LG Dare VX-9700
Phone Scoop Review
Jul 10, 2008 by Eric M. Zeman
LG's Dare is its best touch-screen phone yet, but it's not perfect. See what shines, and what fizzles. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
THE MOST AWSOME PHONE FROM LG AND VERIZON
Ive had this phone for about 3 days now and love it.
About two weeks ago i bought an instinct through best buy.
I really liked that phone and in fact wrote a decent review about it on this site.
my issues were few but they were big.
Screen size,no customization, and last but not least horrible reception where i live and work which is in Maine.
So i returned it( after hours of fighting best buy).I then set my sights on either this phone or a vu through at&t. I decided to go with this phone because Verizon was said to have good service up here.
I really like the way this phone feels and looks. I enjoy the menu system and the customization of it right down to draging icons onto the home screen. I like the screen size which i know is technicaly .2 inches smaller than the instinct. But it is wider not taller which is what i like.
And last but not least the reception on this phone is killer.I have yet to
lose service or drop a call. I get evdo revA . and the browser although a little slow does its job nicely.
I would recommonend this phone to anyone that wants a nice high end touch screen device and also wants the reception to go with it.
Pros:
size
customization
reception
camera quality
standard headset jack
screen
full gps navigation
Cons:
no tv
no visual voicemail
no live search
still the best phone ive tried.
luv it !!!
alrighty i just took my new toy home and i love it...no other phones i had in the past can compare to this one..im really diggin the whole touch screen thing..it responds really quickly to the touch..i just traded it in from the stinky voyager...as of right now there are no cons for this phone its all perfect to me
what are you waiting for go get this phone u wont regret it
IF THERE EVER WAS A I PHONE KILLER THIS IS IT!!!
There is not con to this phone! The guy saying he had to keep pushing the screen to get to work might have had a bad phone, because mine is flawless!! This is the best phone I have ever had. And the price is whats even better!! Verizon and LG rock!! If you are looking for a great phone with mp3 player, camera, touch this is it. My friend as the I phone and this blows it away!!!! THE DARE IS THE BEST PHONE YET!!
95% Perfect
I have had the LG Dare for now about half a week and so far have found this device to be a joy to use. It has some innovative features that many other similar (*cough* iPhone) devices have. It also has all the basic features that every phone these days should have. Some simulative* iPhone) devices would do well to add them.
The call quality seems to be good and signal strength is about on par with other Verizon phones. That means great coverage even in desolate rural areas in the Finger Lakes region of New York.
I think my favorite feature of this phone is the fun things that I can do with my camera and photos. It is pretty neat to add little stamps and drawing to pictures then send them out (and to think SOME phones that are pretty popular don't even have MMS messaging, oh well).
If you are an observant reader, you might be thinking, "He is giving this thing a rave review. What is with the 95% business?" Well my biggest gripe with the phone is the music player and associated interface with the computer. It took me a lot of digging around to get the phone to even connect to the computer. Once that happened, I was forced to use Rhapsody (or WMP) to transfer music. Transfer is slow and I found it hard to retain album art and other things like that. Once on the phone, music played very well and sounded great to me (I have heard reviews to the contrary but I am not a picky listener).
This device has the potential to be a totally amazing phone. It is almost there. Here are the things that Verizon and LG should add in the next software update:
-Visual Voicemail (big one)
-Predictive Text when typing using the Full keyboard (like the iPhone has)
-VZAppZone (I would like to be able to use the GPS and location aware apps)
-Improve the PC to Dare interface. Maybe Verizon or LG should write a completely new application that syncs music, calendars, contacts, etc. Oh and make it work on the Mac too.
Not worth it
I wanted a touch screen phone that also had the QWERTY keyboard so I thought this was the answer ... it wasn't. I like new technology and gadgets, I work well with them and learn quickly.
PROs:
-Very loud ringer
-Good ringer options
-Fun display/setting options (font style, color, etc)
-Can add people from contact list in 'Favorites' section, also displays their picture.
-Good coverage (Alexandria, VA area)
-Good battery life
-Writing function is neat but takes too long and isn't necessary
CONs:
-Many options to send text to someone but none of them are very easy to get through, there are too many steps
-Touch screen was unreliable even after calibration
-Phone turned off then back on again in middle of text (was only about 2wks old)
-QWERTY keyboard buttons are pretty small so it's easy to make mistakes - no arrow back key, you either have to try to touch the exact spot with a fingernail or backspace all of the letters
-On QWERTY keyboard, the "." is right next to the space button so it's easy to put periods where the spaces go
-Even with the touch screen protection locked AND going into the phone settings and locking the phone so you have to enter password to unlocked - can still dial phone #'s and make calls. (I made an accidental phone call to our house while it was in my purse with BOTH locks on).
For $250, it isn't very reliable and not really worth it. I took it back and got the Samsung Sway which I also do not like, am hopefully returning it for the LG enV.
Great Phone
Pros:
We got two LG Dares this past weekend. So far we love these phone's replaced my LG8300 and my wife returned her Samsung Glyde for the Dare. Best up grade we ever done. I use Mobile E-Mail on mine and it works great.
Cons: None so far.
Im glad I took the Dare
Overall Im very impressed with this phone. The functionality and ability to customize menus and shortcuts is a real added bonus.
I was a bit concerned about havin an all touch screen-- only because, being a guy my fingers aren't what you would call dainty.
I will say there is a couple day learning curve on getting used to the touch screen-- especially for texting-- but after some practise it gets easier.
construction wise it fits very comfortably in the hand-- and is smaller than my moto q.
the camera is pretty good-- my only complaint is that there is no zoom. so the lens is basically fixed. but the quality of pics is pretty good.
The interface itself works quite well and it's quite easy to navigate-- there are a lot of little tweaks and settings that make this phone a good deal.
the only small drawback-- is that it is not a smartphone-- If they ever make a smartphone version of this it would truly be an iphone killer.
still it's a very good contender.
if your looking for a fun easy to use not iphone-- this is it .
Nice phone...
Works for me...great phone!
Pros
Strong call quality
Good 3.2-MP camera with slow-motion video recording
Customizable interface
Built-in accelerometer
Integrated GPS
Cons
Nothing major...
Dare to Dare...Glad I Did :)
So glad I got this phone. I love everything about it. The touch screen is great. It does take some time to get used to. The reception is great. Taking this dare was the best thing I did. Should you be looking for a great phone this is it :) Great job Verizon and LG.
