Casio slimmed down its rugged Ravine the second time around. The G'zOne Ravine 2 ($149.99) sports the same stringent 810G military specification as the first model,though it's smaller and lighter than before. It's perfect for construction workers, factory employees, or anyone that wants a cell phone that can take some abuse. It's also our new Editors' Choice for Verizon feature phones; just keep in mind that with the advent of powerful, inexpensive smartphones, it's getting tougher to recommend this category of device.

Design, Screens, and Call Quality

The Ravine 2 is waterproof and resistant to dust, shock, vibration, salt fog, solar radiation, high altitudes, and temperatures ranging from -60 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. It measures 4.3 by 2.0 by 0.8 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.9 ounces. It's made of a hard matte black plastic with red accents and rubberized bumper guards. I still like the look; this one isn't quite as distinctive as the first model, but I'll take its smaller frame any day. We didn't have permission to crush the Ravine 2 this time around, but it still looks and feels like it will take a beating, if perhaps not to the same extreme levels as the first version.

The screens are essentially unchanged, with a 1.4-inch, 128-by-128-pixel, passive matrix display on the outside, and a 2.2-inch, active matrix, 240-by-320-pixel internal display. Casio passed on an opportunity here; while passive-matrix external screens are still commonplace, Motorola gave the RAZR 2 an active-matrix external display three years ago; by now, all high-end flip phones like the Ravine 2 should have them.

The numeric keypad loses the original's honeycomb arrangement. Now it's a set of staggered rows, with slightly thinner but still well-raised and well-separated keys. Dialing numbers was easy, and the five-way control pad and seven function keys were responsive.

The Ravine 2 is a true world phone this time around, with both dual-band EV-DO Rev. A (850/1900 MHz) and quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) compatibility. There's no Wi-Fi. Its SIM card slot is locked to Verizon's own international calling plan. It also works with Verizon's little-used push-to-talk (PTT) and Field Force Manager services. We didn't test the PTT functionality, as we've never seen anyone actually use Verizon's PTT service.

Voice quality was clear, crisp, and warm in both directions. The Ravine 2 remains a good voice phone, although I didn't like the high-pitched, low-level whine I heard from the display in my ear at close range. Calls sounded fine through an Aliph Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset ($129, 4 stars). The Nuance-powered voice dialing worked perfectly over Bluetooth. The speakerphone went quite loud with no distortion, and almost as loud as the larger first model. Battery life was good at 6 hours and 48 minutes of talk time, which is about half an hour longer than before.

Apps and Multimedia

Casio adds its wilderness-optimized G'zGEAR suite of apps once again, including an astronomy calendar, compass, thermometer, a sunrise and sunset app, a tide tracker, a pedometer, and a star gazing app. None of these will impress you if you're coming from an smartphone, but they're nifty extras that function well. Since they're Casio's apps instead of Verizon's, they don't do anything unseemly, such as try and sign you up for additional monthly fees when you're not paying close attention.

You also still get Opera Mini, which offers a surprisingly robust browsing experience for a non-touch feature phone. VZ Navigator 6 requires a download from Verizon's clumsy app store, and puts up almost a dozen dialog boxes for various EULAs and data charge warnings before you can get started, but it delivers solid, voice-enabled, turn-by-turn GPS directions once it finally runs. The Ravine 2's speaker is especially loud and clear, and sounds a lot like a stand-alone portable navigation device.

The side-mounted memory card slot is an improvement, as the previous version required that you pull the battery, and the reinforced slot cover preserves the phone's water resistance. My 32GB SanDisk card worked fine, and there's also 213MB of free internal storage. There's no music or standalone video player, although the Ravine 2 will play back videos you record; the non-standard 2.5mm headphone jack is only for mono hands-free earbuds.

Camera and Conclusions
The 3.2-megapixel camera features both auto-focus and an LED flash. It still takes okay photos, although the new two-stage auto-focus added lots of delay but little appreciable improvement in focus quality. Images appear oversharpened, with a telltale graininess and edgy pixelation even in good light. Now that smartphones are standing in for low-end point-and-shoot cameras, the Ravine 2's camera doesn't quite make the cut—especially when it comes to its terribly pixelated recorded videos, which max out at just 320-by-240-pixel resolution and 15 frames per second.

We awarded the first version our Editors' Choice for Verizon Wireless feature phones, on the strength of its call quality, ruggedness, and outdoorsy design. The new model is sleeker, and still Editors' Choice-worthy. But it's also facing a different market. We like the Ravine 2 better than the Samsung Convoy 2 ($79.99, 3.5 stars) and Motorola Barrage ($149.99, 3 stars), both of which are also rugged, but lack the Ravine 2's panache and 3G data capability. If you just need a basic voice phone, the LG Revere (Free, 3.5 stars) gets you there for free, and also has good call quality (if not the same ruggedness).

However, the entire market is beginning to tilt away from feature phones like the Ravine 2. This year's competition now also includes powerful smartphones like the Apple iPhone 4 ($99.99, 4 stars) and the 4G LTE-capable Pantech Breakout ($99.99, 3.5 stars), both of which cost less than the Ravine 2 up front, although they cost more per month. Need a rugged phone for everyday use? Put one of those in a carrying case.

The Ravine 2's high price makes it more of a niche item. It's still a great phone for voice calls, and still rugged, but not as obvious a choice as the first model. If the Ravine 2's good qualities appeal to you, though, you won't be disappointed.

Benchmarks

Continuous talk time: 6 hours 48 minutes

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