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54%
3.04 

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Low price-range... Good display.. That's all
Nov 06, 2005 06:41 PM 4680 Views
(Updated Sep 30, 2012 10:57 AM)

Sound Reception:

User friendly:

Style & Design:

Other Features:

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Value for Money:

I was planning to move over to a GSM service when I decided again to go for this RIM CDMA. Been using this cell phone since August '05 the first impression on the look of this phone is really great considering the price tag it comes with. With  a large display (large atleast for this price range) and excellent 65K colors it looks a great buy... but unless you start using it you dont see the glitches.


I got this for Rs. 4,600/- bundled along with a 1,000/- talk time to call other RIM numbers (and some 50/- for other numbers) which was pretty cool... at least that's what I thought in the beginning.


The box ships with the handset, a headset, a Lithium-Ion battery, charger, user manual, hand strap and an added Quick Guide. The color I got is the Metal Silver and the rated price on the box was Rs. 11,500/-.


Display: This is by far the main feature of this cell phone. At 65K color this phone delivers distinct, clear and smooth display. The 128x128 resolution (6-line LCD) is a good number for the price range. I basically went for this display. However there are glitches like, it's not very visible in the sunlight.


A major problem with the display is that it simply shuts off after about a minute, so you see nothing on the display unless you have pressed a key. Though I initially thought that this feature was provided so the battery charge would be used more efficiently, but from the battery life it seems to have no such positive effect. There is also no way to turn this feature off.


Keys: The keys have a bumpy look and are rubber made. So I'm not very sure about their longevity. Till now I have'nt faced any wear and tear however. The * and # keys are hard to use and you might miss the pressure points if you are using with one hand. The Left & Right Navigation keys are so closely placed to the Call and End keys, respectively, you'll often see that you have pressed the wrong key. The keys need a little more pressure than regular ones nowadays - I wish it had those soft keys. Not a good keypad for single-hand use.


The Software: The software seemed pretty good in the beginning but within a few days I realised that there might be some memory leak or blockage problems with the code. That's because you will see there is a problem with the way the icons animate on the main menu options. The problem, I see, is that the animation plays quite well first, but once it goes into the second loop and beyond, the animation jerks, showing distinct indication of memory blocks. I sometimes hope it doesn't hang the phone. I'm not sure if the problem is in general or comes with particularly in my unit only. It looks disgusting however.


Voice reception: The voice reception quality is very good and none have complained to me about the voice they receive on their side. I haven't faced many call drops or voice breakups other than cases that originated from the other side.


Battery: The battery is one of the major deciding factors that come to play when you rate a mobile phone. Being a portable handheld device it is only the battery that keeps it going (you cant run around with the charger, you know). The cell phone comes with a Li-Ion 3.7V battery. Though you may find the standby time quite long (almost 2 days) the average talk time is too little (I don't believe its even 2 hours). If you are an average user, however, charging once daily would do. It is normal battery life even after the fuss it creates by shutting off the display. :))


Navigation: Navigating through the cell phone is easy if it wasn't for the few badly placed keys and the number of key presses you need for the operations. The number of key presses required to finish a task is pretty large and is a pain for someone who is migrating from a NOKIA handset, in particular. There is however, a customizable, My Menu feature that comes handy in partly overcoming this part of the problem.


Speaker Phone: This speaker is another great add-on. But, as usual, speaker phones are seldom used except in special occasions. The sound is loud and clear as far as I have experienced till date. I guess it's louder than most speakers I have seen on costlier handsets (both CDMA & GSM).


Antenna: At last LG seems to be doing away with those external antennas sticking out from the head of its CDMA handsets. This is one reason I didn't say no to this phone.


Phone Book: The phone book stores up to 300 x 4 entries which is pretty large for your normal cell phone usage. Finding entries is however very very slow and not at all user friendly.


SMS: Typing SMS is not that comfortable and I have received few SMSs that did'nt fit into its character space. Typing with only one hand feels the phone is going to slip off. Then as I said earlier you got to press the buttons too hard for a mobile phone.


R World: The R World graphics show cool on the display and all features are accessible. However I regularly face errors in the R World connection which I'm not sure if the problem is with the phone or the R World service.


Recharging: Speaking over the cell phone while recharging is really uncomfortable since the recharge port is on the side of the handset. The charger adapter is too big for reasons I dont understand and the shape is not friendly enough so you can carry it in your pocket. I guess LG can make better designs.


The indicator after full recharge is useless since it's just a message box that shows for a few seconds and then disappears. So you can be sure to miss it. This is a big problem if you are recharging with the phone switched off. If you charge the phone keeping it switched on, you can however know the charge is full if the battery-charge indicator in the top-right of the display is constant and is no longer animating.


What's the time: If you are used to seeing the time on you cell phone then its really a bad experience with the keypad locked and in daylight. The display features auto-shutoff so just can't pick up the phone and see the time. You need to press some key to reactivate the display. Here is the catch - if the keypad is locked, pressing a key shows the message 'Press Key Guard to Unlock' and then the display dims immediately after the message disappears. In case you are in bright daylight and waiting for the message box to disappear so you'll have a glance at the clock - its hard luck. Because you can't see a thing with the display now dimmed. So in case your key is locked and you are in bright daylight, there are three steps to watching the clock: a) Press 0 for 2 seconds to unlock b) Wait for 1 more second for the ''Key Guard Disabled'' message to disappear c) Then watch the clock on the display.


My Menu: This is a really useful feature packed in, considering the large number of key presses that you have to use to access frequently used functions. This lets you create shortcuts to functions inside items in the menu hierarchy. You can access My Menu with a single press on the keyboard.


Alarm: This phone has three alarms that you can set individually. You can also set the alarm to fire off once, daily, mon-to-fri or mon-to-sat. Alarms don't work if the phone is switched off.


All in all I'm satisfied now that I have already bought it - though I somewhat regret my decision. But wont recommend to new buyers. There are better deals out there.


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