Casio G'z One

Casio has been pumping out G'zOnes like crazy. In a little over a year, the rugged watch maker has updated the phone twice, with the newest iteration being the Type-SL. But we had to wonder - was Casio really improving on its ultra-rugged design, or just rehashing the same phone? To sort this matter out, we had to destroy both our Type-SL and one of our editors.

. . . but we'll get to that later.

As a whole the Type-SL packs few surprises. Like past iterations of the G'zOne, the Type-SL sports military grade resistance to water, dust, and shock damage. And once again, all that durability comes at the cost of looks. Previous versions of the G'zOne had a glossy plastic chassis and a flat smooth keyapd. These aesthetics have been dumped in favor of a rubberized coating, and a keypad with an angular, militaristic look. Oh and that awkward shock-dampening bumper/antenna from previous models?

Yup. Still there.

Features like Bluetooth and speakerphone also return, in addition to the external LCD, and camera. Problem is, none of these features have really improved. The Bluetooth still doesn't permit file sharing, the speakerphone lacks punch, and the external LCD and camera are still ridiculously low-res. EV-DO capabilities and multimedia storage are also M.I.A., making the phone an underwhelming choice for a music/web lovers.

Then there's the whole ruggedized thing. The handset did fine in immersion and dust tests, but we wanted to up the ante for the shock trials. To test the Type-SL's mettle, a local high school football and soccer team were drafted to beat the living bejesus out of the phone, and Wired's de facto quarterback, associate editor Danny Dumas. Despite losing its battery a number of times, the phone still powered up and made calls after numerous drops, punts, and bone crushing blitzes. And get this - it wasn't the hours of hard hitting abuse that demolished the phone, but one of Danny's celebratory touchdown spikes.

That kind of durability is usually impressive, but let's face it - Casio has had three shots at perfecting the ruggedized phone formula. They've obviously got the toughness down, but until the design catches up in terms of multimedia support and web access it's unlikely that the Type-SL will ever eclipse its brittle competitors.

WIRED Takes a lickin' and keeps on . . . calling. Camera flash doubles as a flashlight. Push-to-Talk compatible. Great standby battery life and talk time. Decent call volume and clarity.

TIRED Ugly, ugly, ugly. No EVDO support. Video quality is terrible. Weak speakerphone. 640 x 480 camera resolution is horribly outdated (the first G'zOne had 2MP!!!) Despite locking feature, battery pops off after most drops.

• Style: Flip
• Manufacturer: Casio
• Price: $149