LG enV2: Below the iPhone Benchmark

If it weren't for the comparison with Apple's offering, this handset developed for Verizon Wireless would really rate

by Bruce Meyerson

Editor's Rating:

The Good: A compact phone with a spacious full keyboard for e-mail and messaging

The Bad: Clunky dial-pad design; no true Web browser; applications interrupt could be better integrated

The Bottom Line: An impressively versatile handset jammed into a small package, but it lacks the iPhone's elegance

Reader Reviews

In the geological record of cell phones, there's before the iPhone and after the iPhone.

Had you placed the enV2 cell phone in my hands two years ago, during what one might call the industry's Jurassic period, I'd have been amply wowed. What's not to like about a full-blown keyboard and a big color screen tucked away neatly inside an incredibly slim handset? And with the enV2, it's clear that LG Electronics has improved dramatically on the prior two iterations of this somewhat revolutionary line of phones that it's developed for Verizon Wireless.

But the enV2, priced at $100 with a two-year contract and rebate, arrives in a vastly different world than its two predecessors. The debut of the Apple (AAPL) iPhone a year ago is the industry's equivalent of that gigantic meteor that's believed to have ruined everything for the dinosaurs. The iPhone has kicked up a colossal cloud of dust that's caused profound dismay across the handset industry, becoming the benchmark for what is possible on a consumer wireless device.

Frustrating Design Feature

It almost seems unfair to be critical. Compared with the enV2, the original V from late 2005 looks like an absolute brick. And let's be clear: I was rather taken with the V, and rather impressed when the next generation arrived last year with the enV. The enV2 is even smaller in size and weight than its predecessors. But the appropriate comparison is no longer yesteryear's accomplishments. The iPhone has shown us what's possible—and all that a lazy handset industry failed to produce on its own.

That said, if your wireless provider is Verizon (VZ) and you want a full keyboard, the enV2 is worth a look. To make it smaller than its forebears, LG has shrunk the external screen, leaving room for four lines of text. Tiny as that looks, it's enough for a menu of basic tasks such as viewing contacts, recent calls, or an incoming text message. But to do anything much more involved, you'll be using the inner keyboard and screen.

Compared with its flashier predecessors, the enV2 has an understated look. Instead of separate buttons for each numeral and function, there are five horizontal bars, each with three icons. So for example, 1, 2, and 3 share a bar, as do "Send," "OK," and "End." But there's an art deco design accent to these bars that makes it hard to press some of the buttons in the right spot. Two of the bars bulge in the middle, which means the adjoining ones above and below get narrow at the midpoint. Even after weeks of use, it remained a struggle to hit "OK" in the narrowed middle of the top bar. As that was the key needed to unlock the phone, this design proved frustrating.

Easy Navigating

These are some of the quibbles, but the enV2 does sport a number of high-end features, including a 2-megapixel camera, a music player with a quick-launch key on the exterior, and a slot for an SD memory card to hold up to 8 gigabytes of music and pictures. And most important, there's the spacious full-QWERTY keyboard and crisp 2.4-inch widescreen display hidden inside an impressively small package.

The device is just 4 in. long, or more than half an inch smaller than both the V and the enV. It's also a shade thinner than its two predecessors at just 0.65 in. And it weighs only 4.23 ounces, which is a third of an ounce less than the first enV and nearly a full ounce lighter than the V. All told, it's just compact enough to sit in your pocket without discomfort.