LG enV2 Cell Phone Review - Hardware
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Alfredo Padilla Published on May 09, 2008 Comment on this |
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The LG enV2 has undergone some design changes over the original enV2. The phone is slightly smaller, which makes it more portable, and the exterior controls have gotten bigger and more stylized. |
Text Words Per Minute (9.14)
With phones like the LG enV2 that have two ways to enter text we do our words per minute (wpm) test both ways and take the better for our final score, on the assumption that users will use the faster interface most of the time. With two hands using the QWERTY keyboard we were able to manage a very good 45.7 WPM. Using two hands on the exterior keypad, however, was not much slower at 41.6 WPM.
QWERTY keyboard
You can see below that both of those are above average and the faster speed compares well with other devices that have QWERTY keyboards. We did find that the internal keyboard gave us a few problems. It's a little wide for those with large hands and the placement of the space button at the corners of the keyboard rather than the traditional position at the center of the bottom threw us off a little. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
T9 and Auto Complete (5.0)
The LG enV2 support T9 predictive text entry when using the external keypad. It does not support word completion, which suggests possible words as you type.
One-Handed Typing (8.18)
We know that a lot of people like to type out a message with a single hand, so we do our words per minute (WPM) test again but this time using only one hand. As withour two-handed test we did this with both the external keypad and the internal keyboard and chose the faster time for our score. By far we found that using the external keypad was faster when typing one-handed as we were able to manage 40.9 WPM.
keypad
You can see below that this is well above average and only the Samsung M520 amongst our comparison phones performed better. Using the QWERTY with one hand is not nearly as fast as we were only able to manage an unimpressive 20 WPM. This is not surprising as QWERTY keyboard do not do well in our one-handed typing test, you can see below that QWERTY only devices like the Sidekick LX performed poorly in this test too. The point is if you're going to be typing one-handed use the external keypad, it will go much faster. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Keypad Backlighting (6.0)
Both the external keypad and internal QWERTY have their characters backlit well in white light. The backlighting was even and made it easy to discern the numbers/letters/characters on each button. There is no light sensor on the LG enV2 that controls whether the backlight comes on, instead it comes on automatically when you press a button and then stays on for a set length of time. You can change the length of time, or set it to always on or always off, in the settings.
D-Pad/Joystick (4.5)
The LG enV2 has two D-Pad's. The external D-Pad is only bi-directional, you can only move up or down, in addition to a center OK button. This is because of the limited nature of the phone interface on the small external display. The button on the external D-Pad are reasonably large, although the down button does run into the 2 button a little, which may lead to some mistaken presses. Key travel isn't very good, but tactile feedback is.
exterior controls
On the inside of the enV2 you find the second, more traditional, D-Pad. A standard four-way control it sits to the right of the QWERTY keyboard. The four directions are not differentiated from each other, they sit on a ring of plastic around the center OK button. The D-Pad isn't very large, but we didn't have too much trouble with mistaken presses. Like the external D-Pad it doesn't provide very much key travel, and tactile feedback when pressed is a little worse.
interior controls
As there are two D-Pad's we've scored each one individually and averaged the two for our final score. We gave the external D-Pad a score of 4.0 and the internal D-pad a score of 5.0.
Touch Screen (0.0)
The LG enV2 does not have a touch screen.
Jog Dial (0.0)
The LG enV2 does not have a jog dial for quickly scrolling up and down long lists.
Soft Buttons (3.5)
There is only one set of soft buttons on the LG enV2 as the external interface does not use them. On the interior of the device the two soft buttons are located above the QWERTY keyboard and sit beneath their labels on the display. Although this is logical it also places them pretty far away from the D-Pad, which made using them a bit more awkward than a standard phone. We also weren't impressed with their key travel and tactile feedback. Although the soft keys are pretty small, they are set apart from any other keys enough that we didn't have any trouble with mistaken presses.
Volume Control (4.0)
The volume control on the LG enV2 is located on the left spine of the phone when it is closed. This makes for easy access when the phone is closed, but the story is different when you open it up. When the screen locks in its first position the volume buttons are inaccessible, and even when you open the screen fully they are awkward to access. The button itself is long and has a dip in the center to help you differentiate between up and down. Key travel and tactile feedback were both good, but the poor placement when the phone is opened up bothers us.
Power and Standby (6.0)
There are two power buttons on the LG enV2. When closed the end button does double duty as a power button. A long press will turn the phone off and to turn it back on you just need a short press. The exterior power butt is large and easy to hit, key travel isn't great but tactile feedback is good. When you open the enV2 up the end button in the interior is again used to turn the phone off with a long press, just like the exterior end button. This button is located just above the interior D-Pad and like most of the interior buttons is small and chiclet-like. We didn't find key travel to be very good, but tactile feedback is reasonable. We gave the exterior power button a score of 7.0 and the interior button a score of 5.0. Our final score is the average of the two.
Other Buttons (6.0)
In addition to the buttons discussed above the LG enV2 has several additional buttons. On the exterior of the phone are dedicated Music and CLR buttons. The music button does exactly what you think it does. The CLR button takes you back one screen in the interface, acts as a backspace when typing and will launch the voice command or voice recording software with a short or long press on the home screen. On the left side of the phone when closed is a dedicated camera button. On the interior of the phone there is also a CLR button, which sits just below the D-Pad. Like the other buttons on the interior it's rather small and plasticky with little key travel but reasonable tactile feedback. Unlike the exterior CLR button it does not launch voice command or voice recorder, only fulfilling the back and backspace functions. Sitting just next to it and identical in every way in terms of use is a dedicated loud speaker button. There is no way to change the functionality of any of these additional buttons.
