LG enV2 Review - Design & Features

Design & Features

EnV2 is smaller and more squared-off looking than EnV.  At 16.5mm thick it’s still not a small phone, but it’s much more pocketable than its predecessors.  And LG managed to keep just about everything that made EnV so good and also give EnV2 a slightly larger internal display than EnV had.  The one design choice found here that’s inspired some controversy amongst has to do with EnV2’s external keypad and display.  Compared to The V and EnV, EnV2’s front panel has much larger buttons but a smaller display and only Up and Down arrow keys instead of a full D-Pad.  The result is slightly more limited functionality — most notably, you can’t scroll left/right when composing a text message with the phone closed — but one of the easiest to use dialing keypads you’ll find on any phone anywhere.  Of course those giant, easy-to-press buttons do give the handset the look of a very old school calculator, for better or for worse.

The handset looks and works like a candybar phone when its closed, and also opens the long way to reveal a “mini-laptop” configuration with a large internal display on the top and a full QWERTY thumbboard on the bottom.  Stereo speakers flank the display and the keyboard features a five-way D-Pad as well as two softkeys and a couple of shortcut buttons.  For some reason EnV2 has two Space keys positioned in the bottom left and right corners of the QWERTY layout; I much prefer a single, larger space bar placed bottom center as on a traditional computer keyboard.  Still, LG/VZW did a nice job of giving the handset a more compact design and feel while still retaining great usability.  I liked that the top panel of the flip locks into place at a 90-degree angle relative to the keyboard but also can be pushed further back to a near flat orientation.

EnV2 is slated as a “VCAST Messaging Phone” and as such features a fairly robust messaging and multimedia feature set, though you’ll have to pay extra for the Mobile Email client.  The Email program actually isn’t very good - it’s easy to set up but can’t handle attachments or even display HTML links inside of messages.  There’s a pre-installed Mobile IM client works with AIM, Yahoo!, and Windows Messenger but not GTalk, and Verizon’s “Mobile Web” WAP browser can get you to mobile-ready sites but not out to the real Web.  For that you’ll need an HTML browser like those found on Voyager and Glyde.  And there’s no easy PC syncing or other smartphone features to be found here; EnV2 isn’t a smartphone, it’s a messaging phone, and it’s built for talking and texting.

The VCAST media player supports connections to Verizon’s music store and streaming video selection, both of which are pay services, and also lets you sideload music from your computer onto a microSD card for use on the handset.  Most popular music formats save tracks bought at the iTunes store (protected AAC) played back without any problems on my review model, and VCAST video clips looked pretty good on the QVGA internal display, though they pixelated when blown up to full screen mode.  EnV2 is also compatible with games, ringtones, and other goodies available for purchase through VZW’s “Get it Now” menus.  I downloaded the VZ Navigator application, and it worked quite well in conjunction with the phone’s onboard GPS chip.

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