. NOT perfect at all but what phone is these days there is always something, i would recommend it if you work in a moderately but not loud job due to the ear speaker but like i said it the sacrifice that had to be done in making its thinner by making things more compact and closer. READ about the phones HARDWARE before making a purchase so your not surprised when your going to purchase it.

I REALLY really wanted to like this phone, even though Verizon made it almost impossible to put on your own ringtones and photos... I got it last week and couldn't wait to personalize it. I immediately purchased some backgrounds and put my workout music on it.

And then I started getting phone calls.

I can understand male voices pretty well, but female voices cause the speaker to completely "blur" out. At first I thought I needed to adjust the volume. Next I thought maybe I just had a bad phone.

Then I saw these reviews and I'm just sick. This is the only phone that really meets my needs in terms of its durability and waterproof qualities... but like a few people have said, if you can't understand people, what good is it... and we're not exagerating how bad the speaker is. I can understand about half of what my daughter and wife say when they call.

I called Verizon customer service, and they said they don't know of any recall to be issued on the phones. Their advice was to take it back to exchange it for something different (and it won't cost anything since it's still within 30 days).

That's just a real shame, though, because this was the phone I had been waiting for for several years... I wonder if they would sell me the older version?

I have the Orange G'zOne
It is sold as a ruggedized phone. If you buy this phone and sit in your house, no noise around it sounds OK. If you are out in the woods and hiking it too can work OK on the sound. However, and this is where Verizon went wrong, if you use this phone in an outdoor profession, construction, trucking etc, you can't hear a thing. The quality is so loud on high and pressed tight it can hurt your eardrum and still come in muffled and crappy or so low you can't hear the person. I fit into the last group that I use my phone at work and this phone is already boxed to go back. I chose it for the rugged features and etc but it should be touted as a sports phone, not a work phone. They are even touting the push to talk feature that another company had the market on. If you find yourself around loud machinery or loud work sites don't even bother with this phone. They are getting people that use these phones in outdoor work environments giving bad reviews and it seems others say it is great. Choose where you fit into the above and that will be your result.

The phone itself. The first thing I do is charge it. I peel off the little plastic cover and think there is no way that will last two years. Instead of a plug in jack, it is a thin bar plug in type of charger, the kind that can really get ruined by dirt and grim. The battery cover is made of metal that can really scuff or scratch in rough environments. There are two exposed terminals on the back of the battery case. This allows you to put the phone in a cradle and charge it. However I see it as a place that will gather grim and dirt and need cleaning as time goes on. Same with the screw holes. They are recessed a little, some more than others.

The color is nice. I did think it was more construction orange when I saw it on the web but is a burnt orange color. The color you may notice on some cars.

Bottom line. I like the phone. I like the concept. Bad Sound quality of phone and noise in my job forces a return.

I gave this phone a chance but i could not hold onto it. The two things that made me send it back were the sound quality (kazoo like) and the battery life (a day and a half at best). I bought this phone for its ruggedness, but im supposed to be able to hold a conversation without asking people to repeat everything. Isn't that what a phone is made for??? I plan on waiting for a revised version with better sound and i can live with buying an extended battery, but who knows if they will fix the sound issue. Wish i could have kept it because i need the ruggedness...

I did have the programming issue other posters have had, but that is due to backup assistant. If you have the store use the machine to transfer contacts you should be fine, which is what i did.

My one question to all of you previous G'zone owners is that did the old type-v and s have the same sound quality issues? Just wondering if verizon/casio missed that part or if it has been a problem with all the G'zone series phones

I was waiting for this phone since day one. I have used the type-V for two years so I was very excited for this phone...well like almost everyone here the call clarity sucks balls! I hate verizon for releasing this phone! Verizon pull your head out what kind of testing is that? I mean anyone can tell this phone sucks! Did I mention verizon sucks? Don't buy if you want to have a normal conversation!

After reading all of these reviews over the past few days I was extremely hesitant to go and buy this phone. However, after purchasing it this morning I haven't run into any of the volume problems everyone's reporting about. I would go as far as saying that it is louder and clearer than my old phone. The only thing I can say negatively against the phone is that Verizon couldn't transfer my contacts, which they say will be fixed in the next few days and was only affecting my phone specifically.

Well I am off to go dunk it into some water.

Sound quality varies depending on what device the person you are talking with is using.
But even at it's best, the sound quality still has not-so-clear sound.
At it's worst, it's muffled and difficult to understand.

After I fully recharged the battery, the bars have gone down way too fast considering I have hardly used it in two days. You can always fix that with a better battery I guess.

It is not easy to open with your thumb as most other clamshells are.
Buttons seem a little close to each other but I haven't fat-fingered yet.

I don't have enough experience with signal strength, but so far so good.

Beautiful phone in orange with the nice big round outside display.

I will probably return this phone this week, as much as I don't want to. I want to keep it, but there is no guarantee, the manufacturer will recall it and fix it anytime soon and you only have 15 days to decide.... so hold off on this one until it is resolved.

we should find a way to send these complaints to Verizon. you, the PD guy ... they might get the message if your entire force sends theirs back and complains loudly.

i cant belive i waited for this phone, i'm almost embarassed. we should use our power as consumers and make verizon either take these back or offer a replacement that works properly, sounds good, when the model is fixed. might i add they should throw a decent battery in when and if they do it, because this one stinks.

i went into a verizon store and the boulder was all over the posters and other ad stuff on their walls. they should take it down because as it stands now, this is a really bad phone.

want to like this phone but the truth is there are to many software problems that hold this handset back.Called verizon 6 times, still not resolved,,poor audio,phone resets when contacts edited!!

Pros

Very well built nice hardware construction

Cons

Poor audio when through ear speaker
Software is buggy: Phone will reset if you try to edit existing contacts.
Ring tones will not hold if you choose another ring tone the original Verizon default tone plays.
Pictures taken with the camera fill only 70% of the screen when chosen to display as wallpaper?

Poor sound quality (both incoming and outgoing) is an understatement! Is this due to an unwelcome side-effect of the water-proofing of this handset??

I work for a large metro PD, who just changed over to Verizon (from Nextel), and we're all being issued the Boulder.

The thought of conducting business without the effective Direct Connect was bad enough, but I figured I could live without it (not like I had a choice).

But, I've found that unless I'm in my ultra-quiet office, trying to actually understand a conversation on this thing is a joke! It's so bad that if I'm out in the car, or anywhere remotely noisy, I just expend my own minutes and use my personal AT&T RAZR.

I hope Verizon/Casio/Qualcomm can improve this POS with a firmware update!

The sound quaility is terrible. Any phone that you have to repeatedly have to ask someone to repeat themselves it not worth having. Also, there are dead spots in my house that I did not have with my LG8300. My wifes Motorolla has better reception as well. If you absolutely have to have a weatherproof phone, then it will just have to do. I'm returning mine to get my new every two credit back and wait for a hardware revision. Verizon and Casio ALMOST got it right but it should have went through further testing.

Like most, I was really sold on the rugged features of this phone and couldn't wait to get mine. Well, it came and I am sorry to say it will never have a chance to prove it's durability at the jobsite or on the river. I couldn't have one conversation without asking "What?" 50 times.
The speaker was so bad I thought it was defective, so I took it back and had the store trade me for another Boulder. Same thing.
I really hope the folks at Verizon are paying some attention to all these reviews. Maybe they can get it right next time.