Verizon Casio G'zOne Rock C731 User Reviews

ONE thing that I see all phone reviews MISSING is that if you have to use your hands and you tend to pinch the phone between your ear and your shoulder while trying to talk, you cover up the MIC and then you sound like crap to whomever you are talking to. It IRRITATES me that just about every phone review that I have seen has completely missed this very important part of the phone. Casio should have relocated the mic to a different spot. Also, I kept seeing reviews that say the phone had a battery life of around 30+ days or 400+ hours or something like that. BS! the phone lasts about 3 days before it needs to be plugged in again... Having a bigger battery would be nice. Cause you have to fight with the usb o-ring cover in order to get the charger plugged in. I am mad at all of the reviewers that have failed to mention this. I DO like the flashlight and the outdoor apps though.

So aside from most of the other issues I have read here I have a couple more.

Everyonce in a while my main screen will go black and will not come back on for quite some time. Sometimes leaving it plugged in will bring it back. Sometimes taking the battery out and restarting it works. There are many different things I've tried that occasionally work, but it's different everytime.

Now my other problem is with the alarm clock. My previous Gzone alarm could only be turned off by touching a button. This one however seems to get shut off by touching the front screen as well. This is a problem because you do not have to be totally awake to just brush the screen.

I have 3 months until I can get an upgrade, But being as the screen has gone black and nothing seems to be working to bring it back, I dont think I am going to be able to wait.

After about six months of having this phone the charger wouldn't work when plugged directly into the phone,so i have been using the dock and as of five hours ago its not working either. I have had this phone since December of 2009, I have taken care of it like a mother would a baby, I know this because I am an aunt, and well this phone is horrible. Don't buy it please for the sake of your sanity.

it is difficult to get the phone in the charging cradle and my front display comes on randomly all throughout the night constantly waking me up. but other than the charging problem this is the best phone i have ever owned. i would recommend it to anyone who is rough on phones after losing FIVE phone to water i now have the rock

OK I'm rugged on my phones, drop them, they get wet, I live on the ocean most of the time! Onr of the features i was excited about was the tides, carring my phone is easier than carring around tide charts all the time! Well the GPS will tell you where the closest tide is however in my case it's over 75 miles away! As any sailor will tell that's not even close to what the tide is near you! I figuerd I could even do some math but there is not one location in the sound! Also the lunar calendar is handy for hunting and fishing, but moon rise and set would be nice too! Another thing it's learn words in error and I can't figure how to erase them in the T9 dictionary

I previously owned the g'z one (and am currently using it again) The battery performance became week and the rock was cheaper than a new battery.  After my first rock's speaker phone died (among other things) I received a new one from Verizon. The new one and the old freezes up and is slow like a computer to load different pages. This morning my phone fell from my lap in my Isuzu Trooper to the pavement (4 feet) and exploded into three parts The screen separated from the keyboard. Done. My G'z one fell from a thirty foot mast on a fishing boat bounced on a steel deck (loosing battery) and then fell another 10 feet to again a steel deck. I climbed down put the battery back in and turned it on. It got pinched in the hinge of my wives trunk and went down a water slide. The G'z one still works with reduced battery life but it's not in pieces. Don't buy the bolder, rock or whatever phone they introduce, they will be playing on the first editions rep.  

I luv this new Gz One Rock, seems to do all that it is supposed to do with ease, including testing and email.  I had/have a Gz One, the first one that came out, I have stored it for a backup.  I have had no trouble, concerns, problems with any of the Casio's.

I love this phone. If you are an outdoor person this is the phone for you. If you are a text and app nut get a smart phone, and don't waist your time with lofty expectations for this unit. I have kayaked, canoed, swam, etc. with my phone with no problems. My kids play swimming games by dropping my phone to the bottom of an eight foot pool. I do not recommend this as it is not built for this depth. I have not had the voice quality problems that others have mentioned with this phone. I use the gz gear quite often and comes in handy for fishing and camping. I only have two small qualms with this phone. It would be awesome to be able to take a picture with the phone closed using a side key. The other is this. I use a solar charging device for some of my other gadgets. Due to the unique charger design there is no way to adapt the charger to this phone. This would greatly simplify extended trips away from civilization. Not limited to camping but also would be an asset on mission trips to third would countries or even to areas where charger adapters are required.

