Give me a reason not to buy this phone.

[unitypunk]

i had my old commando (rooted) for damn near two years,(lost it 30 days ago in a car wreck, it was nowhere to be found) it never let me down...

lots of you must be unrooted stock rom users still..

do any of you regret snagging this guy?


are there any rooted users out there already??

im up for a new phone tomorrow, and this motorola milestone/droid X is killing me...

 

[Furrner]

No regrets at all, much, much faster than the old one. Rooted for a couple of weeks now.

 

[unitypunk]

rooting wasnt tough?

did you just follow the one posted in ATR? this is good news..

now the bad news... in the upgrade im losing my legendary unlimited data... now to limit myself to two measly gigglebytes. i used 4 last month... not good.

 

[callmecolt]

rooting wasnt tough?

did you just follow the one posted in ATR? this is good news..

now the bad news... in the upgrade im losing my legendary unlimited data... now to limit myself to two measly gigglebytes. i used 4 last month... not good.

You will save money in the long run to just pay the full price. I made the mistake of upgrading, and wish I didn't. Keep the unlimited plan!

 

[unitypunk]

we switched to 10gb shared, which gives me 5-7gb a month, as the other users dont use the devices much. idk about 500$ for any cellphone though...... people buy cars for that.

 

[lodom]

I just saw I can get it Free at VZW. Also there is the Kyocera ELETE Hydro waterproof phone there as well for $50.

 

[unitypunk]

snag it, **** the kyo...imho

 

[rjglenn]

Mine will be here Tuesday.

 

[Twesty]

No regrets at all, much, much faster than the old one. Rooted for a couple of weeks now.

I just p/u'd this little monster a few days ago and I think I got a lemon, the camera stopped working and gives an error message every time, you can also here some desperate clicking sounds internally while it is failing to initialize, but alas nothing.

Also, rooting seems a little counter productive for an average user, but this phone has so many wonky g'z functions etc. I kinda hate it already and wonder what are the biggest benefits to rooting as opposed to just getting something that is more reliable stock...:smokingsomb:

 

[rjglenn]

Well, if you are an original commando owner then this phone is a great improvement over that model. If you are coming from a different model (I had a RAZR Maxx for a time after I got beat up by my commando) then this phone is a little sketchy. Basically, like the other model, it doesn't like to be hacked on at all. The camera issue has to be a hardware issue and I would look into getting a warranty replacement. Its a nitch phone without a doubt.

 

[xmguy1]

I too came from a RAZR Maxx HD. But overall its not a bad phone. It has its quirks. But hell how many phones can you play music on in pouring down rain. I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 too. I wouldn't let a drop of rain on let, let alone a downpour. But today I took my Commando 4G out in the rain and played music on it. I've had no issues if it drops in water. I even made a video about it. (Since no one else did). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2QsT3zIZOg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[unitypunk]

put mine in my beer yesterday.... :-S nobody takes me seriously there when tell them its waterproof

 

[ColbyDigsSoil]

I'm eligible for an upgrade in the end of January. I'm split between the Samsung Galaxy S III (with an Otterbox Armor case) and the new Commando 4g LTE. I have the first Commando. I hated it until I rooted it. Now it's tolerable (still randomly shuts off all of the time - especially when navigating w/ GPS, storage space is still an issue). I'm a wetland scientist, so I am around water all of the time and must have either a waterproof phone or a waterproof case - thus my options are Apple (w/ case), Casio Commando 4g LTE, and Samsung GSIII (w/ case).

I'm not going with apple...

Here's the pros and cons of my two options:

Samsung GSIII Pros:
-I can buy from Costco w/ better price and better insurance plan than w/ Verizon
-Still waterproof w/ Armor case
-Will get Android 4.3 soon
-Better phone in terms of overall performance
-Awesome battery life
-Expandable via microSD

Cons:
-Have to spend $100 on a case
-Sound quality isn't good w/ case


Casio Commando 4g LTE pros:
-Waterproof and no case needed
-Can replace battery when old one gets worn down
-Expandable through microSD

Cons:
-Have to buy through Verizon (pay more for worse insurance policy)
-Sounds like it still has random shutdown issues the first commando had
-Battery life not on par with mainstream cell phones
-Need to buy extended battery to get run times on par with better phones

Did I miss anything? What should I choose?

 

[rjglenn]

Sounds like you've thought of everything, but consider this...


Samsungs are reportedly poor performers for reception. Doesn't matter how great a performer it is if it can't get a signal. I live in an area with poor signal and it works as well as any Motorola I've ever had, and that says a lot.

The Commando battery is tollerable if you do some things to help it. Mainly if you will disable the GZ apps and the VZW apps the battery life improves. Download an app that allows you to turn off the LTE radio (I use SWITCHIT-4GLTE) and keep it off unless you have a data intensive activity. That one thing will nearly double your battery life. Emails, texts, and MMS's work just fine on 3G, or 1xRTT (CDMA only) for that matter.

The extended battery is just ugly, no two ways about it. However, my phone is been on battery for over 14 hours and I have 80% left, so it's worth it and I'm still breaking in this new battery. With the LTE off I would imagine it would probably run for days.

About lockups and reboots... I can cause this with two applications - Solitaire (why, I do not know - it is a very small and simple app), and if I am watching a streaming video and I try to skip forward. Some seem to have more trouble than others, but I would imagine more often than not it is an incompatable app, and that happens to all androids. It is no where near as bad as the old Commando.

This is such a major improvement over the old Commando, and so far I have not had any missed calls, missed texts, or missed alarms because of problems with the software. It fits in my uniform shirt pocket and I can close the flap so it doesn't fall out, yet the screen is adequate size for viewing emails, texts, videos, etc. I do not worry about carrying it with me under my bunker gear, water from sweat or firefighting won't hurt it. I never carried my RAZR anywhere that I thought it might get wet, or dropped.

I have no response to the comment about insurance. Asurion is fairly expensive, up front and if you file a claim. I had a brick replaced by Asurion and they sent me a brand new phone with all the accessories. Obviously over time they will get refurbs to hand out, but I was suprised when this one came.

I will not be taking any updates unless others give good reports. Going from ICS to JB on my Droid RAZR did not make any improvement to performance, and actually hurt battery life.

Ultimately the choice is yours, and its a decision you will be stuck with for a couple of years so choose wisely.