LG enV Touch VX11000 Cell Phone

  The title came about from a comment my daughter made when I admitted that I like this phone.  Until now, I've always owned simple Motorola cell phones.  My last phone was a Ve.  It served me well and I was thinking of sticking with it when my Verizon 2 year renewal plan came up.  I then figured that I could always keep my Ve as a backup and go back to it later.

  As I looked at phones, I really didn't consider the LG touch screen phones.  My daughter has a LG Env1 and loves it.  My wife got a Env Voyager and it has been a disaster for her.  Her first phone screen cracked within 3 days of use.  That phone was replaced by Verizon for a $50 fee with a refurbished Voyager that stopped charging a week later.  That phone was replaced and she's now on #3.  One month later; so far, so good.  But it certainly didn't inspire me.

  After trying the keyboard on daughter's Env, it caught my interest.  It was much easier to use than the standard keypad on my Motorola.  I read quite a few very positive reviews on the Env Touch and started thinking about it.  Unfortuntely, Motorola doesn't really have anything comparable.  Finally, a very good friend gave me her firm recommendation as she loves her Touch.  Okay, I'll bite.

  Two weeks ago, I looked on the Verizon site and the 2 year renewal price for the Touch was $199.  A week later, Verizon added an upgrade credit of $100.   Hmm, the Touch for $99 ain't bad.  On my actual renewal date, I looked again and the upgrade credit was $199!  The phone was free (8/20/09).  Now I'm a bit of a cynic and figure that if a company like Verizon was going to give it away for free, then something is wrong with it.  There has to be a loophole "gotcha" somewhere.  I ordered the phone and got free overnight delivery too.  By the way, at the local Verizon store, it was still $99.

  When the phone arrived, I inserted the battery and put it on charge.  I then put in a micro SD card.  Lke a lot of phones now, you can add extra memory and I purchased a 2 GB micro SD card for $15.  With my Motorola Ve, you had to take the back panel off to insert or remove the card.  With the touch, there is a slot on the side you can just pop it in.  Very nice!

  Now I'm embarrassed to say that I couldn't figure out how to turn the darn thing on.  After daughter stopped laughing, she showed it to me.  But once we got past that, everything else flowed.  The controls are well thought out and intuitive.  By just looking at it, I was able to figure out how to send a text, make calls, and adjust the phone.  For an old guy like me, that really is saying a lot.  By the way, as you look at the front of the phone, at the bottom you see three buttons.  The one on the left is to answer a call; the middle is the "menu" button; and the right is to hang up.  Press the right button to turn the phone on or off.

  On the front screen, there are five round icons along the bottom.  Starting from left to right, the first icon is an envelope and brings up your inbox (text/email msgs).  At the top of the screen is the title and a back arrow to bring you back to the main screen.  The second icon shows a phone and it's to make calls.  The center icon has four dots and it's the main menu/Home. The fourth icon is your contact list.  The fifth is "Favorites".  I haven't messed with it yet so that will have to keep for a future update.

  Making calls from the front screen was easy.  Press the bottom/middle button to bring the screen up.  There is a screen tab at the bottom that you drag up with your finger to unlock the screen.  Then tap the 2nd icon on the bottom and you get your dial pad.  Too easy!

  The actual calls sounded a bit muffled to me.  But the people I've talked to have said that I sounded very clear to them and a bit louder than with my Ve.  The volume control on this phone is adjusted by a toggle on the left side of the phone.  It will get loud.  I haven't figured how to turn on the speaker phone but that will come with time.  I mated the phone with my bluetooth Motorola ear piece.  No problem finding each other.  I'm going to try to mate it with my Garmin Nuvi 360 GPS later today.

  The touch screen works really well.  I initially didn't press hard enough but soon figured out that I had to press until I felt a vibration.  Easy enough.  I also like the ability to drag icons on or off the screen.  I spent about 10 minutes playing around with dragging on various icons, adjusting them about the screen before just settling on a digital clock.  

  Using the inside keyboard was a very pleasant surprise.  The keys are spaced out.  I had initially worried that I might mash two buttons at once but no such problem here.  One thing I haven't figured out yet is how to auto-capitalize at the beginning of each sentence.  Currently, I have to press the "shift" key at the beginning of each sentence.  I may have to break down and actually read the owners manual - and you know how much guys hate to do that!  But it's not a deal breaker and my text speed has definitely increased (but that's not really saying much either).

  Using Verizon's Backup Assistant was a breeze.  Instead of having to take your phone in to be plugged into their computer to transfer your contact list, it's now done over the air.  The bad news is that it won't transfer your pictures or any ringtones you uploaded.  So I'm now manually doing that as I feel up to it.

  One minor thing that alarmed me at first was the charging/charged symbol.  Like every other phone, there is a battery symbol in the upper right hand corner.  As it's charging, the four sections of the battery symbol pulse from right to left.  Okay, no prob there.  But when the battery is fully charged, the entire battery symbols blinks on and off.  In my previous Motorola phones, that meant a charge failure.  So my first thought was that something was going wrong already.  So I googled up an explanation (see?  still haven't opened the owners manual) and found out it meant that the battery was fully charged.

  One disappointment so far is the camera.  It's a 3.2 mp camera which is quite an improvement over the 1.3 mp of my Ve.  But for some reason, the photos I took with Ve were much sharper.  I'm still playing with it but even the photos my daughter have taken look slightly fuzzy.  I will say the built in flash is one of the brightest I've seen on a phone yet.  After taking 3 pictures of my wife, she said enough already because the flash was irritating her.

  I've read quite a few comments in other reviews that said the Touch has a poor battery life.  A larger, longer lasting battery is available or $35.  I guess I don't use my phone enough to really wear it out.  So far, the battery charges have easily lasted overnight and still show a full charge.  I did buy a car charger just to be safe.

  Another concern I had was the phone "doing its own thing".  By that I mean calling out accidentally.  My daughter has said her Env1 has made calls out of the blue.  Her boyfriend's Env1 has actually made calls while sitting on the counter untouched.  My wife has said her Voyager has accessed the internet while in her purse.  So that call to the "900" hot line was the phones fault...  Seriously, I hope this is not a problem as it will definitely be a deal breaker.  So I'm making sure the screen lock comes on before I put it in my pocket.  I'm going to be watching for it too.

UPDATE:  To turn on the speakerphone, open it up to the inner keyboard.  In the lower right hand corner is a button with a speaker symbol.  Duh! 

  The screens do get easily washed out in the bright sunlight.  Standing outside, I couldn't make out the face at all and had to retreat to the shade to use it.  Luckily we only get sunshine for 3 weeks here in the Great Northwest.