First Call: LG Venus on Verizon

Hello and welcome to our first call of the LG Venus! The phone itself is of medium build, 4 x 2 x 0.62, which is a bit smaller than the Razr2 in terms of length and width but slightly thicker. Its face consists of two screens: the main one is a 2" diagonal display, and the second is a 1.5" touch screen. The second screen is a d-pad and soft key replacement, and we liked it better than its physical equivalent as it could potentially display four short key options as opposed to the normal two. Also, we liked how recurring options tended to stick to a particular corner; back is usually located in the bottom right, even when it's the only option. Of course, the downfall of the d-pad is we occasionally found ourselves tapping the We often tried to press the main screen, but were disappointed that we couldn't.

Sliding the phone open will reveal a basic 12-key array. We thought the keypad's shiny diagonal stripes looked really nice, but the keys themselves sported nothing but plain white text. There weren't even green and red phones for talk and end. We're not sure why they'd be so scattershot with their fanciness, but such is the world we live in.

The phone comes with a full version of a Sudoku game, which isn't a typical LG or Verizon offering. It does, however, have such a cliché "oriental" theme as to be borderline offensive (everything is bamboo and paper with calligraphy, difficulties are grasshopper, ninja, samurai, etc.).

Veterans of Verizon's BREW interface will be positively shocked to see the My Music menu liberated from Get It Now, which makes it ever so slightly more accessible. Also returning is the EZ Tip Calculator, complete with its original graphical intro (thought it was sped up a bit).

We'll try to have the full review out by Friday, so check back then to see how the Venus fared under the scrutiny of science