Review: Casio G'zOne Brigade

Well, after using the Casio G'zOne Brigade for over a week, running it through it's paces and subjecting it to various tests, I've come to the conclusion that although this phone IS hardy enough to go with me where ever I want, it simply does not deliver the features I need/want. It doesn't matter that the phone is out in the elements with me, if it's unusable, it's no better than having a dainty Smartphone with me. At least I can hard case protect the Smartphone from the elements and have a phone I can actually use! There's nothing I can do to the Brigade to make it more functional. It is what it is. And I need more out of a phone.

Thankfully AmazonWireless offers 30-day satisfaction guarantee on all phone products. My experience with obtaining the RMA was seamless. I am very happy with the "try it for 30-days" policy. Be on the look-out for my next preview: HTC Droid Incredible! :)

PROS:

• Tough construction.
• Solid feel.
• Waterproof.
• Thermal tolerant.
• Great speaker/mic.
• Camera flash doubles as awesome flashlight!

CONS:

• The internet browser sucks! It hardly renders HTML that well, let alone dynamic pages like Facebook. And you can absolutely forget about Youtube!! It will NOT render Youtube homepage, let alone stream ANY Youtube video. Trying to reach favorites takes 2 clicks, plus a third to select the favorite. Oh, and the most annoying thing about the browser, if you receive a call or email, it closes the browser (without an option to ignore inbound call or email). And every time the browser closes, it opens back up to the Home page instead of your last viewed page (I admit to being spoiled by that home page feature with Smartphones). The browser is a step backward by at least 5 years, reminding me of my old Nextel phone in 2003 which was the first phone I had with internet capabilities. The browser on the Brigade is every bit as chunky and clumsy. The only way you could be impressed with this browser is if you never had used a computer in your life and never had been on the internet. Strong words, but I calls it like I sees it :} Strike one!
• Not able to sync calendar. Verizon has their propietary "Office Kit", but it took me 2hrs just to get my laptop to install the driver for the USB data cable. I'm IT-saavy, so I can't imagine how long it would have taken a non-tech person. Apart from accessing my email, syncing my calendar is top priority for me. If I'm not able to know when/where I'm supposed to be, I might as well never leave the house! And if I never leave the house, the Brigade is worthless. Strike two!
• Clumsy email interface. It takes 2 clicks to reach my inbox and another click to read my email. That's 3 clicks total, for those of you keeping score at home. My Blackberry Pearl took only 2 clicks. Another thing about Verizon email interface, is that it doesn't give me the option to delete email only off my handheld device. Which means this is web interface email (direct to Yahoo, Gmail, etc), not client base email (not true POP3). I want the option to read/delete an email on my handheld and then allow the email to download later onto my laptop so I can take a closer look or answer it. Strike three!
• Not able to data transfer without jumping through hoops. Like I said, took me 2hrs to get my laptop to recognize my phone through data cable. Despite the Brigade having a "My Documents" feature it won't read or render Word documents or even Text files. What the bloody good is "My Documents" feature if it's not usable?!
• The keys are not responsive, having to press twice. It's like the keyboard "sleeps" and then you have to press once to awaken and then another time to execute the number. This was very evident while listening and deleting vmail. Quite frustrating to say the least! 
• Very limited customization of phone. You can change the menu layout (grid, list, icon) and change desktop picture, but that's it. What you see is what you get. For phone of this price range, I would expect MUCH more personalization ability.

RATINGS:

• Construction: 10/10
• Mic/sound quality: 10/10
• Signal strength : 8/10 (dropped several calls even when sitting still in my home)
• Web interface: 1/10 - nearly non-existent.
• Email: 2/10
• Calendar use: 0/10
• Overall rating: 5/10