I like my LG Dare, but....
a techie, Every day computer user
| Pros |
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| Cons |
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MAY
29
2009
LG - Dare VX9700 Cell Phone —
...this is not an iPhone clone. Nor is it a smart phone. I'll get to why in a minute.
With that out of the way, here's the pros and cons:
Pros
- Great touch screen. I tried out several touch screen phones, and the Dare was one of the best; very sensitive but not overly so.
- The camera is outstanding, boasting 3.2 megapixels as well as a flash. Photo editing options are groundbreaking as well. Be warned though: like with other mobile phones, the camera still has its limitations. The zoom is nothing dramatic, meaning you'll need to be within 10 feet of your subject. And while the flash is a nice addition, it too needs to be in close proximity to be worth anything.
- MP3 player and other on-board tools are good. The headphone jack, as mentioned in previous reviews, is standard, so you can plug in pretty much any of your favorite ear buds (I tend to use my iPod ear buds). My other favorite tool is the tip calculator, which only caters to my laziness when figuring out the restaurant bill. The other tools are decent as well; the alarm clock is one I use daily.
- I like having the touch screen QWERTY keyboard for texting, but it is very finicky. I keep my fingernails cut very short, so I typically "fat finger" my letters, and the phone typically guesses wrong. For people with long fingernails, it's very responsive.
- Overall call quality is good. Bluetooth is fine, but make sure you have the right headset (can't recommend the Plantronics Voyager 510 enough).
Cons
- The web browser is junk, and this is where all comparisons to the iPhone or other smart phones need to end. I read reviews of the Dare on CNET where they loved the phone but hated the web browser, but I figured I would just deal with it, how bad could it be? It's bad. Functional, yes. But page rendering, even on 3G, is slow. Scrolling is a pain, even with the touch screen. On pages that it cannot display, it simply hangs rather than erroring out. And the worst part is that you cannot download a different web browser like Opera, which leads me to:
- No ability to download "useful" applications. Again, this is not an iPhone, so unless you want to pay Verizon for their lame apps, you're stuck. The Dare has no OS, so it cannot run 3rd party apps that aren't directly developed by LG or Verizon. So no Gmail app, no Opera browser, and none of the great non-iPhone apps that are abundant on the web. Such a shame.
- Along those lines, and this may be more of a Verizon gripe, the mobile email app for the Dare is sad. Clunky, to say the least. I linked it to my Gmail account (nice), but the interface is basic and the features are nil. If it weren't included with my service, I would never pay for it.
I will be the first to admit that the LG Dare never claimed to be an iPhone clone or a smart phone. Verizon decided that sales pitch was the best way to move them, and it worked. Despite hating the web/app features, I do like the phone, and it did get a lot of things right. I just found it unfortunate that LG did not follow through completely on its ability to provide a strong web browser and more robust app capabilities. Then it truly would have been an iPhone killer.
LG - Dare VX9700 Cell Phone is recommended by oh-marco
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