Verizon G'zOne Boulder now with front speaker

G'zOne Boulder to have a front speaker?

(Credit: Phone Arena)

If you read our review of the Verizon G'zOne Boulder, you'll notice that one of our complaints is the poor call quality, especially with the speakerphone.

Well, not only has Verizon rolled out a software update to improve that (the software update was released a few months ago), it looks like Casio is starting to ship a new version of the Boulder with a front speaker, presumably to improve the speakerphone quality that much more. We haven't heard any official announcements about it, and we don't see any images of it on the Verizon site, but this picture from PhoneArena seems pretty convincing. Let us know if you've seen this new design in the wild.

[sumb0dy1]

I haven't seen the original design in person(the older one without the front speaker), but I was in a Verizon store recently upgrading the firmware for my current phone (Voyager) and while I was waiting I was messing around with this phone, with the outside speaker, in the store. I put my microSD card in it and started playing my music from the phone. I played several songs with the phone open and closed and was admiring how easy it was to use as a music phone, and how powerful the speaker was. ( I must have annoyed the hell out of customers in the store, heh) but this is something truly rare I found in a phone. The speakers were very powerful, loud and pretty clear when it came to music, ringtones and even the GPS feature. I turned on VZ navigator in the store also and played with the volume and had it speak out the directions for me to get home from the store, and it was really loud and clear. It can legitimately replace an actual GPS and I would be able to use this as a car GPS without even looking at it because the speakers dominate. I could even have music on in the car. If I owned this phone it would be the first time I didn't always keep all of the volumes on max because I would be afraid of being too rude and obnoxious. I didnt look at the call quality though, I should probably go back and try making a call on that phone. I've been reading alot of reviews for this phone and that seems to be the only thing really.
I really want to get this phone and replace my Voyager with it. My Voyager screen is about to break off from the keyboard from abuse, so I think a more rugged phone is in order for me. Please someone post about the call quality on this newer model. I really think I should get my hands on one.