Smart Phone for a Dummy

I wanted to ask you guys this since you guys can appretiate what we put our phones through more than some salesman. I’ve been resisting the smart phone trend as a phone should be a phone and not a mini lap-top/playstation/phone as a secondary purpose unit, however I get the feeling before too long with my work I will need to get one to keep up. Right now I have one of the military spec dumb phones and I love it, its been dropped off a roof and a treestand, sat on, stepped on, under water, you name it and it still works just fine, and it gets good reception in the ‘bluff country’ around La Crosse/Sparta/Viroqua and (south of)Rochester area.

So my question is do you guys know of any smart phones that can take a beating and also get good reception in the above areas? Will be staying with Verizon for service. Don’t need all the bells, primarily access to my email account and maybe limited internet access.

I really don’t want to have a smart ‘phone’ just on principle but if I have to join the ‘crowd’ I just don’t want to be sacrificing the rugged-ness of what I have now.

Pick out the one that has the features you like the most, then go on Ebay and look at the hundreds of protective cases for them. Even regular old cell phones last longer when you put them in a good case.

droid x is built tuff, kevlar or something and gorilla glass. However if you buy an otter case for any smart phone…it will last a long long long time.

Right now I have the Casio gzOne and I really like it. It really is tough.

It looks like they don’t sell it anymore, but they do have a Ravine that is a regular phone, with Mini browser capabilities.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=5721

Or you could go Commando! The Commando is a true smart phone and casio claims it has the same military specs as the gzone. I haven’t used it, but I believe it will be my next phone.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=5634

If the Commando had better specs, I would be getting one. Sounds like you don’t need a high end smart phone, so it might work for you.

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If the Commando had better specs, I would be getting one. Sounds like you don’t need a high end smart phone, so it might work for you.

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word on the street, is that Casio is going to unveil a 4″ or 4.3″ screen, gingerbread, dual core device this year, with all of the MilSpec!

the one I have looks just like this one, I’ve had it over 2 years. The phone in the link says it can do email, maybe I’ll have to tlak with the verizon people and I can get email on it afterall. The email I would need would be our work email, no idea about carrier or anything like that (or how to do it). When I got this phone I had them lock anythig except calls and text messages so I wouldn’t be charged for anything extra (had an issue about getting sacked data charges for browsing (not even buying) ring tones on a previous phone).

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=5028

FYI – For anyone looking for a phone like this one I can assure you that the waterproof-ness is true. I ‘heard’ you can chase after your boat when it floats away from the dock, if you by chance don’t tie it off well, with the phone in your pocket and not damage it.

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The phone in the link says it can do email, maybe I’ll have to tlak with the verizon people and I can get email on it afterall. The email I would need would be our work email, no idea about carrier or anything like that (or how to do it). When I got this phone I had them lock anythig except calls and text messages so I wouldn’t be charged for anything extra

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If you set up a email like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo it’s a breeze. Your work email should work too. Are you using Outlook at work for your email. If you are this may be a little more difficult. There are a few apps out there to connect to Outlook email however. I use Touchdown for my EVO and it works great. I am not an expert and not up to speed on the new models so this might not be a issue anymore.

Also, you mentioned about blocking everything except call and texts. You should realize that when you check your email you are using data and will be charged accordingly.

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If you set up a email like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo it’s a breeze. Your work email should work too. Are you using Outlook at work for your email. If you are this may be a little more difficult. There are a few apps out there to connect to Outlook email however. I use Touchdown for my EVO and it works great. I am not an expert and not up to speed on the new models so this might not be a issue anymore.

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When you say Outlook, I think you mean Microsoft Exchange Server. Outlook is just a mail client, the software someone uses to view their email. Exchange is Microsoft’s server that handles all the sending and receiving of mail.

Not being a wise guy, just want to help so that there is no confusion for advice given.

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When you say Outlook, I think you mean Microsoft Exchange Server. Outlook is just a mail client, the software someone uses to view their email. Exchange is Microsoft’s server that handles all the sending and receiving of mail.

Not being a wise guy, just want to help so that there is no confusion for advice given.

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You are correct Pug. Was replying quickly at work and thought one thing and typed another.

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You are correct Pug. Was replying quickly at work and thought one thing and typed another.

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I do that all the time!

I do use outlook at work for getting my email.

Figured It going to increase our bill to get any kind of data added, haven’t looked at that yet, still just thinking at this point. My wife had an i-phone with all the extra crap, maybe we can re-work our plan to boht get data without it going through the roof in cost??

Phone doesn’t matter much, put an Otterbox case on it and you should be fine other than water.