This phone has been great I am around the water and boats alot so I needed a waterproof cell phone it is definately that. those who posted reviews saying the ROCK died from water damage must have had a faulty one or maybe one of the ports was not completely closed before immersion. I have put mine in a fish tank for ten minutes with the power ON and called it. still works. froze it in a block of ice(power OFF). still works beautifully. the phone doesnt have many features and texting kind of sucks but hey its not a smartphone. The only thing I have noticed is sometimes one of the red arrows on the front screen will stay on when I close the phone and have to open and close it to get it to shut off. Overall it does everything it is supposed to do so im happy.

 I have owned two rocks and also all of casio's past waterproof phones. I was very happy with all of the previous versions, except for one where the screen wasn't glued on all the way and it leaked from there, but other than that one phone they were all great. The Rock is a cool phone with the Gz Zone app, but other than that. the phone gets horrible slow if you don't constsntly delete all text messages. My first rock i droppen on my first pool step for like two seconds before i pulled it out and it was off.  Tried to turn it on and the sound of somthing scrammbling came from inside then i smelt burnt elecrtonics.  so i went  and had to pay $50 to get a new one through insurance, but now i got stuck in the rain with the new one in my pocket and now it doesn't work at all. I think maybe the spring loaded lid may be where the fault is. when you are making something waterproof don't make so much extra crap. I am not so lazy i cant flip my phone open myself.   Don't EVER buy this phone. The Motorola Barrage is a much better phone. What happened Casio???

Quick backround: I used to have the G zone Boulder, that got runined and I was given a "equilivent" phone from verizon because they didn't make the boulder anymore. Well it wasn't quite the same. Anyway, I finally got the Rock because I work at a pool and knew i would use the water resistant feature often. I dropped it in 3 feet of water for twenty seconds and it stopped working. I went to verizon to get a replacement but since it was "water damaged" I would have to go through insurance and pay the $50 deductiable. I checked the casio website and they say the phone IS water proof for UP TO thirty minutes in 1 meter (3.2 feet) of water. My problem is Casio not standing behind their product. The Boulder I used to have was amazing. This Rock seems to be a worse version. I will never purchase this phone again. I did like the walking counter and compass. Those were nice features to have.

I have had this phone for about a month and like the G'zOne Gear features.  However, I have several issues with the phone which are likely Verizon issues more than Casio issues but should be addressed.

I am a very frequent user of the calendar alert feature to remember almost everything (yeah, age issues).  Unfortunately, the alert feature does not function the way my previous phones (most recent LG VX 4650 for 6 years) operated and cause me to miss reminders. 

1) When adding an alert for the future I must change BOTH the start and end time.  Previous phones started out with 30 or 60 minutes seperating times and automatically adjusted the end time forward.  Now I have to go through 2 time steps to set an alert.
2) The default "Alert Time" is 15 minutes before the set time.  When I set an alert I usually know when I want it to go off and am forced to adjust the time to account for the 15 minutes offset or change the setting to "On Time."  This is an extra step that would be nice to customize.
3) I have not found a way to snooze a Calendar Alert.  Previous phone would snooze for 5 minute intervals upto about 30 minutes total.
4) The color contrast when adjusting time/date setting is horrendous.  They use a black background for the screen with a dark blue square around the number being adjusted with the numbers with black.  Black on dark blue is very difficult to see.  I often have to move the highlight to see what the setting is.  When not highlighted the numbers are white on black, nice contrast.

When I recieve a call, the caller ID font is tiny and not adjustable on both displays.  I have great difficult reading the name of the caller.  On the other hand, the phone number size is large or very large (depending upon setting).  However, I do not know all of my contact's number but do know there name.  Would rather have name large and number smaller.

The alarm clock feature has different behavior as well.  In particular, after an alarm goes off, the alarm time remains set with On/Off set to off.  My previous phone automatically erased a 1 time alarm allowing the next alarm to start from scratch.  This phone should either erase or automatically change the On/Off setting to On when the time is changed.  Otherwise, if I forget the alarm does not sound. 

The LG VX 4650 also had a Quick Alarm feature that I used ALOT.   I could with only a few button presses set an alarm for 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 3 hours.  I mostly used 10 or 30 for short naps now I have to go through the steps of figuring out what time I want the alarm set for.

In order to read the date/time upon opening the phone, the wallpaper must be a dark color.  The time/date are in white font so if the background is white or light colored, the time/date cannot be read.

Both internal and external displays are difficult to see in sun light.  The glare is just too great for me.

If anyone else takes issue with these features or other, please call and take with tech support at Verizon.  That is the only way they will know/listen to our opinion.  I intend to start calling one a month (right after updating software) until they listen.  If they will not listen I may have to change carrier.  My bill is too high not to be listened too.

