LG enV VX-9900
Phone Scoop Review
Mar 6, 2007 by Eric Zeman
Our in-depth review of Verizon's sophomore messaging phone. It's as good at photos as it is at email. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Overall Great
The enV is pretty cool. I am a huge texter, like 8000 a month person, so...about 300 a day, and it works great for that. fast texting good keyboard layout, somewhat decent call quality. I had the 9800 before this one is WAY WAY WAY better you don't even know.
PROS
-Looks
-Texting!
-Buttons in the right place
-Size
-Reliablity
-AMAZING pictures
CONS
-Call Quality... service is so so
-MESSES up your call quality if you put something over the top of the phone like your finger... SO annoying you have to talk with your hand in an akward posistion
-Camera lense should open automatically
-Not for email
-Sometimes text lag, you sometimeshave to connect to service again to get texts through
-button wear a little but i text alot so hey. and its not on the numbers just the shiny silver above some of them
-Don't use the inside very much
enV Rocks!!
Coming from a Moto e-815, considered one of the best VZW phones, I was a little reluctant to try LG as I had never owned one. I had never liked texting on a regular keypad, so I wanted a QWERTY keypad phone, my choices were either the Samsung U740 or the LG enV. I tried out the U740 and found being able to text quickly and error free became quite a chore, nice form factor though.
The enV is larger, however, everything else about this phone is much much better. Easier and quicker for texting, better camera, better speakers, better screen, unique design...not just another flip phone, does not show fingerprints like my black u740 did. Overall, I am extremly happy with my choice of the enV.
Pretty good over all.
I've had this phone for a few days.
Over all heres what I've got out of it.
*PROS*
-Great sound quality.
-Easily able to text. I thought the keyboard would be a little bit small for my large fingers. (I'm not a small guy).
-There is a button on the keyboard that will read out my text messages. Its just a little thing that come along as pretty cool.
-As everyone else has said its got a great camera. Perfect for catching those spur of the moment shots.
-If you spring for the web browsing, the internet is pretty cool. Not quite as good as a full size computer but it works pretty good. (Not great for myspace, but digg is awesome as well as engadget)
-Theres a camera cover to keep the camera lens from getting scratched up. Another plus when you have spur of the moment camera shots. (i.e. keeps sand out of the lense)
*CONS*
-The speakerphone (as everone else has pointed out) doesn't work unless the phone is opened.
-For such a great camera the flash is still just an led, so theres really not enough light to use it. (Even with the flash lacking the camera does very well in low light)
-The ringer isn't as lound as other phones. (I've had an LG 8300, and a Motorola e815, both of which had incredibly loud speakers)The rings come from the inside speakers (the same ones which play the music) so that explains the quiet rings
-Vibrate is very loud, not really stong, just loud, that comes from the lense cover vibrating loudly
-Keys on the outside are a little small (as I said I have rather large fingers, so texting from the outside or dialing is a little bit difficult if you aren't paying attention)
For those of you who absolutely love having customized ringtones this phone is perfect. Link the bluetooth to your computer and just drag shortened mp3s into the sdcards sound slot, then send yourself a text message with that sound and bam you've got yourself a ringtone created by you. Use Audacity to shorten the songs and you're set.
Only one con
I've had the V since it came out and really liked it except for the photo quality. The enV by far takes a crisper, clearer picture. All around I love the enV. The only con I can think of is that you can not set a separate ringtone to each contact's text messages like you could with the V. I used to be able to set a ringtone for my husband calling me and a different one for when he sent me a text. Now all my texts have to have the same ringtone no matter who it's from. :( I'll miss that feature.....but not enuff to switch back! LOL
Another phone with much hype and lacking simplicity
I just got this phone because I really need to search for places on line and get driving directions. Naturally I was attracted to the Verizon navigation package. I was very disappointed to find that the enV just didn't do was I wanted to do with the nav system.
PROS:
- Fast; with Verizon, the data speed is good. I can access my Yahoo mail account quickly, once I am there.
- Feature rich. It obviously has a lot of stuff, although I won't take the time to get into it all because I'm returning the phone.
CONS:
- Navigation software is not at all intuitive. I still haven't figured out how to locate a certain place, and get directions relative to my current location. Example: I'm in Tacoma, and I want to get to "Monaco Hotel" in Seattle; when you search for this string, it will only show hotels in close proximity to your current location. Not sure which idiot software engineer designed the navigation menus but that killed the deal for me because I'm thinking, if this menu is so counter-intuitive, what's the REST of the phone going to be like??
