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Extreme sports enthusiasts: Can your iPhone do this?
Verizon Wireless
Casio G'zOne Ravine
By Athima Chansanchai
Casio's G'zOne's phones bear the tagline: "Tougher than you."
I don't know about that, since my accident-prone body has the scars all over to prove I can take a lick, and then some, but Casio's new G'zOne Ravine phone, which will be available as early as mid-October on Verizon Wireless, may actually be tougher than me. It doesn't look like much. In fact, that's it's allure: It's as rugged as Verizon's previous G'zOne models, but it won't make you look like you're a friggin' Navy SEAL when you're using it. It's Clark Kent on the outside, Superman on the inside.
How rugged? It conforms to military test standards, which means it withstands water, dust, shock, vibration, humidity, altitude, salt fog, solar radiation, and high and low temperatures.
As part of the G'zOne line, it's got specialized apps for wanderers, including an Earth Compass (GPS shows the distance and direction to over 33 domestic and international landmarks), a pedometer, Tides (for the nautical adventurer), thermometer, Sunrise Sunset (to give you an idea how far you can hike before you need to make camp!), an Astro Calendar and the Star Gazer, which gives you the names of the constellations based on the current season and time using GPS.
Living in such an outdoorsy mecca (Seattle), I'm surrounded by people whose normal downtime activities would be crazy for me: backcountry skiing/snowboarding (with transmitters just in case of avalanches), ice camping, sailing during Seattle winters and mountain biking up and down steep grades that make me queasy just thinking about it. Then there are those who take their lives into their own hands daily: the bike messengers, the skaters and surfers.
This kind of phone is perfect for them. Or if you are a stuntman/woman, or Angelina Jolie.
Maybe we'll call one in to test â half the fun would be coming up with ways to try to destroy it and see if it really has that Terminator gene. Maybe we'll pit it against the Sonim XP3, for example. It could get into a cage fight with the Ravine. Would be a toss up on the winner. (Watch this Sonim video.) Maybe the Samung Convoy could be another contender.
The Ravine will cost $150 after a $50 rebate, assuming you sign up for the 2-year contract and remember to send in the mail-in rebate form. The current generation of G'zOne phones, the Rock and Brigade, definitely look like they can take some action, but that could be a turn-off. If that's the case, best to look into the Ravine.
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Those that know, don't tell. And those that tell, don't know.
So say what you mean, and mean what you say.
And if its ain't broke, don't fix it.
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