I've had this phone for about a month.  It seems well built and works well except for some occasional delays in starting up when opening.  I'm not sure what the designers were thinking about when they designed the charger or if they were thinking at all.  It is terrible.  It worked fine the first time but rapidly went bad to the point of not working at all by week three.  When I returned it to the Verizon store the tech there told me they were all that way and suggested using the very flimsy USB charging connector.  When I told him that the Verizon help line recommended against this since that connector is easily broken and could ruin the phone, he agreed.  They replaced my charger with one that seems to work much better but the tech warned that it would likely fail within a few weeks due to the poor design.Basically this phone is like a great car with a broken or faulty gas filler cap...works great when you can put gas in it but that may be very difficult soon.   

Great phone not going to go inLastto detail. Problem is I use my phone as my daily alarm clock. This thing will not go off sometimes. They cant get it to not go off at the store so I am SOL. Lucky I usally get up b4 the alarm goes off any way but about once a week it just doesnt work????????????????? I be lay there waiting and it doesnt go off. sound on, alarm on???  I had the G=zone 2 years b4 and had traded it in for the same problem. I ended up with a motrola adventura and the alarm never failed for the last 2 years. If you dont need it for the alarm its a good phone.

Have had this phone for a  month.  not a bad phone have not had any of the problems list in the other reviews! the only problem I have had is with data I wish verizon could get their towers switched over evdo it is strange that the phone works fine in areas that have been switched to 3g . I love the gz tools and the camera with flash.  

Have had this phone for several weeks so far I like the phone The design of the phone looks like a tool of of Batman tool belt . I also like the gz gear apps. The only down fall  the phone will not run animated screen savers real well if has a lot of graphics .

I've had this phone for a month now and basically have enjoyed it. I'm right handed but usually listen on my left side because hearing is better for me there, so I have occasionally "bumped" the outside buttons but haven't had any interruptions in the conversation other than the beep sound. My one issue is the charging dock which came with the phone: a good idea being as the charge connection is so small and does not easily go into the slot on the phone, but...the dock seems to be designed with emphasis on presentation and not function. It sets the G zone like a jewelry store window display, with all the design elements right out front, but it's a two handed operation to get the phone just right in the dock so it will be charging. I have yet to be able to just put it in the dock with one hand and have it start charging. There should have been some sort of guide "bumps" on the phone or the dock should wrap a little more around the phone so that it guides the phone into position, or the dock should be just a drop-in-the-hole sort which guides the phone to the charge position.

I've owned the Rock for about two weeks and so far I have liked basically everything about it.  One complaint that I do have is the slight delay when texting or using the keypad for anything.  For instance if I press clear the screen might take a few seconds to clear or the same when typing a word in a text.  When i bought it I thought it was going to be to bulky to carry in my packet but its been fine.  The GZ Gear on it is sweet!  Its got a great large front screen which makes checking the time really easy. Has Nice loud sound quality and clear pictures.  The light is also a really cool feature.  So far I really like my new Rock

the G'z rock is a great phone if you work outside. i'm an aircraft mechanic and the phone has fallen off the wing of a     C-130 onto concrete and is go'n strong.  i've never had a phone that could withstand my job.  the phone has gone through the creek, fallen off the boat(allways tie some fishing line to the phone) been run over by a peterbuilt, had a truck hood shut on it.    ALL I CAN SAY IS IT'S A GREAT PHONE.

Just got this phone and have had it for three days, so this review will reflect that. First impression of this phone is good. First off addressing a couple of  issues that other people have had with this phone.  As far as not having ESPN on your phone, if  you are that big of a sports fan find out if that phone is capable of having your specific program and as far as the alarm clock not having a snooze button once again check that feature out before you get a phone or I am guessing that you still have your old phone, dedicate it to be your alarm clock. So to me those "issues" are truly not issues. Sorry I will get off my soap box. Now down to the phone. This will be long but it is a review and I am now how I am when I go to research something so here goes.

Looks- This phone looks like an gadget off of Batmans tool belt. You like it or you don't. I personally like the looks. The front of the phone is a flat black rubberized coating. With a full rubber texture battery cover on the back, as you can see from the pictures. I am a fan of flip phones and have used a razr for some time now. This phone is bulky compared to it. As in the pictures, on the back of the phone there is an extended flat peice that holds the camera and flash that adds to its bulkynes, which could be bad for size but for funcutionalty is great. (will explain later) The rebberized coating does not cover the whole phone, the inside is still plastic. With this being new to me I don't know how the coating will hold up with abuse. Overrall I like the looks of this phone but I am a little biased because of it being black.

