As close to an iPhone as Verizon customers can get.
a techie, always getting the newest cell phone, obsessed with touch screens
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SEP
16
2008
The Dare's touch screen integration is the foundation of the phone and it's amazing. There are only three buttons on the front of the phone: Send, Clear, and End. There are five buttons on the sides of the phone as well: Lock, Speaker, Volume Up/Down, and Camera. The rest of the phones functions are touch controlled. The menu's have nice flip animations and move smoothly as you travel through them which makes it a quick trip to whatever function you are looking for. Basically, I can access any menu on the phone in only a few seconds and, being an impatient person, this helps my stress levels and reduces the likeliness of the phone accidentally hitting the wall. Scrolling is done by holding your finger down on the screen and sliding it downward or upward along the screen. One of my favorite things is how well the touch screen works with the web browser. The browser supports full HTML, Java scripts, and some audio/video. After waiting a few seconds for the browser to load, you can explore the web at a decently fast rate (depending on your signal strength). By sliding a finger either upward or downward, viewing the entire web page becomes easy. Navigating through the website is made easy because all you need to do to click a link is tap your finger on it. I keep my browser zoomed out a large amount so I can see more but, by doing this, I've made it much harder to click links. I normally have to use a makeshift stylus to navigate but its not a huge hindrance. The touch screen also excels when your looking through your photos and videos. To look through your photos, click on one of them from the My Photos menu then, by sliding a finger left or right, you can navigate through the photos seamlessly. There is also a very nice edit function in which you can edit your photos by cropping, adjusting levels, and adding graphics.
The phone is also equipped with motion detection. When writing a text message, if you turn the phone on it's side, it will detect that and open a virtual QWERTY keyboard. It also comes into play when using the music player. Turning it on one side or another will flip the player and make it more easy to navigate your music. It's also used with the photos and videos. By turning the the phone sideways, it makes the video or picture you are viewing larger and changes the layout of the options.
The touch screen is the main reason that I bought the LG Dare but, if there were a second main reason, it would be because it has a 3.2 Megapixel camera. It takes fantastic pictures. Day or night, this is the best cellular phone camera I've ever seen or used. It comes with a stunningly bright flash that makes night time shots easy and with the massive amount of camera options it comes with, this phone has successfully replaced my digital camera. There are multiple types of photos you can take which include: Panorama, Split, Frame, and a 3-9 picture multishot. There are also four filters: Sepia, Black and White, Negative, and Aqua; Along with Five Resolutions: 320x240, 640x480,1280x960, 1600x1200, and 2048x1536. There's a photometry setting, a face detection setting, and six different scene modes. You can even change the ISO settings.
The video recording abilities are above average as well. There are three video resolutions: 176x144, 320x240, and 640x480. It also has the same four filters as the photo function. It has a flash that can be turned on for recording at night. The gem of the video abilities is the slow motion video recording. By setting the "High Rate" function on, videos can be recorded at 120 frames per second which is then processed to create an amazing slow motion effect. It is great fun to use and the detail in the movements of whatever you record is fantastic. The only problem with the High Rate mode is that it requires an extreme amount of light to use. It can really only be used outside during the day or in an overly well lit room.
There are three cons to this phone. First, the microphone is of pretty bad quality. Most people have a hard time hearing me when I have speakerphone on. I have to yell into the mic in order for it to be clear. The mic works fine though if you're just talking normally without the speakerphone on. It has somewhat of a problem with sound quality while video recording as well. If there's too much bass, or the recorded sound is too loud, the speaker basically doesn't work and all you can hear is buzzing and sharp sounds. I don't know how it would sound if you were to send the video to a computer (might be better). The other bad thing is the speaker on the back of the phone. It does not play loud music very well. Actually, to be honest, it plays it horribly. If the volume on the phone is all the way up, the speaker crackles. I've only had the phone for about 2 months and the speaker already sounds like its blown. However, if headphones are used, the music sounds crisp and clear. It has a 3.5MM input for average sized headphones.
Overall, the LG Dare is a great phone with very few cons. If your looking for a phone that has incredible camera capabilities and a sleek, stylish design, this is the one to get. The price is still a bit high at $200 with a 2-year contract. If you would like to get one but don't need to renew your contract, they are on eBay and sell for between $300 and $400.
Last edited on Sep 16, 2008
LG - Dare VX9700 Cell Phone is recommended by Mr----X
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