LG ENV

first phone i havent broken in a year.  love it.  battery life gets me thru weekends.  quick texts.  bluetooth.  awesome.  want the new one now.

Original Review date: 11-26-2006

[edit: fast forward to 2008, there are VERY FEW phones I actually recommend that friends and family get.  That is because I review so many that I am well-aquainted with quirks and annoyances, perhaps too much so and I resist stepping up and recommending a unit consistantly.  I recommended this to friends and even my parents without hesitation.]

Initial impressions are:

Reception (it's a phone, right?) - not as good as my motos or the chocolate, but it did complete a choppy call in my basement (my personal real-world test). To compare, my motos (v710, v265) on Verizon can keep a relatively clear conversation going for a few minutes before a cutoff.

Screen - front screen isn't very useful because of the screen real estate. But when fairly comparing it to, say, an outside screen of a clamshell phone, it's good. The inside screen is gorgeous... I can't wait to watch a movie on it with the BT headphones

Camera - outstanding, even for a 2MP unit. [edit: fast forward to 2008, the enV's camera is still the best-quality camera I have used on a phone.  Later phones with a higher MP count still don't have the standalone camera quality that the enV's camera has.  Too bad they couldn't duplicate this performance in later phones.]

BT - I paired the headphones with no problem. In my case though they don't sound nearly as good as wired ones. On the Choc wired headphones sounded as good as any typical MP3 player, but the BT ones sound a bit, um, crappy. Is this typical? This is my first test of BT headphones. Plus the wiring is kind of inconvenient... I assume the extra feeds of line in the setup are for antenna purposes. Maybe I just need to charge the headphones all the way.

Accessories - Is LG moving toward a standard plug for data and power? It is SO nice to have the Choc's power cables work with the 9900.  I really wish they'd standardize on mini USB like Moto did... I'm really happy to have compatible charging/data accessories but the plug itself always takes a few tries to get into the phone. Mini USB is very straightforward and sturdy, plus it's easy (at least for me) to find a mini USB cable laying around to charge a phone with.

Form Factor - I'm not used to a phone this large, but it is truly a unique form factor for Verizon, coming from someone who did not have the 9800. I haven't played much with they keyboard but I imagine for texting fans it's really neat. I just pulled up the 9800 and it looks like night and day. The 9800 looks like a bloated, thick unit compared to this one but that could be due to color treatment.

Other - it wasn't apparent to me how to adjust the volume of the phone when playing music without headphones... ie phone is open and playing off the card. There's a volume level indicator by the Mute button, but how does one adjust the volume?

edit to add: okay, you can get to the external volume buttons when the phone is unfolded but it's clumsy... may have been good to put a couple of volume keys between the "soft keys"... lots of empty real estate there.

Overall pleased!

great product for the price, nice features, keys almost too small, but not quite!

overall great 'bang for yer buck!'