Try to drown it, crush it with up to a ton of weight, or give it a toss — this prototype G-Shock phone will just laugh its heinous mug at you. Why can’t super-rugged things not look like this?
The phone, which appears to be running Android, is only a concept for now — so we hope Casio will reconsider the Metal Gear meets Mountain Dew commercial design. Now, yeah, it’s nice to see a phone that isn’t a Black Rectangle Clone. But drawing on the bulbous wrist-cracking look of G-Shock watches isn’t much better. Of course a ruggedised phone isn’t going to be svelte, but it doesn’t need to resemble an X-TREME watch just because of a shared namesake.
But all criticism aside, a phone that’s waterproof submerged up to 3m, can be dropped up to 3m, and can resist a ton of weight is fantastic. Let’s just tweak that shell. [DroidLife via The Verge]
stevjosco
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 8:05 AMIt looks weapons grade.
Casio: Don’t listen to Sam (he obviously spends too much time indoors), make the phone just how it looks in the photos.
Kevin
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 9:55 AMI have to agree with stevjosco. Casio: your designs rock!!! Keep it up. Sorry Sam.
AAron
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 2:48 PMAnother plus one, it looks wicked chunky. Sorry to Sam too. Not that sorry though, Sam usually likes to rant for no other reason than ranting
Dave
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 2:35 PMI agree, i think the design is cool. Been waiting for some non-motorolla Android rugged phones!
Cameron
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 8:16 AMIf they make them as good as their G-Shock watches they could be on to a winner. I guess the trouble is you’ll still be using unstable/battery hogging as all f*** Android, which wouldn’t be as great for something you’d want to rely on.
Cranny
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 9:51 AMIt looks mad, let’s see – this versus a Telstra tradie phone? I think compared to that this looks like a master piece
Adam
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 10:15 AMIt can survive Tons of weight but has only max 24 hours of battery life.
Telextial
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 10:32 AMIt looks like a calculator. It probably feels like one too.
light487
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 10:58 AMLooks like an oversized g-shock watch, which is obviously what they intended. :)
What would be awesome is if it was able to track when it was under water, how much force a particular knock or drop was and so on, so you can pull up the stats of how much potential damage it could have suffered but didn’t because it is indestructible :)
TSH
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 11:19 AMIt’s just a concept, so I’ve no doubt the casing could be made smaller through the use of different materials. But even as-is it looks emminently “grabbable” – there’s some way to get a grip even if your hands are wet, oily, grubby, in gloves, whatever.
John
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 3:20 PMLooks pretty typical of most “rugged” designs. What’s your problem Gizmodo? Never seen anything like this before? Where have you been the past 10 years?
Danny Allen
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 3:27 PMlol
Michael
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 5:26 PMI will buy a hundred!
Sicarius123
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 5:30 PMIt looks like a kids watch from the 90′s.
RPanah
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 7:02 AMStill not as durable as the Nokia 1100 and 3310. :D
Ralse
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 11:05 PMIt looks like a toy, reminds me of their toy g-shocks. I had a titanium pathfinder once, the band broke on two places after a bit over a year, I don’t need their ‘phones’.
Motorola rugged cells rule, they are stylish and practical, packed with options.