Casio Commando C881

I am still part of the dumb phone world. I have a Casio Brigade which is an amazing phone. I have been swimming with it, drop it several times a week, expose it to dust, dirt, fumes, and all other manner of abuse. I blew it off with my compressor last week after a quad ride. I have probably dropped it from waist level onto concrete 100 times. The outside screen has failed, but the phone still works great. It has a great button keyboard that is in front of the screen when open, so I can get my fat thumbs on the keys. It takes decent photos, has a good speaker-phone, and has amazing noise suppression. It can grab a signal when other phones can't. Until recently, I was charging it once in 10 days (I think my battery is getting weak.)

I lost my first one in a lake, and bought a replacement one after a week of hell with a POS smart phone. It would have lasted me a month or so tops.

I was looking at the rugged smart phones yesterday, and I think I will get another Casio Brigade and just remain dumb, but working reliably and faithfully.

We do a fair amount of hiking and off-roading. I would rather forego playing on facebook (which I love) and get a signal out in an emergency.

Matt B

You said "Not impressed so far".. Please elaborate.

I have a Samsung S-III which I've had for over a year and it keeps suprising me, There is dang near nothing this thing can not do.

I have poor battery life
And it is difficult to use. I have problems mainly with group texts.

I have an original commando. I won't be getting the new one. I'm going back to my brigade dumb phone. IMO smart phone isn't worth the extra money and is a PITA.

I got the Nokia Lumia 520 for $100, no contract.
Didn't necessarily get it for the phone.

WiFi, Bluetooth
5MP camera, great backup point and shoot.
It has independent GPS with offline maps. Downloaded CoPilot for free
True FM radio (not internet).
All the usual internet apps, email etc.

For all you Cannuks out there.
Telus pre-paid, no contract 100 min for a year, $100.
$100 for a Nokia smart phone full of internet apps etc, etc.
Good deal all round.

The Casio smart phones have not been highly rated. I tried using a coworkers once. No fun. Is it too late to return it? To retain the utility recommend a Samsung Galaxy S3 or S4. Then go with the Lifeproof Nuud case. Either of those phones will be light years ahead of the Casio. Battery life is very subjective. If the phone is constantly roaming the battery will be short lived in any phone. I converted our phones to QI wireless charging. I no longer plug in the phone. I have what I call a first generation QI car charger in my work vehicle. It works ok. Depending on the carrier, some phones allow turning off the 4G. This should significantly increase battery life. Especially if the 4G coverage is spotty.