Keypad/Side Keys-  To get to the keypad you can manually open the phone or it has an assited open button. First time using the button it flipped out of my hand. 50/50 on if i like this or not, being in the Public Safety field this function could come in handy. Don't know how long the button will function. Now to the keypad itself, looking at the phone from the side before opening it there is a slight gap between the screen and keypads. To me that is great, a big pet peave is having button inprints on my screen. And when it is closed there is only one spot where the screen meets the body of the phone at the bottom of the speaker and it is protected by a peice of rubber. Once again great idea. For me I hate texting and almost refuse to do it. But the keypads are raised up at the bottom and finding and pushing buttons are exceptional. I found it so much easier and better to use than any other phone. They are a litle small and are stiffer to push than others but like the feel and I belive that is due to it being water resistant and sealed. But again i do not text much and could be a problem for some. The side keys are nice, you can set it to have any program, and do mean any program you want to key up once used.Overall the kepad is great for me and my use.

Programing- The Gz gear is pretty cool. For my job having the compass and the NUMBERS corresponding to the heading is ideal. Practical to some but slim. It also has a pedometer walking counter. Thermometer. Tides. Sunrise Sunset. Astro Calendar. Neat to have but once again not pratical for many. And this is were i will have to agree with one reviewer on is that when the phone is shut and you push a side button it takes awhile to respond. It only does it sometimes. Bu then sometimes it doesn't respond, but I do like the fact that it does not stay lit. Not only does that save on battery life it helps to conceal it at night, huge plus for me. And it displays the time once you push the buttons and to unlock the front lcd capabilites you just have to push the button twice. Once the phone is open the programing is a lot better but does take a full second. Could get irrating but not to bad for me. One feature that I love is the contacts, if you are looking for a contact and type the first letter then the second letter of their name it takes you closer instead of jumping to a whole other set of names begining with the second letter. ABSOLUTLY GREAT FEATURE. It also has in case of an emergency numbers at the top of the contacts list, smart. Like every other phone it has the regular tools, and common settings. You can get internet, email if you want it, I don't have it so I cant comment. Main issue with the progaming is the front lcd screen and the lag time it has. I am hoping they can come up with an update to fix this issue but it is an issue.

Screens- The front lcd screen is very easy to read at all angles and can be set up however you like. It is illumated in blue. The music play buttons work just fine and are handy to use so you don't have to open the phone. For a flip phone the once upened the screen is fairly large but not something to write home about, color and quality of pictures and screen itself is outstanding. Don't konw how long the front lcd screent will last haven't had it long enough. The inside screen really should have no issues being that the keypad does not touch the screen and should only get scratched if dropped when open.

Speakers- The external speaker is surprizing good. Music and voice is come through clear and is excellent. This is were I agree with another issue is the speaker for voice when you are talking to someone. The first thing my girlfriend asked is if I had her on speaker phone. I was holding the phone with my shoulder and once I held the phone up to my ear she said that it was better. Will have to wait and see if that is the issue with it being water resistant that you have to be directly over the speaker or if it is that way because of the sound canceling. Could be an issue. Otherwise no issues

Talking- Talking on this phone for me is great. Back to the phone having an flat extension on the back, when talking my finger natrually rest on that peice and is great. As far as the buttons on the side being pushed when talking I have had no issues. I do have smaller hands and it was with my right hand. This phone is geared towards right handed people. I have not tried holding the phone in my left hand for any length of time it could possibly be a problem. Hearing pople on this phone has not been an issue as of  yet. Overall great phone to talk on.

Bluetooth- Have not used it yet.

Camera/camcorder- the camera is a 2 megapixel but my feeling is if you want a great picture use a real camera or upload. If it is a spur of a moment picture, deal with it and be glad that you were able to get a picture with your phone. Because it is a phone right? Soap box again sorry. But as far as function a use it seems pretty decent for a phone camera, the only issue is i tend to have my finger over the camera when starting up so I have to be aware of it everytime. The feature I like is that you can switch the view finder to the front. For you myspace picture takers.Overall decent phone camera.

Internet/email- have not used it.

Battery life- so far so good with battery life. Talk time could stand to be a little bit better but standby mode is great.The charging station that comes with the phone is one of the better ideas I have seen for a phone in a long time. Love the fact that I can set it down in there and not have to deal with a cable. It also came with a car charger when i bought it. But I like the stand so much that I will buy one for work, can't stress enough how good of an idea that was.

Music player- The music player is excellent. You can put your own music or of course download it. I just put my own music on the sd card and play it. Sound quality is great for a phone but a little weak for volume. But it is a phone.