- Takes too many steps to get to a web browser. Having given up on the nav system, I went to Google maps instead. There should be a one-button access for "Get It Now", which gets you at least to a menu where you can type in an url, but there isn't. God only knows why they give you a dedicated button for POP mail access (Intellisync) instead.
- No comma symbol on the main keyboard; you have to shift up with the 'symbol' button, which is annoying when you are using it often, as I did when typing in addresses.
- Expensive with the Verizon package. There's no sense getting this phone unless you get their premium package and it ends up costing at least $100/month (900 minutes, unlimited email/text/web).
Overall, I'd say this would have been a killer phone a year ago - when consumers didn't have many choices. Now, with the iPhone and others coming out that are easier to command, this phone struck me as "difficult".
LG Env Recent Purchase
Pros:
The camera takes great pictures and has great quality. I have big hands so I like the phone design, the qwerty pad is identical to a keyboard.
Text messaging now is quicker than ever, and the messages get sent quicker. Picture text. Phone has web access for paying like $5.00 a month.
Battery Life is awesome. Like 19 hours of talking time. (Make sure its the weekend)
You can be mid text message on the front of the phone using the numbers, and flip the phone open and finish typing with the keyboard.
Everything you do on front screen transfers to inside screen when you pop it open.
Cons:
Phone is hard to hear when it rings.
Speaker only works with phone opened (its loud which I like.)
The charging cord is tough to get plugged into the phone.
It's hard to keep finger prints off this phone, they show real bad, I have the silver one.
Overall:
Best phone I ever had. My friend bought one as well, she loves it. She got the orange one.
The ENV!! Great Phone
Overall this is a great phone. Verizon and LG have a awesome device. The QWERTY keyboard is like no other phone I have used. Camera is awesome. No other phone competes at this point. Yahoo, AIM and MSN messaging are all loaded on the phone. I have had the phone for about 1 week. Why did I wait so long. Awesome phone and it was inexpensive.
Long time review
ok i have had this phone since it was first released so my review is a very experienced one. so the pro's of the phone are well known:
2mp camera (and variable resolution of your photos all the way up to 1600 x 1200)
qwerty keyboard which is awesome for texting
etc etc....
the cons however are minimal. for me:
the battery life is irratic (but i think that's just my phone) i get 2/3 of the actual battery life taking 2 bars and the other 1/3 taking the other 2.
while the camera supports 1600 x 1200 rez, it does not support sending those pics thru messaging, can only get those pics out by using a memory card and a card reader for ur comp.
i get marginal reception at my house, but i've gotten marginal reception at my house with every phone i've had so i guess that's a mute point.
overall this is the best phone i've owned to this point and i've been using cell phones for the better part of 10 years. maneuvering the menu is very simple and easy to understand. in my opinion, its one of the best phones lg has put out to date. hope this helps all of u looking for a new phone. you really can't go wrong with the vx-9900.
AMAZING
i got this phone in november/december. it was amazing only until a few months ago when it was a mechanical problem but otherwise i had it it fell in a mud puddle by mistake so the water destroyed my sound. but now i heard about the new colors that im getting..
pros..
1. has aim so i can be away from a comp and still IM
2. amazing texting keyboard
3. great sound system
4. its not to fat
cons..
1. there really anywhere to put it
2. when you get an IM u have 2 open the phone
Best phone I've ever had!
Let me say from the start that the ONLY reason I didn't give this phone a solid 5 is because of how Verizon tries to make you pay for every little thing...I know it's more them than the phone, but they are the only ones carrying the enV.
I haven't gotten the Music Essentials Kit yet, but I will, but the mp3 clips I've put on the card for ringtones sound wonderful... I'm looking forward to loading my music on it.
Pros:
wonderful camera
can take a 4gb microsd card (with the 2nd software version)
able to use clipped mp3's for ringtones
ringer id's
picture id's (I'm bad with names, great with faces)
easy txt msging (had to get used to it)
easy bluetooth setup
great batterylife
So many more Pro's to list but limited space.
Con's (to me)
Contact book doesn't include a Pager selection.
The UI needs work, but it IS better than the one before it.
I've sold phones (way back in the bag phone era) and I can tell you I haven't been this excited about a phone since Motorola came out with the Startac phones eon's ago.
