LG LX-290 – Basic phone with a few goodies tucked in
For:
Four dedicated short cut keys above the keypad, excellent call quality.
Against:
Bad photo quality.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
LG LX-290 is a CDMA2000 1X which supports CDMA2000 1X 1900/800 bands. It has a slider design. The display of the phone is 2.17 inches and gives a resolution of 320×240 pixels or 262k colors. Messaging and data features include Instant messages, e-mail and text messages.
1.3 mega pixel camera takes videos in resolutions of 320×240, 640×480 and 1280×960 pixels. It has 15x digital zoom and also has PictBridge support. Services include are PCS Business Connection, PCS ringers download, PCS Video Mail, PCS Short Mail, PCS Messaging, Sprint TV. The LG LX-290 comes with 22 MB of internal memory and has a 600 memory phone book. The 960 mAH battery of the phone has a rated talk time of 360 minutes and standby time is 170 hours.
The left side of the phone has charger jack, volume rocker and headset jack. The other side has a dedicated camera key and a button which gets you voice command controls on long press and call history with short press.
Razzle Dazzle:
LG LX-290 isn’t an attractive phone but it is not that ugly either. It is hard to find and entry level phone which has sexy looks. The handset has a simple slider design. It is 4.09 inches long, 0.63 inches thick and 1.94 inches wide. At just 3.6 ounces the phone is comfortable to hold in the hand.
Inside Dope:
Not everyone out there is a gizmo gadget freak. They don’t need a high end cell phone, all they want is a device which can do basic calling and text messaging. So why buy a cell phone with all the features if you are not going to use them? You can buy a low end phone and save your hard earned money. LG LX-290 from Sprint, is a basic entry level phone and it doesn’t have music player or 3G. But on the bright side, you get a GPS with turn-by-turn directions, Bluetooth, lots of e-mail options and a entry level 1.3 mega pixel camera. The LG LX-290 phone has a slider design which we are a bit wary about because the lubricants in the slider wear out over a period of time and hence phone becomes hard to move the two halves. We really liked the four shortcut keys above the slide out keypad. The LG LX-290 costs $29.99 with a 2 year contract and after a mail-in rebate. LG LX-290 phone has a support for variety of e-mail providers. There is no EV-DO which we were a bit disappointed with.
Display
The display of the phone is 2.17 inches big, rather odd figure for the display size. It has a resolution of 240×320 pixels or 262k colors. The images look sharp and the text too is quite clear. You can adjust the font size for dialing digits, notepad, browser and messages. You can also change the menu style and the backlight time.
Navigation array and keyboard
The navigation array consists of two soft keys, Talk and End keys, back key and round navigation button with OK button in the center. The four buttons on the toggle can be programmed to be shortcuts for applications. The navigation keys are flat on the surface, we would have liked if it was a bit raised but they are not hard to press. Slide the phone up and you will get a numeric keypad with four short cut keys at the top. The keys are for calendar, alarm, e-mail and text messaging menu. These functions can be accessed from the menu too but it is nice to have dedicated shortcut keys. These keys are well raised from the surface and it is quite spacey so it feels comfortable to type.
Phone book and PIM features
LG LX-290 has a 600 memory phone book and a single entry can take multiple phone numbers, memo, 2 e-mail addresses, instant messenger ID, Web address, street address, job title, company name and birthday. You can also keep a contact hidden on the phone book. Photo caller ID and grouping of entries is supported. There is a choice for 4 types of vibration and 34 polyphonic ringtones. PIM features on the handset include unit converter, notepad, calculator, world clock, calendar, alarm clock, vibrate mode, speaker phone and multimedia and text messaging. Though an entry level phone, it has a couple of advanced features like GPS with support for Sprint Family Locator and Sprint Navigation, voice control, Bluetooth, USB syncing and wireless Web browser. For e-mail there are plenty of options from service providers like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and AOL mail to your own IMAP or POP account.
Camera
The camera has a 1.3 mega pixel camera which can take pictures in resolutions of 320×240, 640×480 and 1280×960 pixels. Other settings include four shutter tones with a silent option, night mode, self timer, brightness, 9 fun framers, five preset modes for white balance along with a manual option and four tones for color. The camera cannot shoot videos. Images are not that good they are typical of a 1.3 MP camera. Photos looked blurry and overcast.
Games and personalization
LG LX-290 comes with demo games like Tetris, Pac-Man Plus and Block Breaker 2. You will have to pay a fee for the full versions of these games. You can download more games from Sprint mobile store. You can personalize you phone with variety of alert tones, screen savers, graphics and wallpapers.
Call quality
Call quality was excellent on the LG LX-290. We could hear our friends easily and they too could hear our voices clearly. Voices were natural and our friends said the quality was as good as landline. There was occasional background noise and echo but it wasn’t too irritating. Speakerphone calls were OK, our friends sounded harsh and tinny.
Battery life
Rated battery life of the LG LX-290 is 6 hours for talk time and stand by time is 7 days. In our labs, the battery lasted for about a little less than the rated talk time.
Verdict:
LG LX-290 is a basic phone; we will recommend this for entry level users. It has excellent call quality and the keypad is quite good to type which is all one needs in a basic phone.
