New post for no particular reason
I haven’t posted much in the last week, so, I thought I’d create a new post today. I’m trying to get a copy of the Clash film “Westway to the World,” so, once I watch that I’ll probably review it here. I’m also going to the Radiohead show at Nissan Pavilion this Sunday, so, I’ll likely write a review of that, too.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the LG eNv phone? I’m going to switch to Verizon as soon as I decide on a phone. I have a simple flip phone now that I like, except that it only has a standard VGA camera, and I’d like a 2.0MP phone, and I don’t want to spend more than $100 or so. Sometimes I think I’d like to have a full keyboard, but, I worry that the eNv is just “too much phone” for me – I dont want to sit there typing on my phone like a dork, and I find that predictive typing works well even without a full keypad. I also worry that the eNv will be too large to comfortably carry around in my pocket. Then again, maybe I’d really like the full keypad, and its really not *that* big…so I dunno. I’m interested to hear from others on this.
That’s the phone I have. I kind of like it, and pretty much got it for the same reasons you mentioned. While it is rather large for a phone, it still fits in my pocket fairly well. The form factor is much more conducive to pocket carrying than say a Blackberry or most other smart phones. Even though large by todays standards, it is really no larger than my old cell phone was.
Pros:
-Full Keyboard. Even though the keys are pretty small, it’s pretty easy to type on
- Good Picture quality
- MP3 Player
- Stereo speakers
- Semi-Hackable: So far I’ve managed to override Verizon’s restriction on ring tones, and get free VZ navigator.
- Verizon: Verizon seems to have the most flexibility in calling plans
- expandable memory
Cons:
- I find the numeric keys clumsy to use. It’s easy to hit the wrong one. Some people may disagree, as Vicky apparently uses the numeric pad exclusively, even for texting
- In order to actually put mp3’s on the phone, you’ll need a data cable, which is extra. Supposedly you can write stuff directly to the micro sd card, in which case you’ll need a card reader. I haven’t been able to get my computers built in card reader to recognize the card, however that may be an issue with my computer.
- Semi-Hackable: Due to the BREW operating system, don’t expect to find any free apps for it.
- Does not run Opera(hopefully this will change)
- Not truly a “smart” phone, however it has more than enough functionality for my needs. And with it not being a smart phone, you don’t need an unlimited data plan.
- Using the camera puts a severe drain on the battery
I would recommend going to the store to check it out, but when you actually go to buy a phone, check out letstalk.com. At the time when I got mine, Verizon was selling the phone for $200. After rebate, I got mine for $69. When I mentioned this price at the store, they would not match it.
Heya! I have an LG enV phone and I’m actually quite fond of it. A couple of comments:
1) Camera – I think the camera is great, particularly outdoors. Here is a sample of pictures I took with it. Not bad for a Camera Phone at all:
Vail
New Sock Hat
Partially Frozen Waterfall
And all these pictures aren’t even taken on the camera’s highest resolution! These are the second highest so I can send it via picture messaging.
2) QWERTY Keyboard
Now, I’m like you where I find the predictive text to do a fabulous job, so I would say 99% of my texting I do on the normal keypad. However, anytime I’m working with URLs or email addresses, the QWERTY keyboard is a god send. Totally worth it. Also the flip screen is great for looking at pictures.
3) Durability
I have taken this phone skiing, camping and hiking and I have dropped it A LOT. A LOT. And it is still running well. It has been picky about charging lately– where it wants the cord just so… but I believe this is directly related to the rough life it has led.
4) Size
I typically carry mine in my pocket. It doesn’t fare so well in tight ass-hugging jeans. But usually I put it in a side pocket of cargo pants and it is fine and dandy there. When you go to a Verizon store, you can always shove the sample in your pocket and see how it feels.
Anyway, I’m happy with it as a phone for me. It has proven to fit well with my texting and outdoor lifestyle.
Wow, great comments! Very helpful. Vicky – love the pictures, they look great to me! I’m not a professional photographer, so, I don’t need top notch photo quality, but just something good enough to be worthwhile. I really like your “hat” picture — photos I’ve taken with my current phone tend to look like blurry ghost images :)
I think the enV just looks big compared to flip phones, which are tiny these days. Compared to my 3 year old flip phone, which is bigger than newer models, the enV isnt that much bigger. It’s just a little taller and a little bit thicker, and I’ve never thought my phone was anywhere close to too big.
It’s cool that it has a .MP3 player, too. I could see that being really cool! I just hope i can figure out how to get my current ringtone (The Clash’s “London calling”) on there. :)
I think I’m going to go to the Verizon store to check it out. I’m leaning towards getting it, tho. With a 2 year service plan, it’s only $80, I think, which is totally reasonable. Time for a change, and all that…
If you need help with the ringtones, send me an e-mail. I can help you out with that. ;) If you have an mp3 of it, it can be made into a ringtone with the right tools.
