LG LX260 - White (Unlocked) Cellular Phone

This is my third LG Rumor, and the first I've seen in person with the fashionable white/silver combination. It's probably the second most common after the iPhone, but I don't have the numbers on that. The options available for personalization are vast. Right now my menu background is Tropical, my clock is digital in the top right corner, my cropped picture is on the desktop. There is a pleasant birdsong for my text message alert and the alarms I've picked have naturescapes with frogs and crickets.

It's easy to use with its QWERTY slider and standard phone keys in separate locations, and when my last Rumor fell into the toilet, leaving several keys disabled, I was able to use the QWERTY to pull up menus and dial phone numbers for seven months before I tired of it. The phone rarely freezes, has a rather small photo capacity rectified by the sold-separately MicroSD card, and saves drivers and pedestrians with a quality speakerphone option. Talking is clear to listeners unless the phone is between ear and shoulder, and the earpiece is always audible. Bluetooth is useful for transferring all your phone contacts, but I have no experience with the BT headset to speak of.

It's a better choice than the new Rumor2, which has the same features and less background color choices. I use two email accounts, picture mail, Facebook, and the Internet, and my homepage is the local movie showtimes. It's got a clever Airplane mode is clever, and there is an option to lock the phone on power up to prevent use by thieves and snoops. Writing notes to self, planning schedules on the calendar and recording myself singing in the car are easy and elegant. You can set three alarms to wake up, and short term alarms as well if you're taking a nap or following a recipe. Overall, it's one of life's simple pleasures to have and use this phone, even though everyone else has it.

Pros: Good feature set for non-smartphone with email, Facebook, Twitter, Opera Mini, and has touchscreen; touchscreen is pretty accurate; 3G is definite plus; bubble-style texting interface is handy; includes predictive text feature for a decent keyboard.

Cons: Touchscreen can be a pain when scrolling through menus; Hello UI hard to get to, therefore kind of useless; keyboard layout not great; game selection sucks unless you are willing to pay; data plan priced like smartphone; Sprint's network; camcorder

Summary: Verizon has its Envs and Sprint has its Rumors. LG and Verizon obviously have a decent partnership, because the Rumor Touch is not the Env Touch. However, the Env Touch was an editor's choice, so it's pretty hard to be as great. That being said, the Rumor Touch is pretty decent in its own right.

User Interface (Touchscreen):

The touchscreen is not bad for a resistive one, but it is still resistive. Scrolling through menus often results in the accidental selecting of an icon, and keep your fingernails long. All in all, though, it is responsive enough for all but those who have been using capacitive screens since 2007. And let's face it, if you have been using capacitive screens since '07, you're probably not going to buy this phone anyway.

Overall, the UI is simple enough to understand and navigate, and the menus are easily customizable in an intuitive and simple way. The Hello UI is cool, but it's really hard to get to, and so I, for one, never use it, which is a real shame because it is a great concept, just poorly executed. Still, BREW (Qualcomm's OS, used on the phone) is simple and straightforward and will appeal to the heavy texter, and even the average one.

Features

The Rumor Touch has a great feature set for the most part, with dedicated Google Maps, email, Twitter, and Facebook apps. It also has both a default browser and the excellent Opera Mini, which is speedy and easy to use and great over a 3G connection. The email app is far from spectacular, and only works with Yahoo! and Gmail (so I couldn't hook up my Verizon account), but hey, it's there, and most people I know use Yahoo! and Gmail anyway. Still, it's really not a Blackberry. The Twitter and Facebook apps are similar to the email in that they are far for great, but they're there and that's a bonus any day on a feature phone (P.S.--I don't use Facebook and Twitter, so I really haven't used them except to see what they were--you should get a second opinion on them.). Google Maps is an awesome app that works as a GPS; it's kind of slow, but it will help if you are completely lost and need help, which is really what it's supposed to do.


Media

There is a microSD slot on the phone that can support up to 32gb microSD cards, so if you use it, you can put all the music on it you want, provided you buy the card. The multimedia is not bad. Sound quality is good, and videos are pretty much what you would expect from a 240x400 screen--kind of watchable.

Wrap-up

There was really nothing about this phone that really blew me away, but there was nothing that made me cringe either. The good things about this phone definitely outweigh the bad, and the few bad things are really mostly minor and hardly deal-breakers.

For everyone except heavy smartphone users, this phone will be great.

I made sure to do my homework when it came time to get a new cell phone. I looked at all my choices and narrowed it down to what I needed, then onto what I wanted. This phone captivated me quickly with its very sleek look and clean lines. The LCD screen sports a 176x220 resolution and is certainly effective in displaying vivid, brilliant colors. The keyboard slides away and clicks satisfyingly when closing. The buttons on the keyboard don't stick, though someone with larger hands might find typing a bit taxing. I have smaller hands and it takes a bit for me to have easy movements. Though I wouldn't let that stand in the way of buying this phone, it is well worth its cost, and it looks great too. The sound quality is wonderful and it seems to have great reception no matter where I go. All things considered, the LG Rumor is an incredibly well designed and ultimately solid phone. It turns out that not all Rumors have to be bad.

This phone is the best phone I have ever used on any network. Get signal just about anywhere, slide out keyboard is great for the texting freaks like me. Great sound, screen resolution and color is spot on. Micro SD was a great add on recommended for anyone who takes alot of pictuers with the 1.3 Megapixle cam and want them on your computer. Video is a great feature alot of other Sprint phones dont offer. Media player was an awsome add on also, Plays a ton of music while your bored. I loved this phone so much I bought another. Best phone next to the Instinct or iPhone.

This phone is way out of date. But Its great for my mother. Not to hard to use but full of extra features she will never use. Under "Normal" usage by a 50+ year old woman the battery will last 3-4 days. She loves the slide out keyboard and the memory card. Great for keeping pictures of the grandchildren easily on hand. The camera sucks but you get what you pay for. Other than that its a tough old phone and simple to use.