Primary Screen Gross Resolution (8.0)
We decided that the interior display was the primary screen on the LG enV2 as its the larger of the two. The resolution of the interior display is QVGA (320 x 240 pixels), which is fairly standard for mid range handsets. We can't say we wouldn't have liked the higher resolution 400 x 240 pixel displays of the Sidekick LX or LG Voyager, but QVGA is reasonable for most functions.
| Cell Phone | Resolution | Score |
| LG enV2 |
320 x 240 | 8.0 |
| SMT5800 |
320 x 240 |
8.0 |
| Samsung SLM | 176 x 220 |
4.0 |
| Sidekick LX | 400 x 240 |
8.5 |
| LG Voyager | 400 x 240 |
8.5 |
| Samsung M520 | 176 x 220 | 4.0 |
Primary Screen Pixels per Inch (8.33)
Pixels per inch (PPI) is a measure of pixel density, basically how tightly packed pixels are on a display. The LG enV2's pixel density was 166.67 PPI, which is pretty good. You can see below that the SMT5800 and LG Voyager had similar pixel densities while the Samsung SLM and Samsung M520 did signfiicantly worse. Higher pixel density is good because it results in richer colors and sharper images. Low pixel density can make the screen seem washed out and pixelated.
Screen Physical Size (6.0)
The LG enV2's interior display measures 2.4 inches across. This is on the higher end of a standard cell phone, but you can see that phones like the Sidekick LX and LG Voyager which are similar in form factor, albeit larger, have larger displays. Given the size of the enV2 2.4 inches is probably the largest display they could fit in and it's a solid size, much bigger than the small 2 inch display on the Samsung M520.
Screen Brightness (5.0)
We measured the LG enV2's screen brightness at 100 lux. This is significantly above average, as you can see below, and amongst our comparison phones only the Sidekick LX performed better. To measure screen brightness we turn screen brightness to maximum and point the web browser to a blank white page. We then use a lux meter from two inches away to measure the brightness.
backlight controls
The LG enV2 gives you a reasonable selection of options for how long the backlight will stay on, with presets 7, 15 or 30 seconds. You can also choose to leave it always on or off. Unfortunately there's no way to adjust the brightness manually, nor is there a light sensor that will make the adjustment for you. Still the bright screen should suffice for most, although it may seem particularly blinding in low light situations.
Screen Bright Light Performance (2.0)
To see how the LG enV2's display handles bright light situations we shine 3000 lux of light on it, equivalent to a bright sunny day, and judged how legible it wasy. We found that despite the decent screen brightness, see above, the glare on the screen was so great that we could barely make out icons, much less text. Find a shady place to do your work on the phone if it's sunny out.
Color Depth (8.0)
The LG enV2's screen is capable of displaying 260,000 colors. This is at the higher end of handsets, similar to what we saw from the Samsung SLM and LG Voyager and signficantly better than the 65,000 color displays that are the norm on many phones. The higher color depth means that colors on the display will be reproduced more realistically, important for viewing and taking photos.
| Cell Phone | Colors (thousands) | Score |
| LG enV2 |
260 | 8.0 |
| SMT 5800 | 65 | 6.0 |
| Samsung SLM | 262 | 8.0 |
| Sidekick LX | 65 | 6.0 |
| LG Voyager | 262 | 8.0 |
| Samsung M520 | 262 | 8.0 |
Secondary Screen (6.87)
The LG enV2's external display is pretty small, measuring only 1.45 inches diagonal with a resolution of 160 x 64 pixels but capable of displaying a solid 260,000 colors. It's pixel density is 118.8 pixels per inch. We have to say that it's a pretty small display given how much it does, this isn't just a display that shows you the time like the secondary display on many phones. Composing a long text message on it is a little annoying, but for most functions it's size will do. It's obviously not as good as the large external touch screen on the LG Voyager, of course.
Power & Data Ports (6.0)
We were quite pleased to see that the LG enV2 used a standard Micro USB port for both power and data duties. The port is located at the bottom of the device and is protected by a tethered cover. Micro USB is the next generation after Mini USB and although it's not quite as popular on phones yet it does adhere to a standard, which we like.
Headphone Compatibility (6.0)
We were also pretty happy to see that the LG enV2 has a standard 2.5mm headphone jack, which is found on the right side of the device. A 3.5mm jack would be better, but given how many manufacturers use proprietary headphone ports like on the Samsung SLM we're happy to have anything standardized. We do have to say, though, that we wish manufacturers would stop putting headphone jacks on the side of phones and put them on the top or bottom where they properly belong. We were also pleased that the enV2 supports Bluetooth stereo headphones via the A2DP and AVRCP profiles.
Internal Storage (1.0)
The LG enV2 has 64 megabytes of internal memory. This should be sufficient for all your contacts, calendar appointments and a few photos, but if you want to load any serious multimedia you'll need an external memory card.
Expansion Slot & Format (8.0)
For extended memory the LG enV2 uses Micro SD card slot with support for Micro SDHC (high capacity) cards up to 8GB. The Micro SD slot is located on the right side of the phone when closed and is protected by a tethered cover. We liked that the cover swings out of the way, which in combination with the spring loaded card slot makes it easy to get a card in or out.
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