The data cable is a necessity for this or any other hacks. They actually call it the “Music Kit” though.
Here’s some more sample pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chriggy/sets/72157602790932367/
I would still go through letstalk.com though. Currently, after rebate, the phone through them is free with a 2 yr service plan. Why pay $80 when you don’t have to :)
FYI, even going through them, it’s still going to be a Verizon account. They’re just the middleman.
@Chriggy – Ahahah I like I made it into your comment. “Some people may disagree, as Vicky apparently uses the numeric pad exclusively, even for texting”
:)
I was trying to leave an objective review :)
Chriggy: Have you used letstalk.com or know anyone who has? It looks great — same service, but free phone! I’m definitely interested in that!
I think I’m going to go to the verizon store this weekend and play around with the enV. Field trip! hehe
Thanks for the feedback guys, I really appreciate it!
Yes, I have. It’s where I ordered my phone and got the service. I wouldn’t recommend it unless I had personal experience with it.
Like I said, they’re just the middleman. Your bills will come directly from verizon. I got my phone in about a week, and they let you get phone number portability(unless you’re sticking with the same carrier you had before).
The only catch is that it will take you about 5 months to get the rebate(you can’t submit the rebate until you’ve had the plan for 3 months, which makes sense). I finally got my rebate :) They’re legit. Don’t know how they do it, don’t really care. Saved me a lot of money!
That sounds like a really good deal!
I went to the Verizon store this weekend and played around with the enV. I was really impressed about how much functionality it had for such a little phone. It’s really only a bit taller than my current flip-phone, and it really doesn’t even seem like it’s any thicker at all. The navigator function looks awesome!
I’m gonna think about it for another few days I guess, but I’ll prob end up ordering it.
I really like the LG enV so far. It’s definitely small and light enough, but the keyboard is super awesome. The pics are way better quality than my old vga phone. So far, I’ve been transferring photos from my phone by sending them via picture message to my email. I hope those picture messages count against my “500/mo for $10″ plan.
I really need to figure out how to zoom – there has got to be a zoom option on this thing!
Otherwise – good cam/phone, especially for the money (free with rebate).
Those pic messages do count against your 500/mo plan.
Unfortunately, the only way to zoom is to decrease the resolution. It won’t zoom if it’s set to max resolution. So you may as well crop, since this is all the zoom really does.
Verrrry interesting. I lowered the resolution, and, sure enough, I get a (limited) zoom in/out feature.
I’m glad picture messages count against the 500 limit – I’ll have no problem staying within 500/month. I’m just happy they don’t get charged per megabyte for transmission.
The other funny thing is that when I send picture messages, it will sometimes say “resizing for picture message” (or something very similar) and then end up resizing the picture from about 450K down to below 200K…I wish I knew what the limit was. I’d rather use one resolution setting lower and end up with a 350 or 400K picture rather than take a 500K picture and have it end up getting resized down to 200k.
you should buy the data cable and just transfer them directly to your computer (assuming this is an option)
I gotta look into that. I think you need some kind of proprietary cable (vs just a normal usb cable).
the fact that it’s proprietary may mean you can find people who are “stuck” with “useless” cables on ebay — i.e. everyone who went from LG to iPhone.
The real problem is I just don’t know anything about what kind of cable I would need. I assume LG makes a (likely) proprietary cable that I would need, and I assume it would be usb (connecting to the computer) but I don’t really know. We’ll see.
I found a few cheap enV USB cables on buy.com
(http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=204998527&listingid=21861484&dcaid=17902)
I think that’s what I need; it looks like it’ll hook up to the enV on one end and the USB port on my comp on the other. I just hope I won’t need any kind of special/proprietary software in order to transfer photos/files between phone and computer.
I imagine any software would be on the manufacturer’s website for free.
It’s possible, but Verizon has a bad rep for charging inflated prices for stuff that should be free. Making the connector between phone and computer proprietary is a good example. We’ll see.
maybe you should ask the ebay seller?
My advice would still be bluetooth. I think I got my bluetooth adapter for around $20. They’re pretty cheap, and no hassling with plugging in cables. You don’t even have to take the phone out of your pocket to transfer.
I don’t know if you can get them off directly using a cable without additional software. If you can’t, use BitPim. Just do a Google search. It’s free. However, blue tooth is much easier.
Don’t even bother looking on the LG site. It’s pretty useless.
Also, check your firmware version(it’s hidden down in the menus somewhere). The older firmware has a limitation that you can’t send images that are at full resolution. A new firmware version was recently released that is supposed to fix it. I haven’t tried it, but supposedly you can just take your phone to a Verizon store, and they’ll flash it for free.
@clint:
I think ALL cell phones have proprietary connectors. That’s because due to the size limitation, the data/power/charging pins are all one one single connector. And nobody ever bothered to developed a standard for that connector, so each cell phone manufacturer has it’s own. I do think that the cable should be included with the phone, but unfortunately it’s not.