Personal touches-Like i said before test your phones and ask if you are that desperate to have a feature on your phone check to see if that phone is capable of doing it. As for ringtones you can always download or just make your own. But getting music on to the phone to use is simple, as the same for putting pictures.

Overall for me this is one of the better phones I have ever had. The CONS or issues I have are the delay in the front screen. (hopefully and update will fix it soon), The tin can or speaker phone effect when you are not on speaker phone.(which could of been from how I was holding it) and one not mentioned yet is not having a usb cable or able to get one. Not a big deal but should be mentioned. This is based on first three days.

Due to the nature of my work I go through gear like no ones business.   To put things into context...I use only Panasonic toughbook PCs in the field...all others fail...they are worth the money oif you work in the outdoors.   I have had the rock for about 1 week.  I had the first generation of the Gzone...whatever....dumb name...anyway...the first generation of this phone was great for about a year until it took a fall that was over its drop rating.  Still...it was great other than no bluetooth.  I had verizons \"replacement\" before the rock came out...it was crap and died on me after about two months.  I work in the outdoors as an archaeologist and product tester for outdoor gear so if it anyone will break it I will...so far the rock has performed well...again, I say so far.  I chose verizon because of friends and family free...but from my experience the Nextel motorola gear outperforms everytime for rugged enviro.  We will see.  So far... I see no lag time with the phones response to opening and such...other user above...maybe you got a bad phone.  Anyway...so far no problems here.  I will post later.  If this phone doesnt hold up as it should.

Unfortunately for poster Kaya, this phone nor any that I know of are intended to withstand a child playing with it. Keep your phones up away from your kids!!

As for backing up contacts, there is always backup assistant. The phone is also capable of SD storage to transfer pics and videos.

Outstanding phone with very good design features for normal day to day indoor and outdoor use.  Most gripes are from the same individuals who aren't satisified with any new technology or phone which isn't heavily promoted my marketing hype!  IT'S A PHONE AND WHEN USED AS SUCH IS A VERY GOOD CHOICE FOR VOICE COMMUNICATION - IF ONE HAS TO TEXT AND EMAIL THEN USE A NETBOOK!

This phone is awesome despite what all these people say. The voice quality is great, all the buttons are fully functional. This phone wasn't meant to be a gotty, sleek, intellegent phoneit was meant to get the job done. Everything aboutthis phone is awesome. All i gotta say is that this phone is an all out beast.

So I have been waiting for this newer version of the G'zone boulder to arrive for months.  I have a one-year-old who loves to play with my phone and finally destroyed it, but this phone promised to be a drool-proof, drop-proof, chew-proof design....Built to military specs and all, right?  Well, with all due respect to our military, I hope that is a just a gimmicky line of crap, b/c if it's true our bravest are in trouble!I was so excited to finally buy this phone, but from the day I got it, I hated it.  There are MANY issues.  First and foremost - and most annoying- is the D-E-L-A-Y whenever you push a button ... waiting for the phone to    do    what     you    told      it      to.  UGH!  It drives me nuts!  I have counted to nearly 10 seconds before getting to the screen I selected.  Then there are the side buttons.  The push-to-talk button interrupts every text I try to write, and there is no way to de-activate it.  The time is never immediately apparent either; if you want to see what time it is, you may as well open the phone b/c the side buttons don't light the screen, they tell you to push other buttons first.  Just more annoyance...Then there's the contact issue.  I dialed my own house the other day and it didn't even recognize that it was a pre-programmed number.   ?????  Seriously?Voice quality and sound are also issues.  No one hears me very well and my speaker always sounds like it is cutting out; at least five times in any conversation I stop talking and say, 'hello?' because it sounds like I just dropped the call.....  OH, and the alarm clock.  I have my phone as my alarm clock...years of perfect use on my last phone.  THis one doesn't actually snooze ... it just turns off!  it says snooze on the screen, but apparently that means the-phone-is-no-longer-going-to-do-its-job because it simply never comes back on.  Needless to say, I hate this phone!I did take the phone back once and the saleswoman said she hadn't heard any of these complaints, but I was thrilled when the store model was able to support my complaints.  The display model was as annoying as mine, so they offered me a new phone (same model but different phone), which I declined.  I really like flip phones rather than the touch screen nonsense which also annoys me with my cheek hitting the phone etc...plus, those are very toddler-unfriendly!  How about a good, dependable, durable flip phone?!?!?Bottom line...overpriced piece of crap.  Don't waste your MANY hard-earned dollars on this thing!