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| Brand: LG
Category: Wireless
List Price: $399.99
Buy New: $49.99
You Save: $350.00 (88%)
Rating:  83 reviews
Sales Rank: 3581
Color: White
Media: Wireless Phone
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
Model: LG-VX9900
UPC: 652810813112
ASIN: B000LNOFH0
Release Date: December 4, 2006
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Promotion: Data not available Terms and Conditions
Promotion: Save $10.00 when you spend $50.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout. Terms and Conditions
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Amazing phone, but... June 11, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This phone has a lot of reviews already, but allow me to lend perhaps a different perspective to the issue. I am an electrical engineer who specializes in digital communications and hardware design so I have a little bit of background in what goes into making a good wireless device.
My Accolades:
- User Input. Obviously the "gimmick" of this phone is the full keypad, which supposedly gives one the ability to type quicker. Let me assure you that it does - I used to dislike texting and now frequently find myself reaching the SMS character limit without even realizing it. Also the keypad is great for browsing the web, posting on forums and browsing your uploaded music.
- The Camera. Once again, one of the phone's gimmicks, the 2.0MP camera performs far and away better than any camera I have seen on a cell phone. I like the way you hold it like a real camera, I like the way that it looks like a camera, and I like the way it takes great 4x6 shots. The flash is worthless unless you are taking a picture from about a foot or two away, but it still takes decent pictures even in low light (flash off).
- MP3 player back end. Many complain of the volume from the headphone jack, however I feel the opposite about the phones musical output capabilities, I love it. This is perhaps my favorite part of the phone - the good, strong, signal from the headphone jack is worlds away better than the vast majority of personal music devices I have tried. I mainly use it to play music in my car and at home, and in those places it blows my ipod out of the water for sound quality - I mean it isnt even a contest. And with flash memory being < $5/GB the vx9900 will likely become my mp3 player of choice.
- VZ Navigator. It is an incredibly useful and well built application (this is a surprise, more on that later) that functions perfectly like a car GPS. It even has features many upper end GPS units do not - like a bicycle mode, and the ability to actually SAY street names. Since it uses A-GPS it locks and tracks satellites way faster than any of the standalone units can; it takes about 5 seconds to acquire and lock and up to 10 to calculate the route.
My Gripes:
- The shutter. Does not stay closed very well,feels flimsy and I am pretty sure I will end up breaking it before I am ready to give up the phone. Still, its an effort most dont even bother with.
- VZ navigator. Part of a much larger problem, but it just costs too much. At $10/month I will not use it once the free trial wears out. It just becomes too redundant if you have google maps and mapquest at your disposal for directions (both of which have mobile websites).
Miserable Failures:
- Verizon. I have no complaint about the service, my complaint has to do with software. Verizon's homebuilt operating system that they put on EVERY non-windows phone is also on the enV. Not a version designed to take advantage of the phone's unique traits, but a port of the same boring OS from every other Verizon branded phone. Because of this there are vital flaws: you cannot use the navigator or the browser when the MP3 player is on and the Vcast music browser makes you STOP THE MUSIC if you want to browse outside of the playlist currently playing. Also, the internet WAP address is locked and Verizon makes you pay $5 a month to use their proxy. Finally, despite the fact that I have several 2GB memory cards the browser often runs out of memory trying to load pictures - where is the option to set aside Flash memory for swap space? These are all the result of closed, locked down software. Were people free to develop software for BREW phones, these problems would not exist as they are simple, stupid examples of little things being overlooked and never fixed. Shame on you Verizon! OPEN UP BREW!
- Browser. Verizon has an upgraded browser that it puts on the VX10000 and the Glyde. This browser is far more advanced than the one on the enV but is not even available for download. Give us this browser! The single column one is pretty bad the way it reformats websites (though it works fine for the mobile web).
Overall: Another excellent piece of hardware engineering crippled by closed software. Verizon would attract many customers if they opened up their operating system to development. I am not sure where this notion of closed = profitable comes from, but it needs to re re-thunk.
enV May 20, 2008
I got this phone about a year ago, it's held up pretty well. I've dropped it countless amounts of times and it's still working perfectly. (knock on wood)
The only complaints i have is that it's kind of big and sometimes it doesn't fit all the way in my jean pockets and falls out and occasionally the keyguard will turn off in my pocket and it will sometimes dial random numbers, but it's not a big deal. It's a good phone and the camera is great for a phone camera.
More hits than misses May 18, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I just picked this at the end of April and loved it. Not being much of a text message person, I am sure this will change seeing this QWERTY keyboard. I did compare it to the new Voyager and the camera on this stands out as it has flash and a protective cover. For the price of the Voyager now, shame on them. I do have to send it back as I experienced some freeze ups after doing simple tasks as text messaging and/or reading them, in the multimedia task such as Get It Now and EZ Navigator plus viewing the photos. It's being replaced this week but I want the green unit as the 'email' key is dysfunctional for me on this unit and can not be changed at all.
This phone, even though it is 2 years old, it awesome. It has a TTS (text-to-speech) feature that I found yesterday which reads all emails, text messages and other areas too. I am glad I found it I do not have to fumble with my glasses trying to read various information. I only wish the voice command worked better as I can not get it to match my voice. I love the EZ Navigator and bumped my package up to include this as an unlimited feature. Other than this, I have no problems with the phone as a whole.
 biggest annoyance in my life. April 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Honestly, this phone does not even deserve the one star I am giving it. I switched from Sprint to Verizon in January 2007. Over the course of the year I have replaced my enV four times. No, I have not dropped it much, gotten it wet, or dropped anything on it. It is clearly a software issue. As with most common phones and other electronic products that come out, the ideas and products are there, but due to the push by companies to satisfy the consumer, the software is commonly a disappointment with many products now days.
But back to this phone..
Many people like this phone because of its unique keyboard (at the time it came out) and its nice screen, great camera, etc. But my problem was not the features of the phone nor the applications. Due to lack of software development, the current phone I have, my 4th enV, likes to freeze randomly and the buttons are not responsive half the time. I have had my 4th enV for 2 weeks and have not dropped it, etc, or do anything that would cause harm to the phone. My 3rd enV would turn on and off whenever it please, no matter if I was in the middle of sending a message or in the middle of talking with someone.
My recommendation is to steer clear of this phone. Go with something reliable, and don't buy it just for the "fancy features" because this phone is not to unique anymore.
 How does this only gets 4 stars when everyone rated 5 stars? April 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm writing this from my wife's account. I replaced my Motorola E815 when I ran over it, with the Samsung SCH A930, then this phone after a long research for an upgrade. I thought I couldn't beat my old phones by much, but I was wrong. Not only does it play the WMA format, it plays the MP3 format too.... :) Great screen inside and great camera. Love the orange color. I thought the Motorola E815 was good, but not even close to this. I can't complain. Great phone and worth every penny. Easy to text, access functions, and so forth.
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