Verizon Wireless released the LG Dare to the wild. Here’s my impressions of the phone, now that I’ve had a chance to play with one for a few days.
I’ve been a Verizon Wireless customer for many years. In a nutshell, their network is great but their phones suck. They also have a habit of nickel and dimeing customers for all kinds of extras. Does the LG Dare redeem them? Kind of, though through no fault of the phone.
My latest phones were a Motorola Q and a RAZR. I love the size of the RAZR but its features are a little dated. The Q feels like a brick. I hate it. The keys are frustrating when using it as a phone and it is just plain annoying. My Verizon contract was up in March and with the new touchscreen craze, I was keeping my options open. The iPhone feels too much like the Q - another brick, so thats not an option. The Samsung Instinct caught my eye since I stumbled across it a month before release. I came real close to going to Sprint, When I tried it out at a Sprint store, it was kind of neat, though a little long, sizewise. When I heard about the Dare, I decided to wait and see, since it was going to be released soon after. The positive reviews I saw online convinced me to go for it with the verizon renew for two years. Here’s my thoughts.
Overall the LG Dare is a fun phone to play with. I’m finding all kinds of cool things to like about it. No, it is not a super-duper-smartphone-do-everything-but-take-out-the-trash, it’s a consumer plaything. It gives you a nifty touchscreen with a cool little camera. Removable media capable, with music, video and of course the Internet.
Build: Overall positive feel. Back is nice with psuedo non-slip surface. the side usb port and storage port do worry me with the attached covers. They feel flimsy and it can only be a matter of time until they break off.
Size: Excellent, coming from a Motorola RAZR and disliking the Motorola Q I use for work, this thing fits great in my hand.
Battery: Easy to get out, battery life is okay. On standby it seems to last pretty long.
Interface: The three keys on the front are not what I would have selected, but they work well enough once you get use to their functions. The Instinct’s keys seem like a better choice. Touch screen buttons overall are on the small side and the dialer pad should have bigger buttons. The dual menus used for the main menu are a bit odd, as you have the flip out one on the right and another available on the bottom panel. Being able to customize and drag buttons to the home screen helps to fix some of the awkwardness.
Voice: The primary purpose of the Dare is a mobile phone. In that regard, I found the voice quality to be quite good. People on the receiving end sound crisp and clear. They have reported that I sound just as good as well. The speaker phone doesn’t have any noticeable distortion.
Network: Great Verizon coverage in the Northeast. It is the only real reason I stay with them. Other than this phone, most of their models stink. Their nickel and dime policy is another area of contention (see end of article).
The voice recognition is okay. Without any real effort, it understands my commands 80% of the time.
The screen in daylight stinks. In shade its okay. If you tilt the screen you can see it good enough to be usable.
The haptic feedback vibrates everytime you touch the screen, regardless of actually making a selection on something. This can be misleading, because when you keep missing a button, it vibrates anyway and you think you’re actually hitting it.
Internet: fast in my area, but what a clunky browser.
Camera: I have a Canon point and shoot and a Nikon DSLR, if I want to take real pictures, that’s what I use. However, this thing surprised me with pretty good quality (for a cell phone), and its flexibility. Being able to change the white balance was nice for improving indoor shots that have compact flouresent bulbs. There are quite a few options for picture manipulation. I love the photo viewer. Being able to flick through pictures, combined with a good size screen in landscape, allows me to carry a portable photo album. The zoom option also is handy for showing details in a picture.
Slo-mo video is fun to play with. Here’s two videos of change dropping on to the floor. The quality isn’t great, but what do you expect from a cell phone.
Switching between camera and video recording is not real intuitive, but after playing with it enough, it’s okay.
Startup time is 15 seconds from button push to ready to dial.
Overall, being with Verizon is a love-hate relationship. For the longest time, they took features away from phones, just to sell you extra services. Their UI branding is also annoying, with navigation that is far from user friendly. The Dare is absolutely a great step for them. I can get my media on and off the phone without having to hack it with bitpim. There don’t appear to be features from LG that were disabled or locked down. I am having lots of fun playing with this thing. I would recommend it to anyone not needing a smartphone. Though a lot of the comments above seem negative, it’s only to give you an idea of things I found fault with. I feel it’s better to know what others don’t like, so you know what you’re getting into. I play with the Dare all the time and the positives far outweigh the negatives. My ranking is currently 8.5 out of 10. After some more time with it, I’ll have an update post with other thoughts and a new score if warranted.
Addendum: Phone plans and Verizon
Here’s my current plan:
-
Nationwide Basic 450 minutes $39.99
-
Vcast for unlimited Internet $15.00
-
Text/pics 250 messages $5.00
Total cost around $60.00 a month.
Mobile e-mail - extra
VZ Navigator - extra
Want to use your phone as a modem - lowest plan starts at $59.99 in addition to the above.
Corporate discounts only apply to the plan, no extras
If I go with the premium plans, they start at $79.99.
Nothing like a little nickel and dime or pay a hefty fee to join the exclusive club.
Further info online
Compare with other phones at Phone Arena
Forums